Setting

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

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Caron Brown Headteacher Wilstead Primary School Cotton End Road Wilstead Bedford Bedfordshire MK45 3BX

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Ofsted visit to Wilstead Primary School

Following my visit with Katherine Douglas, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 9 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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Ofsted visit to Wilstead 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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Ofsted visit to Wilstead 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 visit to Wilstead Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and the leader for special educational needs, disabilities and inclusion. 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:

 No ‘bubbles’ and only a small number of individual pupils have needed to self- isolate since the school reopened to all pupils in September 2020.  Pupils are learning the full range of subjects in the school’s curriculum, although you have adjusted the content of some of them. For example, the full music curriculum is not currently being taught. In physical education, swimming has been temporarily removed from the curriculum.  Teachers have assessed pupils’ phonics knowledge and found that they are behind where you would usually expect them to be at this point in the school year. As a result, you have made the teaching of early reading your highest priority. Where necessary, pupils are receiving additional phonics sessions each day to help them to catch up.  Teachers also assessed pupils in mathematics. These assessments showed that pupils had forgotten aspects of mathematics that they had previously

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

been taught. For example, pupils are now less confident with complex calculations, and this affects their ability to apply their knowledge to answer mathematical problems.  English and mathematics are the school’s main priorities currently, but personal, social and health education (PSHE) is also a key focus for the school. You have adjusted the curriculum so that teachers can spend more time on PSHE to help pupils to cope with their emotional responses to the pandemic.  The school is providing remote education for individual pupils when this is necessary. Class teachers are using an online programme to communicate with pupils and their parents, setting work that is similar to what pupils are doing in the classroom.

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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 Bedford Borough. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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