Setting

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

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Sarah Lack Executive Headteacher Cleves Primary School Arragon Road East Ham London E6 1QP

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Ofsted remote visit to Cleves Primary School

Following my remote visit with Adam Vincent, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 10 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 remote visit to Cleves Primary 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. Following changes to government guidance and the imposition of COVID-19 (coronavirus) lockdown restrictions, we made this visit remotely to reduce pressure on the school.

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Ofsted remote visit to Cleves Primary 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 remote visit to Cleves Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and your senior leadership team, including those with responsibility for safeguarding. We also spoke with other leaders responsible for assessment, the early years foundation stage, special educational needs and/or disabilities, and teaching and learning. We also spoke to your family support worker. We did not speak to pupils.

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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 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:

 At the time of the visit, a few pupils were self-isolating. A small proportion of pupils have had to work at home since the start of term.  All pupils are studying the school’s full range of subjects. In music, there are changes to the way singing is taught. This year, pupils are doing a science, mathematics and technology project at the start of the school year instead of the end. This is to help pupils to settle back into school and encourage them to work together. Leaders plan for pupils to experience the usual curriculum by summer 2021.  Teachers checked pupils’ new starting points at the start of the term. They identified, for example, that in Mandarin and music there are gaps in pupils’ knowledge. Pupils now attend catch-up courses for these subjects.  Teachers’ checks showed that while pupils could read words, they found it more difficult to understand what they had read. More time is spent on

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

reading, including in the early years. Teachers read aloud to pupils more often than before.  In mathematics, teaching concentrates on recapping previous work to help pupils remember what they have learned before. For example, teachers start lessons by revising the knowledge that pupils learned in the summer term.  In the wider curriculum, content is taught in the same order as usual but with different approaches. For example, drama is used to engage pupils in their learning and develop their creativity and language skills.  Pupils accessing the curriculum remotely follow the same timetable as pupils in school, except in music. This is because they do not have a musical instrument. Homework for all pupils is set and submitted online. Pupils are familiar with using computers to access remote education.

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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 Boleyn Trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Newham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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