Deep dives

OFSTED’s focus on all foundation subjects not just the core is to be welcomed. Less welcome are the unrealistic expectations being placed on often very inexperienced history leaders in primary schools. We need to get a sense of proportion here.

There’s nothing wrong with OFSTED shining a light on important aspects of the curriculum-indeed, I welcome this- but there needs to be a better balance between growing and weighing. Its all very well to critically appraise provision but how are subject leaders being supported both before and after the inspection. That is where this site comes into its own.

OFSTED’s view of deep dives in history

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Recently Matthew Purves , the Deputy Director for Schools, set out OFSTED’s latest thinking on deep dives in primary schools. He makes reference a number of times to what that means in history. Here are some of the highlights for you to ponder. ‘A deep dive…...
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OFSTED’s early EIF (2019) primary history deep dives

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What do the first 3 months’ of reports tell us?

Although there is even less detail in the new shorter OFSTED reports than in the previous ones, there are still some clear indicators of what OFSTED is expecting-whether they care to admit it or not! Here are...
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What do deep dive OFSTED inspections look like for history?

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What does a new deep dive 2019 inspection look like for history? Basically, there are 6 areas that the history subject leader may expect to be involved in
  1. Exploration of medium/long term plans for history
  2. Meetings with history leader(s)
  3. Observations/Learning Walks (often with the history leader)....
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More thoughts on primary history OFSTED deep dives

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Recently Matthew Purves , the Deputy Director for Schools, set out OFSTED latest thinking on deep dives in primary schools. He makes reference a number of times to what that means in history. Here are some of the highlights for you to ponder. ‘A deep dive…...
Read more
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