Setting

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

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Sarah Hartshorn Principal King Edward VII Academy Gaywood Road Kings Lynn Norfolk PE 30 2QB

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Ofsted remote visit to King Edward VII Academy

Following my remote visit with, Stefanie Lipinski-Barltrop, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 24 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 King Edward VII 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 King Edward VII 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 King Edward VII 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:

 At the time of the visit, around a quarter of the Year 11 pupils were self- isolating. Previously, the whole of Year 11 was required to isolate for fourteen days from the start of the October half term. Since September, a few other pupils have had to work from home because of contact with the virus outside of school.  In Years 7 to 11, pupils are able to study most of the subjects that were previously offered. Activities, such as team sports in physical education and the external visits that pupils undertake as part of the usual curriculum, are suspended for now. A new programme of personal, social and health education has been introduced for all year groups.  While most pupils in Year 11 are following the same GCSE programme as last year, a small number are now taking fewer subjects. Leaders say this is to give them the best chance of success by the end of the academic year.  In all year groups, teachers make regular checks on pupils’ learning and use

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

this information to help pupils to catch-up. In Years 7 to 9, there is a focus on reading, writing and mathematics. Extending pupils’ ability to write at length is a priority, especially in Year 7.  In Years 10 and 11, staff are checking that pupils know and remember the things that they need to learn for their examination courses.  Leaders have provided extra support for Year 12 students who have moved into the sixth form this year. Leaders have made this a priority to support a smooth transition into students’ new programmes of study, after a long period away from school during the partial closure.  Leaders have set out a programme of remote education to support pupils who need to learn from home if they are required to self-isolate. The work set is linked to the lessons that year group ‘bubbles’, or individual pupils, would normally be studying in school. Where pupils have difficulties in accessing

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

learning online, teachers offer paper-based alternatives.

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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, and the chief executive officer of the Eastern multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Norfolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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