Setting

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

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Chris Read Interim headteacher The Bishop’s Church of England Primary Academy Canterbury Road Thetford Norfolk IP24 1EB

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Ofsted visit to The Bishop’s Church of England Primary Academy

Following my visit with John Randall, 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 Bishop’s Church of England Primary Academy

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 Bishop’s Church of England Primary Academy

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 Bishop’s Church of England Primary Academy

During the visit, we spoke to you, the two deputy headteachers and the school business manager. 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:  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:

 Pupils in Years 1 to 6 returned to school full time on Monday 7 September 2020, the first day of the autumn term. Children in the Nursery and Reception classes attended part time for the first few days of term and were attending full time by the end of the first week.  Pupils’ attendance is higher than normal for this time of year.  All subjects of the curriculum are being taught. The content of some subjects is taught in a different order, for example in music and physical education. The intention is to teach the full content of the curriculum by the summer term 2021.  Teachers have assessed pupils’ learning in all subjects. In English and mathematics, teachers check what pupils know from last year’s work and teach the skills that they have missed or forgotten before moving on to the work planned for this year’s curriculum.  Reading and phonics have special priority at the moment. Pupils are behind in

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

their ability to put sounds together. There are extra times to practise sounds and spelling.  In mathematics, pupils have remembered how to do basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but do not recall how to use the calculations to solve problems.  A litter pick around the local area, a remembrance trail and putting up remembrance posters, and the Year 1 trip to Banham Zoo on the day of our visit are some of the curriculum activities that are going ahead as usual. Other visits are planned for the future, perhaps the postponed visit to Norwich Museum for Year 2. Visitors that usually come into school to support the curriculum or support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are still encouraged to do so. The play therapist, speech and language therapist, psychologists, specialist teachers for music and PE, and the Community Sports Foundation at Norwich City Football Club continues to work

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

face to face with pupils and school staff.  Remote learning for individual pupils currently isolating at home consists of a paper-based pack of activities that last for two weeks. The activities practise skills that have been learned already and follow the areas of the curriculum being taught in class at that time. Pupils are expected to complete the activities set for each day and to get on with the work on their own. The same approach will be used when whole ‘bubbles’ need to work at home. Staff are currently developing resources for online learning as part of remote learning for bubbles.

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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, and the chief executive officer of the Diocese of Norwich Education and Academies Trust (DNEAT multi- academy trust), the director of education for the diocese of Norwich, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Norfolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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