Setting

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

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Jenni Maude Headteacher Outwood Primary School Outwood Road Heald Green Cheadle Cheshire SK8 3ND

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Ofsted remote visit to Outwood Primary School

Following my remote visit with Adam Sproston, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 24 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 Outwood 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 Outwood 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 Outwood Primary School

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

 About a half of pupils have spent some time self-isolating at home since September 2020.  Teachers provide activities and resources for parents to support their children’s learning when they need to study from home. You told us that most pupils regularly access the school’s online system to practise and consolidate what they have already learned in school. You described how you are supporting families who find it difficult to access the system.  All pupils are studying their usual range of subjects. You told us that teachers have checked what pupils need to learn next. You have made some changes to the curriculum content to reflect pupils’ new starting points. You expect to be able to return to your usual curriculum content by the summer term 2021.  You told us that all teachers are focusing on getting pupils’ reading knowledge back to where it was before March 2020. In particular, you have increased the

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

amount of phonics teaching in Years 1 and 2 to help pupils catch up on the learning that they missed in the summer term.  In mathematics, you described how teachers are providing additional time for pupils to practise the knowledge that they had learned before March 2020. Some pupils have forgotten how to carry out calculations with numbers. Younger pupils’ understanding of the value of numbers is not as strong as it usually is at this time of year.  In the wider curriculum, you told us that teachers are supporting pupils to develop their subject-specific vocabulary. Teachers have also increased the amount of time pupils spend on practising the formation of letters and the speed of their writing. In subjects such as history and science, teachers have reordered some topics to help pupils cover missed curriculum content.

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

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