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

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Theresa Moses Headteacher Paxton Academy Sports And Science 843 London Road Thornton Heath London CR7 6AW

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Ofsted visit to Paxton Academy Sports And Science

Following my visit with Jasper Green, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 8 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 Paxton Academy Sports And Science

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 Paxton Academy Sports And Science

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 Paxton Academy Sports And Science

During the visit, we spoke to you and the senior leadership team, including 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:

 Since the school fully reopened in September 2020, about a quarter of the school’s pupils have had to learn from home for a period of time. This includes all of the children in Reception and the pupils in Year 1 and Year 2. No year- group ‘bubbles’ were isolating at the time of the visit.  All pupils are studying the school’s usual range of subjects. Leaders plan to return to the usual curriculum content, including extracurricular activities, by summer 2021, if restrictions allow this.  Teachers have checked pupils’ new starting points, including for children in Reception. In Years 1 and 2, pupils now have double the amount of phonics teaching than previously, with an extra daily phonics afternoon session. You have given storytime for pupils a higher priority since the start of term.  In mathematics, leaders’ checks found that pupils did not remember number facts and the content of shape, fractions and measure topics, which they had

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

covered remotely in the summer term. Pupils in Year 6 and Year 5 have had an additional mathematics lesson every week to help them to catch up. In other year groups, teachers make sure that they go over this content again with pupils.  Through the wider curriculum, you aim to support pupils’ physical development, fitness and cultural understanding, including in Reception. For example, in music, pupils continue to sing and play steel pans.  This term, leaders have provided online and paper-based remote education. For individual pupils, leaders provide online resources for the first week of isolation. For the second week, pupils access remote lessons recorded by their teachers, including in English, mathematics and foundation subjects.  When pupils in year-group bubbles are learning from home, they follow the same lessons as they would do in school. Through newsletters, online calls and socially distanced sessions, leaders aim to help parents familiarise

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

themselves with remote education and how to support their child.

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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 board of trustees and the executive headteacher (primary) of the Wandle Learning Trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Croydon. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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