Setting

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

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Tracey Westwell Headteacher Oswaldtwistle Hippings Methodist Voluntary Controlled Primary School Heron Way Oswaldtwistle Accrington Lancashire BB5 3BT

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Controlled Primary School

Following my remote visit with Steve Bentham, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 2 December 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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Controlled Primary 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.

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Controlled Primary 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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Controlled Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and the deputy headteacher. We did not speak to pupils because of the protective measures in place.

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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 (coronavirus) 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:

 Since the start of term, around three quarters of the pupils in the school have spent some time studying from home. Pupils in the Year 6 class ‘bubble’ have had to study from home twice. Pupils in the Year 3 and Year 6 class bubbles are currently self-isolating.  Teachers have started to check what pupils can remember of the learning that they have done since March 2020. This is to establish pupils’ new starting points. Teachers are amending their curriculum plans to incorporate the subject content that was not taught in the late spring and summer terms 2020.  With the exception of some aspects of music, pupils are studying all of the subjects in the wider curriculum. You hope to return pupils to the usual curriculum by the end of the summer term 2021.  Teachers’ checks show that children in the early years and pupils in Year 1 missed out on learning in phonics in the late spring and summer terms 2020.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

You are providing additional support to help these pupils to catch up.  Across the school, teachers are focusing on developing pupils’ vocabulary as well as their inference and deduction skills. This is to help pupils to catch up with their reading comprehension skills.  Pupils across the school have some gaps in their mathematical learning. Moreover, they are struggling to recall some basic number facts that they were taught prior to March 2020. Teachers have revised their curriculum plans in mathematics to help pupils catch up with this missed and forgotten learning.  Teachers provide work for class bubbles and individual pupils who are self- isolating. This work broadly reflects what is being taught in school. You have made devices available to families so that all pupils can access online learning when they are self-isolating.

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

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