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 D Sandercock Headteacher St Paul’s CofE Primary School Crompton Street Walkden Worsley M28 3HP

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education in primary schools

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and pupils, during my visit on 29 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 pupils; scrutiny of relevant documentation; analysis of pupils’ work; and observation of seven lessons.

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education in primary schools

The overall effectiveness of enterprise education in promoting pupils’ economic and business understanding and enterprise and financial capability is good.

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Achievement in enterprise education

Achievement in enterprise education is good.

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Achievement in enterprise education

 Pupils gain a good understanding of work roles through wide-ranging experiences within the curriculum and through specially focused events and activities, often involving direct contact with employers and employees. By the time they reach Key Stage 2, many have very clear aspirations for future careers and well-developed understanding of the qualifications and skills they may need to attain their goals.  Pupils are very competent in working with money. They learn to recognise and count in units of money through regular shopping and banking activities in the Early Years Foundation Stage, so that by Year 1 their skills in this respect are very secure. By Year 3, pupils are able to clearly understand why prices for t-shirts differ and how an understanding of such differences should affect their own t-shirt design and manufacture. Pupils’ understanding of wider economic issues such as recession, taxation and

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Achievement in enterprise education

trade is less well-developed.  Much collaborative work is in evidence across the school, including in the application of enterprise skills. Through activities, such as bank and pizza parlour role-play in Year 2 and Young Apprentice in Year 6, pupils develop a good awareness of enterprise skills including leadership, teamwork and communication, and the transferable nature of these skills.

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Quality of teaching in enterprise education

The quality of teaching in enterprise education is good.

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Quality of teaching in enterprise education

 Teachers clearly value the role of business and enterprise education in setting a context for pupils’ learning in a range of subjects. Well-planned and sometimes outstanding learning was seen in literacy, mathematics and design and technology during the visit, using business contexts to look at budgeting, persuasive writing and design development.  Teachers communicate business and enterprise concepts well, especially aspects of product design and enterprise skills. Pupils’ enterprise and independent learning skills are reinforced through frequent collaborative problem-solving exercises. Teachers sometimes lack confidence in dealing with wider economic issues. While work is often adapted to suit pupils’ varying capabilities, occasionally, opportunities are missed to extend the level of challenge of work for higher attaining pupils.  Resources are used very well to link learning to the real world and to

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Quality of teaching in enterprise education

pupils’ own experiences. Teachers make highly effective use of existing products, packaging, and internet research to explore business practices.

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

The quality of the curriculum in enterprise education is good.

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

 Pupils have many opportunities, through the school curriculum, to develop their understanding of business, enterprise and the world of work. However, these opportunities are not linked together into a coherent programme of study, and do not clearly identify how pupils’ understanding and skills in these areas develop progressively over time.  The Life Skills and Leisure programme, followed by Years 5 and 6 pupils, offers modules in business and financial management. The business module takes pupils into the careers service and local workplaces and introduces them directly to employers and employees. This, together with programmes such as ‘Job Week’ and ‘Higher Futures 4 U’, helps underpin pupils’ strong understanding of work roles and career paths.  Focus weeks and other events often have business- or enterprise-related themes. Pupils have outstanding opportunities in the popular gardening club to learn about the processes of production and marketing through the

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

school’s excellent and well-managed allotment facility.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in enterprise education

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

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in enterprise education

 Leadership of the subject resides with you and ensures a prominent role for enterprise education in school activities.  Governors are directly involved in sharing their own business expertise with pupils in many activities, such as the Life Skills programme. The school has developed effective links with local businesses, community groups and other organisations to support its work.  The school’s vision of the importance of developing pupils’ wider skills for later life runs through the curriculum and ensures a key place for enterprise education in teachers’ planning. However, expected learning outcomes have not been clearly defined for enterprise education or economic and business understanding, thereby limiting direct opportunities to assess and evaluate pupils’ progress over time. Individual activities, however, are evaluated by pupils and programmes adjusted accordingly.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 identifying more clearly expected learning outcomes for enterprise education and economic and business understanding to enable pupils’ progress to be assessed and evaluation of programmes to be sharpened  developing curriculum planning for enterprise education so that pupils progressively develop their skills and understanding over time  deepening pupils’ understanding of wider economic issues, such as recession, taxation, government spending, fair trade.

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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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