Setting

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

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Julie Hopkins Executive Headteacher Redmile Church of England Primary School Belvoir Road Redmile Nottinghamshire NG13 0GL

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Ofsted remote visit to Redmile Church of England Primary School

Following my remote visit with Steve Varnam, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 17 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 Redmile Church of England 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. 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 Redmile Church of England 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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Ofsted remote visit to Redmile Church of England Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the head of school, the safeguarding leader and the leaders responsible for English and Geography. 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:

 A small number of pupils have had to learn from home since the start of term.  All pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. There is a greater emphasis than usual on personal, social and health education. Swimming, singing and practical activities are not taking place.  Leaders plan to return to the school’s full curriculum before summer 2021.  Teachers have assessed pupils’ new starting points, following the period when schools were not open to all pupils. Checks in English show that pupils have typically fallen behind in punctuation, spelling, grammar and handwriting.  Teachers are providing extra sessions in phonics for pupils in all year groups who may need them. Leaders plan to increase the stock of reading books for pupils in Years 3 to 6.  In mathematics, pupils have lost rapid recall of number facts in Years 1 and 2. Older pupils in Years 3 to 6 have knowledge gaps in multiplication, fractions,

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

decimals, shapes and measures. Staff have organised support for individuals and small groups.  In other subjects, staff are checking what pupils can remember. Teachers have adjusted their planning to allow for more repetition of key concepts across the curriculum.  Staff have prepared sets of ‘grab bag’ immediate resources if a class ‘bubble’ needs to isolate at home unexpectedly. A programme of remote education is available to follow, in both online or paper-based format, in line with each class’s normal curriculum. The same arrangements apply if individual pupils need to isolate.

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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 chair of the board of trustees and the chief executive officer of the RISE multi-academy trust, the director of education for the Diocese of Leicester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Leicestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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