Setting

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

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Richard Woods Headteacher Hanson School Sutton Avenue Swain House Road Bradford West Yorkshire BD2 1JP

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Ofsted remote visit to Hanson School

Following my remote visit with Marcus Newby, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 26 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 Hanson 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 Hanson 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 Hanson School

During the visit, we spoke to you and other senior leaders, including the leader with responsibility for safeguarding. We spoke with the chair of governors and a representative of the local authority. We also talked with several subject 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:

 At the time of our visit, pupils in a Year 9 ‘bubble’ were isolating at home. Since the start of term, around half of your pupils have had to work from home for short periods due to isolation.  You told us that pupils are studying the full range of subjects that they were studying before COVID-19, across all of Years 7 to 13. You told us about the different ways in which your teachers are checking pupils’ new starting points since the start of term, including ‘mapping’ missed units and ‘baseline’ assessments of pupils’ skills. You described how this information has enabled your teachers to make changes to the curriculum.  You explained that you have made some changes to the order in which some units are taught in some subjects, to allow for lost learning. For example, you told us how you have changed the units in Year 8 history because of what Year 7 last year missed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 For pupils in Years 11 and 13 due to take examinations in 2021, you told us that you have made some adjustments to the curriculum, so that pupils are prepared for the requirements of their examinations and assessments. For instance, you described how you have adapted the science curriculum so that students get some extra teaching time to make up for what they lost during the period when schools were closed to most pupils due to COVID-19 restrictions.  You talked with us about the remote education you are providing for pupils isolating at home, across all year groups including the sixth form. You said that you are providing a mixture of digital learning, where pupils access their work online, and paper-based work. You explained that the remote education work covers the same content in all subjects that pupils would be doing in school. You told us that, currently, you are not teaching ‘live lessons’ but that

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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 Bradford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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