Setting

Aviation House 125 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0300 123 1231 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Ms E Crookes Principal Djanogly City Academy Sherwood Rise Nottingham Road Nottingham NG7 7AR

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design

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and students, during my visit on 5 and 6 October 2010 to look at work in art, craft and design.

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The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions but individual schools will not be identified in the main text without their consent.

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The evidence used to inform the judgements included: interviews with staff and students, scrutiny of relevant documentation, analysis of students’ work, and joint observation of eleven part-lessons.

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The overall effectiveness of art, craft and design is satisfactory with good features.

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Achievement in art, craft and design

Pupils’ achievement in art, craft and design is satisfactory with good features.

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Achievement in art, craft and design

 In Years 7 to 9, students make satisfactory progress overall. Limited use of the visual elements (line, shape, form, colour, texture and pattern) and a narrow range of knowledge and understanding about artists, craftworkers and designers contribute to below average attainment in using traditional skills, such as drawing. However, students are able to use digital media creatively, criticise particular artists analytically, and express insights into issues through art, for example ‘British identity’ and ‘endangered species’.  An increasing proportion of boys and girls choose to take an examination in art and design or photography. Recent and current work is good, better than previous results. Provisional grades for 2010 indicate that attainment is in line with national averages. This represents good progress in relation to starting points, including for students with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The most successful work shows that students are able

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Achievement in art, craft and design

to pursue the full potential of ideas, including making full use of learning in lessons when working unaided in an examination.  In the sixth form, students achieve satisfactorily overall. The quality and range of previous experience varies. Boys and girls respond purposefully to the teaching but their independence and initiative is mixed, evident in the varying level of connections made between the work of other artists and the development of their own style. The best work shows confident use of decision-making and individual experiences, including cultural influences. Students take great pride in their creative achievements, evident in their enthusiasm about an exhibition of their work in a public gallery. However, their role in leading and inspiring younger students is at an early stage.

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Quality of teaching of art, craft and design

The quality of teaching of art, craft and design is satisfactory with good features.

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Quality of teaching of art, craft and design

 Lesson preparation is thorough. Staff use information about students effectively to plan approaches suited to different needs. However, the range of activities used in the classroom is not always equally broad. In Years 10 and 11, subject matter adapted to students’ individual interests, selection of artists linked directly to their practical work, and one-to-one dialogue between staff and students that is both positive and challenging, underpin the good learning and progress made by students of all abilities.  The purpose of lessons is clear. Reflecting the curriculum, objectives in Years 7 to 9 often focus on personal, learning and thinking skills and in Year 10 and thereafter, on the skills required to do well in examinations. However, students do not find it easy to track their progress in the subject throughout, or their longer term success in applying their wider skills within the subject. For example, despite skilled improvisation by staff, the

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Quality of teaching of art, craft and design

later achievement of some students is constrained by their literacy skills.  Subject knowledge combined with a strong commitment to students’ creative development contributes to the most effective teaching. Some lessons are driven by ideas, demonstrations, resources and interventions led by the teacher. However, there is evidence of timely and skilled teaching that shifts responsibility onto students where appropriate. For example, following a series of structured experiments inspired by a study of Impressionism, more able Year 8 students were expected to interpret a local landscape by applying their learning. An introduction to felt-making enabled a GCSE student to take personal interpretation a stage further.

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Quality of the curriculum in art, craft and design

The quality of the curriculum in art, craft and design is satisfactory with good features.  The curriculum is innovative. The ‘rich tasks’ and ‘enrichment’ experienced by all students in Years 7 to 9 provide strong contexts for students to learn about the subject and how it might be applied, but the school is aware that the full potential is not yet realised. A Year 9 project, focusing on the development of oracy and opinion-making using information and communication technology (ICT) to engage students in an in-depth exploration of Picasso, shows what is possible.  Curriculum continuity is strengthened by the introduction of photography. Students are able and keen to build on the skills in digital technology developed in Years 7 to 9, evident in the take-up of photography options, the higher grades achieved in examinations and the quality and quantity of current coursework. However, because of their limited earlier experience

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Quality of the curriculum in art, craft and design

and standards achieved in the subject by Year 9, the intensive teaching of skills is required to underpin students’ success on the unendorsed art course but it slows the development of their independence and initiative.  First-hand experiences have a positive impact. The mixed experience of students starting an art-related course in the sixth form impacts on the pitch of the teaching. However, first-hand experiences are used effectively to accelerate progress and promote creative diversity, evident in students’ responses to a recent stimulus visit to Bridlington. Links with local galleries have increased and plans are in place to use more earlier on. Visits by GCSE students to Nottingham Trent University helped boost the proportion of students keen to pursue an art- 16.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management of art, craft and design

The leadership and management of art, craft and design are satisfactory with good features.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management of art, craft and design

 Recent strategies to improve provision and outcomes are effective. Students’ improved attainment at the end of Year 11 and an increase in the proportion of students taking an examination in the subject, particularly post 16, indicate that subject leadership and management priorities are well focused. However, the continuity of monitoring, evaluation and tracking of subject provision and outcomes across all years is not yet cohesive. Self-evaluation is integral to the work of individual curriculum and subject leaders, providing a well-informed foundation.  Partnerships within the school, local and art communities are increasing. Collaboration between staff based on the 11 to 14 and 14 to 19 sites is starting to enrich student’s experiences, particularly around transition, but opportunities are still missed. Work with local galleries clearly promotes students’ pride and achievement, and enables parents and carers to show

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Effectiveness of leadership and management of art, craft and design

their support, for example through public exhibitions of students’ work. Ambitious plans exist to develop the scope of the academy’s virtual gallery to embrace wider communities, complementing curriculum development.  The impact of subject leadership and management on inclusion is a strength. Accreditation suited to students’ different needs, tailored teaching approaches, and subject matter adapted to individual interests, show that subject staff are working effectively together to create a purposeful and positive ethos. However, the school architecture could be used more to celebrate and promote students’ creative diversity.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 strengthening continuity between 11 to 14 and 14 to 19 provision in the subject by:  developing the monitoring and evaluation role of curriculum and subject leaders  identifying and maximising opportunities to develop subject skills, knowledge and understanding through the 11 to 14 curriculum  making explicit to students, opportunities to apply their wider learning developed in Years 7 to 9, to their examination work in the subject  increasing opportunities for students to learn from other students, particularly through the role of sixth formers and impact of display  enabling staff and students to assess progress more continuously, particularly through the use of sketchbooks and digital technology.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

I hope that these observations are useful as you continue to develop art in the academy.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

As I explained previously, a copy of this letter will be published on the Ofsted website. It may be used to inform decisions about any future inspection.

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