Setting

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

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Kay Reid Headteacher Lindsworth School Monyhull Hall Road Kings Norton Birmingham B30 3QA

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Ofsted visit to Lindsworth School

Following my visit with Eve Morris, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 10 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 Lindsworth 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 Lindsworth 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 Lindsworth School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the senior leadership team and the senior leader responsible for safeguarding. 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:

 At the time of the visit, the Year 8 ‘bubble’ of 24 pupils was self-isolating. Since the beginning of term, approximately 40% of pupils have had to self- isolate due to COVID-19.  Pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. You have made some adaptations to your curriculum to make sure that pupils are covering content that they may have missed earlier this year. You have reordered the curriculum content in subjects such as physical education. For example, you are now planning to teach contact sports later in the school year. You plan to return to your usual curriculum by summer 2021.  In September 2020, pupils followed your ‘recovery curriculum’ for a month. Staff then carried out baseline assessments in a range of subjects. You have identified some gaps in pupils’ knowledge and have revised the curriculum content accordingly to address these gaps. For example, you are giving individual and small groups of pupils extra help to develop their reading

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

fluency. Pupils are also getting additional support for writing, because you have noticed that pupils now have less stamina for writing at length.  In mathematics, pupils are being helped to revisit basic skills such as number and place value and rebuild their subject-specific vocabulary. The most able pupils have forgotten some of the more complex operations in strands such as fractions and algebra so are being supported in these areas.  You have prioritised support for pupils’ mental health and well-being in every year group through the revised personal, social and health education curriculum. You are revisiting content designed to remind pupils about how to recognise potential risks and keep themselves safe from harm.  You are providing remote education for the Year 8 bubble that is self-isolating. You try to align the work as closely as possible to your usual curriculum, with lessons matching the usual timetable. You adopt the same approach for

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

individual pupils who have to self-isolate. Your remote-learning offer consists of a package of online and paper-based learning. You told us that not all of your pupils have access to computers at home.

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

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