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 D Priestley Headteacher Greenfield School Community and Arts College Greenfield Way Newton Aycliffe County Durham DL5 7LF

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and business education

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and students, during my visit on 24 and 25 March 2011 to look at work in economics and business education.

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and business education

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 without their consent.

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and business education

As the school does not provide formally assessed courses in economics or business, the visit focused on the development of economics and business understanding, and personal financial and enterprise capability for all students.

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and business education

The evidence used to inform the judgements included: interviews with staff and students; scrutiny of relevant documentation; analysis of students’ work; and observation of parts of 13 lessons.

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and business education

The overall effectiveness of economics and business education, including the development of students’ economic and business understanding and enterprise and financial capability, is good.

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Achievement in economics and business education

Achievement in economics and business education is good.

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Achievement in economics and business education

 Students are developing good enterprise skills and basic business understanding as a result of the school’s well-planned provision. They have a good awareness of personal financial issues. Their broader economic understanding is not as well developed.  Students are developing good attitudes to learning and, in particular, are developing good collaborative learning skills as a result of the good emphasis on teamwork across a range of subjects. Students are learning to take personal responsibility, to communicate and to negotiate effectively.

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Quality of teaching in economics and business education

The quality of teaching in economics and business education is good.

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Quality of teaching in economics and business education

 Teaching across a wide range of subjects links learning to real-world contexts and emphasises the relevance of learning to students’ future lives.  Lessons are usually well paced, well structured and include engaging learning activities that encourage students to develop independent learning skills.  Assessment to support learning is an established feature of most lessons and teachers make good use of questions to check and confirm knowledge and understanding. However, questioning is not as good at extending and deepening knowledge and understanding and encouraging students to articulate complex ideas.  Teachers provide good support to meet the needs of students of differing abilities during lesson time.

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Quality of the curriculum in economics and business education

The quality of the curriculum in economics and business education is good.

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Quality of the curriculum in economics and business education

 The provision for enterprise education is good. This is delivered through a mix of regular weekly lessons, suspended timetable days and a wide range of exciting enrichment activities and challenges. Students also have good opportunities to develop enterprise capablity and work-related skills across a wide range of subjects, including creative and media, textiles, physical education and peforming arts. There is discrete provision to promote personal finance education. However, there is less focus on promoting students’ economic awareness within the school’s planned provison.  Links with businesses and employers are strong as a result of the school’s extensive vocational provision and its specialist art and creativity work - all of which provide good opportunities to enhance the development of enterprise capability within the school.  Careers information, advice and guidance are strong and students feel well

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Quality of the curriculum in economics and business education

prepared in relation to career choices and next steps.

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business education

Leadership and management in economics and business education are good.  Leaders are fully committed to the provision of enterprise education and are developing a well-planned and coherent programme for all students.  The recently introduced BTEC work-skills programme is formally assessed against identied learning outcomes and assessment criteria.  The development of students’ enterprise capablity benefits from the wider whole-school focus on developing creativity.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 reviewing the provision for enterprise education to ensure that there is sufficient emphasis on promoting students’ basic economic understanding  ensuring that teachers’ questioning is used not only to check and confirm understanding but also to extend and deepen students’ thinking and their ability to articulate complex ideas.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

I hope that these observations are useful as you continue to develop economics and business education 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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