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 R Buntine Headteacher Delapre Primary School Far Cotton Northampton NN4 8JA

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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 7 November 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; a tour of the school with senior leaders and the Chair of Governors, a tour of the school with pupils; analysis of pupils’ work; and observation of two lessons and parts of five further lessons in classrooms or in the ICT suite.

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and communication technology (ICT)

The overall effectiveness of ICT is good.

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Achievement in ICT

 Pupils enter the Early Years Foundation Stage with ICT capabilities that are well below national expectations. They make good progress and by the end of the Foundation Stage confidently use new technologies such as tablet computers, interactive whiteboards and radio controlled robots.  Progress from Year 1 to Year 6 is good. By the end of Year 6, pupils leave with levels of attainment that are in line with expectations overall. They are especially confident in communicating and presenting information and data handling.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who speak English as an additional language, are given good support by teachers and well-informed teaching assistants, and make equally good progress.  The relationships between staff and pupils are excellent. Pupils are enthusiastic about using ICT and are eager to share their knowledge of ICT with others. As a result, behaviour in lessons is outstanding overall

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Achievement in ICT

and never less than good.  Pupils enjoy the work that they do in ICT. This contributes well to learning in a range of subjects and also to their good spiritual, social, emotional and personal development.  By Year 2, pupils have a satisfactory knowledge of how to stay safe when using new technologies. By Year 6, they have a good knowledge, though this is not always transferred to how to use ICT safely outside of school.

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Quality of teaching in ICT

 Teachers and teaching assistants have good subject knowledge and use this effectively when planning and delivering their lessons.  Where teaching is good, lessons have a brisk pace and activities motivate and challenge pupils. Where teaching is satisfactory, the pace of learning is slower because of a lack of challenge, especially for more able pupils.  Not all teachers share and recap the learning objectives and/or the success criteria for ICT, so that pupils can be fully involved in assessing their progress within a lesson and over time. Year 6 pupils, especially, articulate that they would find this beneficial in helping them to set their own targets.  Teachers have excellent management skills and ensure a very safe environment in which pupils are eager to learn.

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Quality of the curriculum in ICT

The quality of the curriculum in ICT is good.

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Quality of the curriculum in ICT

 The curriculum ensures that all pupils receive their statutory entitlement to ICT with a particular emphasis on presenting information, communication and data handling.  Good links are being made between ICT, literacy, numeracy, science and foundation subjects based on the local authority scheme of work.  The recent purchase of tablet computers is motivating pupils in a range of subjects, especially in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Pupils with limited access to new technologies at home are given the opportunity to use school resources at lunch and break times.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT

The effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT is good.  The two ICT leaders work well as a team and have ensured that the vision for the development of the subject is understood by staff and governors. However, not all subject leaders monitor the use of ICT within their own subject when formally monitoring teaching, learning and planning.  Senior leaders have identified the need to review and embed assessment procedures, to ensure greater accuracy of monitoring of the progress of all groups of pupils.  Technical support is good and ensures that systems are reliable and available when needed.  The governing body is supportive of the subject and of the investment involved.  Self-evaluation is accurate. The strengths and weaknesses of ICT are known well by senior leaders.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 ensuring that the learning objectives and/or success criteria for ICT, or for ICT when supporting other subjects, are shared with pupils, so as to involve them more in self- and peer-assessment and their own target setting  embedding and refining the new assessment procedures to support the accurate monitoring of different groups of pupils and to ensure, especially, that the more able pupils are challenged in all lessons  developing the role of all subject leaders in monitoring the links between ICT and their subject.

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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 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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