Setting

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

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Elen Roberts Headteacher Heartlands High School Station Road Wood Green London N22 7ST

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Ofsted remote visit to Heartlands High School

Following my remote visit with Sophie Welch, 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 Heartlands High 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 Heartlands High 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 Heartlands High School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the senior leadership team including the senior leader responsible for safeguarding, and the curriculum leaders for mathematics, music and science. 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, 30 pupils in Year 11 were isolating at home. Since the start of term, approximately 13% of pupils have had to work from home.  Leaders continue to offer the full range of national curriculum subjects in all year groups. Leaders have reviewed their curriculum plans and made some adjustments to the order of the content. Some practical elements of subjects are not currently being taught. For example, instruments are not currently used in music lessons. A very small number of pupils have an adapted curriculum because of the impact of the pandemic on their special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders are keen for all pupils to return to their usual curriculum as soon as possible.  Early in the autumn term, leaders carried out checks to identify what learning pupils could recall. Additionally, teachers regularly check what pupils have learned and remember. They use this information to modify their planning to

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

help pupils catch up on the learning they have lost. Leaders have identified that in some subject areas it is the least able pupils who have lost the most learning.  Leaders have identified that in Year 7, pupils this year are on average up to five and a half months below their chronological reading age, compared to three months in a typical year. Leaders have implemented a plan to address this issue. Where there are limits on practical elements of the curriculum, for example science experiments, teachers have focused on delivering the knowledge pupils need to know.  In Years 10 and 11, leaders have reorganised curriculum content to ensure pupils are prepared for GCSE examinations. In mathematics, for example, teachers assess what pupils remember and then repeat topics that pupils do not recall as well. In all subjects, leaders have used the extended school days, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, to teach additional lessons to all pupils to help

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

them catch up.  Leaders delivered the planned curriculum remotely in the spring and summer terms 2020. The same online system for providing remote education is being used when individual pupils or pupils in year-group ‘bubbles’ need to isolate and learn from home. Leaders have provided paper learning resources for some pupils, as well as digital devices and internet connection where necessary.

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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 chief executive officer of the Heartlands Community Trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Haringey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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