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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Mr R Warsop Headteacher Caldecote Primary School Highfields Road Highfields Caldecote Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB3 7NX

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and Communication Technology (ICT)

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 3 December 2010 to look at work in ICT.

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and Communication Technology (ICT)

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 institutions will not be identified in the main text.

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and Communication Technology (ICT)

The evidence used to inform the judgements included: interviews with staff and pupils; scrutiny of relevant documentation; analysis of pupils’ work; and observation of two lessons and a tour of the school with pupils.

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and Communication Technology (ICT)

The overall effectiveness of ICT is good.

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Achievement

 Children enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with ICT skills and capabilities which vary each year but are generally a little below expectations. They make good progress and enter Year 1 in line with expectations. This good progress continues and by the end of Year 6 standards are above average overall and well above in communication and presentation.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those identified as requiring support for behaviour, are given excellent support in lessons. As a result they make the same good progress as other groups of pupils.

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Achievement

 Pupils’ behaviour when using ICT is outstanding. They respect equipment and use it with care. They are proud of their work and support each other very well in lessons. Year 6 pupils discuss maturely the opportunities that they are given to use new technologies in a range of subjects.

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Achievement

 By Year 6, pupils develop a good knowledge and understanding of how to stay safe when using new technologies.

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Quality of teaching

 Teaching is good overall and, at times, outstanding. Teachers have good subject knowledge and use this to good effect when planning and delivering their lessons.

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Quality of teaching

 Lessons are put into ‘real life’ context, so as to further engage and motivate pupils. An excellent example of this is the way that Year 2 pupils video each other, as they demonstrate how to follow instructions when making Christmas cards.

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Quality of teaching

 Teachers and teaching assistants use questions effectively to develop pupils’ understanding of the skills being learnt.

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Quality of teaching

 Teachers make clear to pupils the learning objectives for the ICT aspect of the lesson, as well as for the subject being taught, so that pupils can self- assess at the end of the lesson how well they have achieved.

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Quality of teaching

 However, pupils are not always clear about what they need to do to improve or to move up a level in ICT.

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Quality of teaching

 New assessment and tracking procedures have been introduced, which are informing teachers and senior leaders more accurately of the progress and attainment of pupils.

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Quality of teaching

 The further development of assessment procedures is identified in the ICT development plan.

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Quality of the curriculum

 The curriculum is planned well. It ensures good progression of skills and good coverage of the National Curriculum for ICT.

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Quality of the curriculum

 Good links are made between ICT and a wide range of subjects.

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Quality of the curriculum

 Resources are organised well and easily accessible for pupils to use.

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Quality of the curriculum

 The breakfast and after-school clubs are providing pupils with the opportunity to further develop their ICT skills.

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Quality of the curriculum

 The Year 6 residential visit provides pupils with good opportunities to use and develop their ICT skills in a range of activities.

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Quality of the curriculum

 Pupils identified as gifted and talented extend their ICT knowledge and skills through regular enrichment activities at the local secondary school.

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Quality of the curriculum

 The school recognises the need to develop its own social networking site through the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which is presently only used by Year 3 and Year 4 pupils.

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Leadership and management of ICT

The leadership and management of ICT are good.

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Leadership and management of ICT

 Although new to the role, the ICT coordinator has quickly evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the subject and has audited teachers’ subject knowledge. This has informed the development plan for ICT.

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Leadership and management of ICT

 The coordinator has been well supported by the previous coordinator, who has now changed roles within the school, and so the transition between the two leaders has been seamless and effective.

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Leadership and management of ICT

 Teachers and teaching assistants have regular opportunities for training in ICT which, for some, has resulted in nationally recognised qualifications.

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Leadership and management of ICT

 Technical support is good and ensures that the systems and resources are reliable and available when needed.

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Leadership and management of ICT

 Staff have received training on keeping pupils, and themselves, safe when using new technologies.

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Leadership and management of ICT

 Governors fully support the development of the subject.  Self-evaluation is accurate. The strengths and weaknesses for ICT are known.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 developing the role of the subject leader to become more skilled in monitoring and evaluating ICT provision, and especially teaching and learning ICT

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 embedding the new assessment procedures so that all pupils are better informed of how well they are progressing against their targets and how they can achieve the next level in their ICT work

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 developing the social network site of the VLE for use by all pupils.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

I hope that these observations are useful as you continue to develop ICT in the school.

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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. Except in the case of academies, a copy of this letter is also being sent to your local authority.

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