Setting

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

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Michelle Lunney Headteacher St Osmund’s Catholic Primary School Church Road Barnes London SW13 9HQ

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Ofsted visit to St Osmund’s Catholic Primary School

Following my visit with Andrea Bedeau, 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 St Osmund’s Catholic 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 St Osmund’s Catholic 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 St Osmund’s Catholic Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, the assistant headteacher and the English leader. 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:

 A small proportion of pupils have had to study from home for several days since the start of term. This included a class ‘bubble’ and several pupils who needed to self-isolate.  Pupils are studying all subjects, but with some changes to content. For example, in physical education, gymnastics is taught less often because outside activities are prioritised. Leaders expect to return to the normal curriculum before summer 2021.  Checks made in September 2020 showed gaps in the youngest pupils’ phonics knowledge. Pupils were unable to access the school’s reading scheme over the summer term. Additional sessions are provided daily to help individuals catch up.  In mathematics, tests showed that older pupils had missed some learning in geometry. Not all pupils had access to appropriate resources to support this unit. Teachers are including geometry activities in every lesson to plug this gap.  Leaders said that some learning could not be taught remotely as well as if

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

pupils were in school. For example, in Year 4, the unit of ‘electricity’ should have been taught in the summer term. Year 5 teachers are planning to teach this unit in a special science week. This means pupils will have covered the content needed when the unit is built upon in Year 6.  When a pupil self-isolates, the class teacher makes learning available online. This consists of the teaching slides used for English, maths, religious education and non-practical science lessons. Links to activities and videos that support other areas of the curriculum are also provided.  When a whole class bubble studies from home, remote education includes recorded lessons by the teacher. These videos are made available online.

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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 director of education for the Diocese of Southwark, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Richmond Upon Thames. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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