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St John Fisher Primary, a Catholic Voluntary Academy, Sheffield
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IMPORTANT UPDATE

Back to News
23rd Nov 2020

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Earlier today I was contacted by OFSTED and informed that our school will be subject to a 'remote visit' tomorrow, under Section 8 of the Education Act.

I was advised that we were selected randomly as one of a sample of schools judged previously as 'Good' or 'Outstanding' that will be reviewed between now and Christmas as part of OFSTED's ongoing work to reassure and inform parents, government and the public about how schools are managing the return to full education for all pupils.

It will be a formal visit that will review the impact of COVID-19 on our community along with our responses to it. There will be no judgements, but comments about our response and the various things we have done (and are doing) will be shared in a letter that will be published on the OFSTED website in due course. I will, of course, share this letter with you as soon as I receive it.

The visit will be take place remotely/online and is expected to last all day. It will be conducted by two members of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIs). The visit will focus on the following three areas:

  1. context and attendance
  2. behaviour and safeguarding
  3. curriculum and learning

You can find out more about what these type of visits will and will not cover by clicking the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/interim-phase-maintained-schools-and-academies

Some of you will recall from our last inspection in July 2019, that parents and carers were given the opportunity to complete a questionnaire and write to the inspector. This will not be the case for tomorrow's visit because of how the day is structured. This is touched upon in the document that I have provided the link for, above. The visit will not result in judgements on performance - as with normal inspections, but rather it will be about OFSTED understanding and evaluating the effectiveness of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and our work to keep children, families and staff safe and to support children with their learning and wellbeing.

We have a good plan and I do welcome the opportunity to share what we do here and to also learn from the process so that we can be as effective as possible in looking after everyone in our community.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank you.

I know that the news over the weekend regarding Years 1 and 4 closing will have been a blow and may have even presented you with unwanted challenges. I am sorry for this and I am grateful for the patience and understanding that you have shown in trying to cope. I want to remind you that we are here if you need to talk to us.

We have a strong plan and an utter determination to support the children both in school and at home equally over the next two weeks or so. Our plan has helped us get this far without bubble closures, whilst achieving good levels of attendance too. So I am positive about that.

We will be sharing details of the Y1 and Y4 home learning activities both in Microsoft Teams and via our portal (password: 2020STJOHN) along with details of live music and French lessons that we are also hoping to run via Microsoft Teams on Friday and Monday.

I want to also reassure you that the home learning activities the children will be doing align with what they would have done in school if there had been no class closures, so it very important that they are all attempted, so no one falls behind. Special work will be set for children who need it, and their parents/carers will be contacted separately about this.

Colleagues in Years 1 and 4 can also be messaged if you have any issues or questions, and they will get back to you as soon as they can.

We have paper and other equipment available here for anyone that needs it, please just pop into the School Office in order to collect it. If this is difficult, please let us know.

If you have any trouble getting online to access the home-learning that we are providing please get in touch. For difficulties in accessing Microsoft Teams please email year4@st-johnfisher.org.

A reminder that there are guides on the homepage of our website about Microsoft Teams.

Thank you again for your continued support and patience.

Kind regards,

F Barratt - Headteacher