Setting

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

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Steven Wilkinson Headteacher Spalding Grammar School Priory Road Spalding Lincolnshire PE11 2XH

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Ofsted remote visit to Spalding Grammar School

Following my remote visit with Chris Davies, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 12 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 Spalding Grammar 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 Spalding Grammar 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 Spalding Grammar School

During the visit, we spoke to the senior leadership team. 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 small number of sixth-form students were isolating at home. Approximately 5% of pupils have had to work from home at some point since the start of term.  All pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. Leaders have arranged a rota system to allow all pupils access to specialist rooms and facilities such as science laboratories and design and technology workshops. Plans are in place to return to the usual curriculum and arrangements by the summer term 2021.  Subject leaders have rewritten their curriculum plans to provide pupils in all year groups with the opportunity to revisit the knowledge that they studied during the spring and summer terms 2020.  Teachers have carried out formal assessments in all subjects for pupils in Years 11 and 13. They are carrying out ongoing assessments in all subjects for pupils in Years 7 to 10 and students in Year 12. Teachers are using the

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

information from these assessments to adapt their plans to fill in the gaps in pupils’ knowledge. For example, some teachers are planning whole-class revision lessons and others are providing additional catch-up sessions for individual pupils.  Remote education is provided for pupils who are working from home. Pupils use both paper-based materials and digital resources, and the work that they are expected to do closely mirrors that in school. Staff have been trained in using an online system to deliver the remote curriculum. Leaders are developing plans to deliver the full curriculum remotely, should it be necessary in the future. This will involve the delivery of live lessons.

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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 governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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