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

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Richard Thorpe Headteacher Grange Park Primary School Grange Avenue Stirchley Telford TF3 1ET

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Ofsted visit to Grange Park Primary School

Following my visit with Eve Morris, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 3 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 Grange Park 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 Grange Park 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 Grange Park Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and members of the senior team. 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. 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, two year-group ‘bubbles’ were isolating. These included pupils in Year 1 and Year 3. The Year 3 bubble has isolated twice. Since September 2020, the school has provided remote education for about half its pupils at some point.  Pupils are studying their usual subjects apart from music, which is temporarily on hold. Leaders aim to return to their usual curriculum by summer 2021.  You have changed some activities in subjects such as computing and art, to reduce the amount of equipment that pupils need to share. After-school clubs have been running this term, but stopped during November. You are not taking pupils on the usual range of school trips.  Staff have completed formal and informal assessments in most subjects. They have used information from these to adjust curriculum plans this term. For example, staff are spending more time on reminding pupils about the rules of

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

grammar. You told us that teachers are helping pupils to regain their stamina for classwork and get back into the habit of writing at length.  You also told us that you are spending more time than usual on reading. You have purchased more phonics books to assist with reading at home. You have increased the time that support staff spend in class.  In mathematics, staff are recapping previous work. They are prioritising the teaching of number, particularly to pupils in key stage 1. You told us that, in general, the older pupils coped better with the summer disruption to mathematics teaching than the younger pupils.  You are providing remote education through an online platform. As far as possible, remote education includes the subjects that would normally be taught in school. However, activities in art, physical education, and design and technology may be different to those done in class. The school lends suitable

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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, the chief executive officer of the Community Academies Trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Telford and Wrekin. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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