The COVID lockdown took its toll on students getting ready for sixth form life at an Isle of Wight high school, a virtual Ofsted visit has found.
While the pandemic continues, all Ofsted inspections have been postponed but in a national research programme, more than 1,200 schools are being remotely visited to discuss the effects Covid has had on education since the start of the September term.
Led by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, the review is also looking at how schools are managing the return to full education following the extended break earlier in the year.
On the Island, and across the country, schools closed on 20th March with students switching to remote learning and summer exams cancelled to stop the spread of the virus.
With the months of lost learning time and a degree of uncertainty around exams next summer, the report is hoping to share insights from schools with the government and education sector.
One of the schools taking part in the research is Christ The King College, which is currently rated as ‘inadequate’ by the school inspectors.
A remote visit took place towards the start of November and in a letter to Matthew Quinn, the college’s executive headteacher, inspectors said no significant concerns were found during the remote visit.
Carrying out the visit, inspector Janet Pearce found all pupils are able to study the full range of subjects the college offers but leaders thought pupils needed to build up their stamina and concentration to get the most out of their lessons and the college day again.
Pupils in Year 7 have been assessed in literacy and numeracy earlier than usual in the term, with staff focusing on extending vocabulary and confidence with language.
Specific skills are being revisited by students in Years 10 and 11 where, for example, they were not able to practise physical activities such as science experiments and art projects while in lockdown.
It was also found older students are not as ‘well prepared’ for sixth-form study as others have previously been because of what they missed during Year 11, including, inspectors say the ‘experience of GCSE examinations’.
Inspectors noted that some parents have not been able to support remote learning because of difficulties with internet access, which effects those needing to self-isolate who have a mix of educational materials, both digital and paper-based.
I know I’m being a bit ‘dense’, but how do you carry out a detailed and satisfactory Ofsted inspection via a virtual connection.
Surely the Inspectors are extremely limited in access to the school(S) in question. Surely as long as appropriate distancing and PPE is used there is very little danger to either Inspectors, Teaching Staff or Pupils.
Distancing!? You clearly haven’t stepped foot in a secondary school in a while!
Given that the report was focussed on students’ experience of learning during the lockdown and the effects of the pandemic on learning, it wouldn’t make sense to do it physically. Also, inspections need to be consistently applied, therefore the same approach used for all schools taking part. It wouldn’t be right to visit one school in person and ‘virtually visit’ another. Ofsted inspectors are not based locally either, so it would have meant sending them up and down the country, staying away from home, crossing tiers and therefore unnecessarily risk spreading the virus to school communities.
So where can you find students who are well prepared for sixth form study having taken their GCSE exams? Exams were cancelled. Why is it that the headline of this article focusses on a single negative point that is completely unavoidable and relating to an experience that has been shared by every single school in the UK, not just Christ the King College?