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Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Michelle Parkes Headteacher The Brookfield School Grandstand Road Hereford Herefordshire HR4 9NG

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Ofsted visit to The Brookfield School

Following my visit with Ian Tustian, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 3 November 2020, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the visit’s findings. Thank you for the time you made available to discuss your actions since September 2020, when the government expected all schools to open fully to all pupils.

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Ofsted visit to The Brookfield School

This visit was conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 (as amended) and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for visiting schools while routine inspections are temporarily suspended.

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Ofsted visit to The Brookfield School

Ofsted’s visits to schools during the autumn term are not inspections. We are not giving graded judgements. We did not undertake the usual range of inspection activities and were unable to check other sources of evidence, such as visits to lessons or looking at pupils’ work. The content of this letter gives an overview of our discussions about what has happened in your school this term.

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Ofsted visit to The Brookfield School

During the visit, we spoke to you, your assistant headteacher and the chair of trustees of the Brookfield School Trust. We did not speak to pupils because of the protective measures in place.

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Context

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s education system is managing the return to full education for pupils, following an extended break in formal schooling due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

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Context

In undertaking this focused work, HMI are visiting a broad range of schools. HMI will visit a sample of:

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Context

 approximately 1,200 schools across all Ofsted grades (outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate)  maintained schools, academies and free schools, special schools and centres of alternative provision, including those in cities, and coastal, town or rural communities.

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Context

The information from this visit will feed into Ofsted’s national reporting so that the insights can be shared with the government and the education sector. We did not find any significant concerns during the visit. In such a case, an inspection report would be published on our website and available to parents and carers.

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Context

We did not consider your response to COVID-19 during the spring and summer terms 2020, when the school was not open to all pupils.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 The school opened on 2 September 2020. You expect pupils to attend full time. Almost all pupils have returned. Very few are on part-time timetables.  Your records show that attendance rates are currently higher overall than in previous years.  The range of subjects being taught is similar to normal. For some subjects, you have changed the content and the order in which it is taught. Subjects including art, music and physical education are being taught differently to accommodate your current practical arrangements. Your aim is for all pupils to be studying the full breadth and depth of the school’s curriculum by the summer term.  For primary-aged pupils, you have given extra time for reading, writing and mathematics to allow for catching up of what was missed during the spring and summer terms.  You are providing all other subjects in your normal curriculum for primary pupils, although you have made some changes. This includes changing the

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

way you deliver the religious education curriculum to make time for the additional English and mathematics teaching.  In Years 7 to 11, there is some teaching in most of your usual subjects. You have paused the usual teaching in languages to provide more time to focus on the basic skills and work-related learning that you have prioritised.  Teachers have tested pupils’ cognition, mathematics, reading and spelling to identify what to focus on in the short term. In other subjects, at the start of each series of lessons, teachers check whether pupils have the background knowledge they need for the new content. Teachers modify their plans for the unit of work in line with what they find.  Teachers are pulling together resources to send home should pupils have to isolate, or any groups of pupils have to learn remotely. You report that many pupils find the prospect very challenging. You say that doing school work at

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

Thank you again for contributing to this important national work. The views and experiences you have shared will help to inform future policy.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Herefordshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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