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

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Jenny Thompson Executive Principal Dixons Trinity Academy Trinity Road Bradford BD5 0BE

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Ofsted remote visit to Dixons Trinity Academy

Following my remote visit with Graham Findlay, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 11 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 Dixons Trinity 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 Dixons Trinity 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 Dixons Trinity Academy

During the visit, we spoke to you, your senior leadership team and curriculum leaders. 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:

 No year-group ‘bubbles’ were isolating at the time of the visit. Approximately one in eight pupils has had to work from home at some point since the start of term.  All pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. Pupils returned to their usual curriculum at the start of the autumn term.  Teachers are using ongoing assessment to check what pupils know and to inform teaching. In Year 7, leaders have used extra tests to check pupils’ knowledge on entry to the school.  In Years 7 and 8, teachers from different subjects come to pupils’ classroom bases to teach the curriculum. In subjects such as art and design, teachers bring their ‘classroom on wheels’ so that pupils can access specialist resources for art and textiles work.  Where necessary, teachers have brought forward areas that would benefit from earlier study and explanation in Years 9 to 11, such as the study of Shakespeare in English. Leaders have also planned new ways to teach

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

practical elements in subjects, including music and science.  Leaders have given a heightened focus to health and well-being across all year groups to provide extra support at this time.  Teachers provide pupils with textbooks, revision materials and a timetable of activities when they have to study from home. They complement this with online resources, such as videos of science demonstrations. The work set matches the work set at school, and teachers check how pupils respond to the work set at home.

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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 local governing body and the chief executive officer of the Dixons Academies Trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Bradford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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