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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Mrs S Elliott Headteacher Silchester Church of England Primary School School Lane Silchester Hampshire RG7 2NJ

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education in primary schools

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and children, during my visit on 22 June 2011 to look at work in enterprise education.

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education in primary schools

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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education in primary schools

The evidence used to inform the judgements included: interviews with staff and children; scrutiny of relevant documentation; analysis of children’s work; and observation of three lessons and a class council meeting.

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education in primary schools

The overall effectiveness of enterprise education in promoting children’s economic and business understanding and enterprise and financial capability is outstanding.

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Achievement in enterprise education

Achievement in enterprise education is outstanding.

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Achievement in enterprise education

 In the lessons observed, children showed highly developed independent learning skills that were facilitated very well by teachers. Children’s personal development is very strong as was evident from their excellent teamworking and problem-solving skills.  Children demonstrated very good levels of attainment, showing very well developed critical-thinking skills in making sophisticated arguments and complex decisions relative to their age.  In the lessons observed, children demonstrated very positive attitudes to learning. They are developing very strong knowledge and understanding, appropriate to their age, of economic, environmental and global issues. Children show very good awareness of the moral and ethical issues surrounding global economic concepts, such as poverty and fair trade, in line with the school’s Christian values.

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Quality of teaching in enterprise education

The quality of teaching in enterprise education is outstanding.

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Quality of teaching in enterprise education

 In the lessons observed, teachers communicated appropriately high expectations of the children very clearly. They made consistently excellent use of questioning to check and extend children’s learning, for example by ensuring that they justified their answers and supported their arguments in discussion.  Teachers made very good use of information and communication technology, and in particular of interactive whiteboards, such as in supporting children’s interpretation of data in well-produced graphs.  Teachers consistently demonstrated very good planning in relation to children’s prior learning. They use topics particularly well to introduce very creative and highly engaging learning activities in real-life contexts.

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

The quality of the curriculum in enterprise education is outstanding.

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

 The school has developed very good links with local businesses and other organisations, in particular in relation to the school’s ‘Fair trade School’ status. However, the school recognises that an area for development is extending this involvement with local businesses and other organisations in order to inform more directly children’s awareness of employment opportunities.  The curriculum shows a particular, and highly successful, emphasis on developing children’s teamworking, problem-solving and decision-making skills by enabling them to learn through discovery. The curriculum is supported very well by a wide range of highly relevant visits and activities outside the school.  The lessons observed demonstrated very clear and precise planning for the development of children’s enterprise skills and economic and business understanding as they progress through the school. ‘Fair trade School’ status is at the core of informing children’s awareness of the ethical issues

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

surrounding trade and the global economy.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in enterprise education

The effectiveness of leadership and management in enterprise education is outstanding.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in enterprise education

 Senior and curriculum leaders work closely and very effectively together to ensure that children have a very broad range of high-quality opportunities across the school to engage in activities related to developing their enterprise skills, knowledge and understanding.  All staff are highly committed to, and recognise the importance of, promoting enterprise education within their lessons and in developing children’s related knowledge, understanding and skills.  The self-evaluation provided an accurate view of enterprise education. Where enterprise education forms the principal context of teaching and learning in subjects, learning outcomes and assessment arrangements are clear and explicit. Where enterprise education is more concerned with skills development such as in teamworking and problem-solving, learning outcomes and assessment are defined less clearly.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 identifying clear learning outcomes for enterprise skills, such as in teamworking and problem-solving, and a means of assessing how well children achieve these  developing the school’s business links so that these inform more directly children’s awareness of employment opportunities.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

I hope that these observations are useful as you continue to develop enterprise 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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