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

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Nys Hardingham Headteacher Admiral Lord Nelson School Dundas Lane Portsmouth Hampshire PO3 5XT

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Ofsted remote visit to Admiral Lord Nelson School

Following my remote visit Aimee Floyd, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 17 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 Admiral Lord Nelson 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 Admiral Lord Nelson 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 Admiral Lord Nelson School

During the visit, we spoke to you and members of 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. 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:

 Since the start of the academic year, approximately a quarter of pupils have had to self-isolate and work from home for an average of five days per pupil.  Pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. Extra-curricular and enrichment activities, including work experience and personal development days, have been paused. You intend to reintroduce these as soon as possible.  Teachers have used a combination of formal and informal checks to find out what pupils remember and what learning they might need to revisit. They have used this knowledge to add activities to lessons to help pupils make up any gaps. For example, in French and German lessons pupils recap vocabulary from previous lessons as well as learning new vocabulary.  In all year groups, teachers have found that some pupils have fallen behind with their reading. Pupils in Years 7 and 8 now start their English lessons with independent reading and other pupils have access to an online reading

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

programme. Teachers have also found that pupils’ stamina when writing has fallen, so all subject teachers are working to rebuild it.  Pupils in Years 10 and 11 have forgotten some of their knowledge about their set literature texts, so teachers are revisiting this in English lessons.  Teachers put all lesson resources online so that any pupils who are self- isolating can access the same learning as the rest of their class. In most subjects this is a combination of video and written resources and online quizzes, although in mathematics pupils can ‘dial in’ to the live lesson and join in with their peers. Leaders have made sure that all pupils have the access to technology that they require should they need to work from home. 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 Salterns Academy Trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Portsmouth. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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