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

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Dominic Wilkes Headteacher Budehaven Community School Valley Road Bude EX23 8DQ

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Ofsted remote visit to Budehaven Community School

Following my remote visit with Sarah McGinnis, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 17 November, 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 Budehaven Community 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 Budehaven Community 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 Budehaven Community School

During the visit, we spoke to you and senior leaders responsible for: safeguarding; the curriculum; pupils with special educational needs; the sixth form. We also spoke to the leaders responsible for English and mathematics. 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, the Years 7, 11, 12 and 13 ‘bubbles’ were self- isolating. Just over half of pupils have had to work from home between September and the time of our visit. Typically, pupils have self-isolated for between one and 14 days.  You checked pupils’ starting points in September. You found that most pupils lacked stamina when writing. You also found that pupils did not always remember key knowledge that had been learned remotely.  Pupils are studying all subjects in your normal curriculum. You have continued your normal cycle of learning but with minor adaptations to revisit content covered during the period when schools were only open to some children due to COVID-19 restrictions.  Pupils in Years 7 to 9 have access to all subjects in the national curriculum. However, practical elements of some subjects have been adjusted or delayed. For example, pupils are not currently cooking as much as usual in food

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

technology lessons.  Pupils in Years 10 and 11 are studying all the GCSE subjects they previously opted for. You are providing extra support for those who you have identified as having gaps in their knowledge.  Students in Years 12 and 13 are on course to complete their qualifications. You have supported students to access remote open days at further education establishments. Students are up to date with their university applications.  You have a tiered approach to providing remote learning. For individual pupils in self-isolation, you provide work linked to your current curriculum using online resources. You believe this allows pupils to keep up with their peers and receive timely feedback from their teachers.  For self-isolating year group bubbles, teachers are providing live-streamed lessons. This has caused difficulty when siblings from different bubbles have lessons at the same time. You have overcome this by recording lessons so that

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

pupils can access them at different times.

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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 Cornwall County Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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