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 Patrick Headteacher Jessie Younghusband Primary School Woodlands Lane Chichester PO19 5PA

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Ofsted 2011–12 subject survey inspection programme: history

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and pupils, during my visit on 29 September 2011 to look at work in history.

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Ofsted 2011–12 subject survey inspection programme: history

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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Ofsted 2011–12 subject survey inspection programme: history

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

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Ofsted 2011–12 subject survey inspection programme: history

The overall effectiveness of history is outstanding.

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Achievement in history

 Pupils make outstanding progress and attainment is high.  They show very good knowledge and understanding of aspects of life in different periods. For example, Year 6 pupils had a firm grasp of key features of the evacuation of children in the Second World War and Year 2 had a very good understanding of the life of Grace Darling in the Longstone Lighthouse.  Pupils have an outstanding understanding of chronology. Year 6 pupils easily sequenced four pictorial sources and readily identified different intervals between the historical periods represented. In addition, they could correctly place other periods from the more distant past.  Skills in using and evaluating historical sources are very well developed. Year 6 pupils were able to identify how an oral account from a local resident who was evacuated in 1939 might add to their understanding. Some could suggest how the passage of time might have affected the

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Achievement in history

testimony being considered as well as evaluate its utility.  History makes an excellent contribution to pupils’ personal development. They greatly enjoy the subject and particularly appreciate the active approaches to learning often adopted in the classrooms as well as the opportunities provided by ‘theme days’ for each main history topic, such as the one on ancient Greece taking place at the time of this visit.

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Quality of teaching in history

The quality of teaching in history is outstanding.

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Quality of teaching in history

 Teachers provide good opportunities for pupils to identify their own questions about the past that they would like to investigate and engage pupils’ interest very effectively. Practical, hands-on activities make a particular contribution.  In lessons, expectations were high and good links were made with pupils’ previous learning. Interesting resources were used very well to develop pupils’ understanding, for example the oral history clip used in Year 6, which sustained their concentration most effectively.  Teachers make a summative overall judgement at the end of each topic, drawing on annotations on their planning about pupils’ responses to the work. Topic evaluation sheets provide an excellent opportunity for teachers, pupils, parents and carers to comment on work undertaken. Although pupils report that they are clear on how to improve their work in history, teachers’ comments do not consistently provide written guidance

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Quality of the curriculum in history

The quality of the curriculum in history is outstanding.

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Quality of the curriculum in history

 The school has chosen to provide more opportunities for pupils to study history than the National Curriculum requires. The curriculum for the subject is based on cross-curricular topics, with either a major or supporting role for the subject, that have been carefully designed to minimise any gaps between them.  Planning is thorough and usually pays good attention to meeting the varying needs of pupils in the class. Very good links are made with other subjects. These often provide good opportunities for a historical context for work in other subjects, for example in English and mathematics. Links with information and communication technology are very good and the school won first prize in a national competition last year for its Second World War community project on oral history with local residents.  The school is strongly committed to providing memorable experiences to enrich pupils’ learning. There are many visits locally, for example to the

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Quality of the curriculum in history

local record office and to Chichester, and further afield to national museums in London. Contributions from visitors frequently deepen pupils’ understanding, for example the ‘toy man’ in Year 1.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in history

The effectiveness of leadership and management in history is outstanding.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in history

 The subject leader provides established and committed leadership and has a firm grasp of historical skills and understanding.  Her role as deputy headteacher has assisted her in carrying out monitoring activities, for example, scrutiny of planning and pupils’ work. Lessons have been observed where history is linked with literacy and the subject leader has also worked alongside new staff in their classrooms. These activities have resulted in an accurate view of the strengths and areas for development of the subject. For example, the need for an audit of progression in historical skills was identified some time ago and is almost complete.  Teachers’ assessments provide a clear picture of pupils’ attainment but further analysis, for example to compare pupils’ performance in history over time, is not carried out routinely at present.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 making more systematic use of assessment information to compare pupils’ performance in the subject over time.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

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

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

As 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. A copy of this letter is also being sent to your local authority.

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