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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Miss H Townson Headteacher Abbas and Templecombe Church of England Primary School School Lane Templecombe BA8 0HP

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and communication technology (ICT)

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and pupils, during my visit on 14 July 2011 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 without their consent.

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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; observation of two lessons and parts of three lessons; and a tour of the school with pupils.

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and communication technology (ICT)

The overall effectiveness of ICT is satisfactory.

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Achievement in ICT

 Although the number of pupils in each cohort varies from year to year, pupils enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with ICT capabilities that are generally in line with national expectations.  Pupils make satisfactory progress. By the time they leave Year 6, attainment is in line with expectations, though above in presenting information and communication.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported and make similar progress to that of their peers.  Pupils from Traveller families also make the same progress as their peers.  Pupils’ behaviour when using ICT is good overall and, at times, outstanding. Pupils are very enthusiastic about ICT.  By Year 6, pupils have a good understanding of what they need to do to keep themselves safe when using new technologies.

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Quality of teaching in ICT

 Teachers and teaching assistants have good subject knowledge and are confident in their use of ICT.  As the quality of teaching in ICT has improved, this has impacted on pupils’ learning and standards are rapidly rising. However, this has not had time to impact on the achievement of all pupils, especially Year 6.  Teachers share the learning objectives and success criteria for a lesson, so that pupils know what is to be learnt and can review their progress at the end of the lesson.  However, pupils are not always clear about their progress over time and what they need to do to improve.  Newly introduced assessment procedures are supporting teachers to plan more accurately for different age and ability groups in their class.

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Quality of the curriculum in ICT

The quality of the curriculum in ICT is satisfactory.

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Quality of the curriculum in ICT

 All strands of the National Curriculum are taught, with a good emphasis on presenting information, communication and data-handling.  However, the use of data-logging, monitoring and use of sensors has not been systematically resourced and planned for in the past.  Good links are being made between ICT and a range of subjects as the creative curriculum is embedded.  A homework club and an ICT club give pupils, who have limited access to ICT at home, the opportunity to complete work or develop their ICT skills.  Good pen-pal links have been established between pupils with a school in Leeds, through email.  Good links have been made with a local communications company who, for example, talk to pupils about how ICT is used in industry.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT

The effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT is good.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT

 Since your arrival as headteacher, ICT has been a focus for development. An ICT subject team has been in place since September 2010. They have clearly identified the strengths and weaknesses and how the subject can be developed.  In a relatively short time, the ICT team leader has paced the development of the subject well. The subject knowledge and ICT skills of staff have been audited and regular training opportunities are provided.  Resources have been reorganised to ensure that staff and pupils have daily access to new technologies, including computers, laptops and cameras, in their class rather than in a central suite, which was underused.  Governors and leaders recognise that the subject has been underresourced, and have allocated finances to improve the range of resources available.  The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to support pupils’ learning at home and at school is developing, though the school is aware that staff

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT

require further training on its use.  There is shared vision for the development of the subject. The subject is well placed to move forward.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 raising pupils’ achievement by:  embedding the newly developed assessment procedures to help inform planning, so that work is closely matched to the needs of all groups  involving them more in target-setting, so that they understand clearly what they need to do to improve and to move up a level  increasing the resources for ICT, especially for data-logging and monitoring  developing the use of the VLE to enable pupils, teachers, governors and parents to access work and information at home as well as at school, to support pupils’ learning.

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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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