Setting

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

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Paul Bateman Headteacher Belmore Primary Academy Owen Road Hayes Middlesex UB4 9LF

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Ofsted remote visit to Belmore Primary Academy

Following my remote visit with Andrea Bedeau, Her Majesty's Inspector (HMI), to your school on 5 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 Belmore 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. 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 Belmore 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 remote visit to Belmore Primary Academy

During the visit, we spoke to you and the senior leadership team, including the senior leader responsible for safeguarding. 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:

 The school opened fully to pupils in all year groups on 9 September 2020. Pupils are expected to attend on a full-time basis.  Attendance is broadly in line with normal levels of attendance for this time of year.  Apart from music, pupils are studying all the subjects in the school’s usual curriculum. In some year groups, the teaching of music has been paused to provide extra time for reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders intend to provide pupils with supplementary music lessons later on this academic year.  In Years 1 and 2, leaders’ checks on reading identified that pupils are not as far forward in learning phonics as they would normally be. To address this, leaders have put in place extra phonics teaching, including one-to-one support for selected pupils. To encourage pupils to read widely and often, leaders also plan to purchase additional books which match pupils’ reading ability.  Mathematics teaching incorporates regular quizzes to identify any gaps in

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

pupils’ learning. Based on what they have found, teachers have adjusted planning to give pupils more time to practise addition and subtraction methods, and build their knowledge of place value. As with reading, some pupils who have fallen behind are receiving extra help from teachers and teaching assistants.  As part of the school’s work to promote pupils’ well-being, pupils have had additional lessons in physical education and personal, social, health and economic education. In other subjects, teaching has revisited knowledge that pupils need to understand securely before moving on to new concepts. Particular emphasis is being placed on making sure that pupils apply their understanding of correct grammar, spelling and punctuation in their writing in all subjects.  Pupils who need to learn remotely are set work by their class teacher. Teachers choose subject content for pupils that is similar to what the rest of

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

their class are learning in school. Pupils access remote learning via materials on the school’s website and through packs of resources sent to their homes.

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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 chief executive officer of the Middlesex Learning Partnership multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Hillingdon. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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