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 C Towler Headteacher The Croft Primary School Churchill Way Painswick Stroud GL6 6RQ

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and communication technology (ICT)

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff and pupils, during my visit on 11 July 2012 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; joint observation of two lessons; a learning walk with you; and a tour of the school with pupils, with a focus on ICT.

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and communication technology (ICT)

The overall effectiveness of ICT is satisfactory.

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Achievement in ICT

 The number of pupils in each cohort changes significantly from year to year. This impacts on the overall attainment on entry into the school, which varies annually but is generally in line with national expectations for ICT. Pupils make satisfactory progress and by the end of Year 6 leave with standards that are in line with national expectations, although above in the areas of presentation and communication.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are well supported by teachers and teaching assistants and make the same progress as other groups of pupils.  Pupils’ behaviour in lessons is exemplary. They listen to each other and work very well together. They respect the views of their peers and adults and respond very well to the tasks they are given. Attitudes to learning are outstanding.

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Quality of teaching in ICT

 Teachers plan activities which engage and motivate pupils and put learning into a context. For example, Reception and Year 1 pupils use a mathematics program to produce block and pie graphs of favourite sports, linked to an Olympic theme. Year 5 and Year 6 pupils produce a presentation based on a residential visit to the Isle of Wight.  Teachers and teaching assistants have good subject knowledge. They use questions well to support assessment in lessons and to give pupils immediate feedback.  The school recognises that assessment, monitoring and tracking are at an early stage of development. Assessment procedures are not sufficiently embedded to rigorously monitor the progress of all groups of pupils in all strands of the ICT curriculum.  Relationships between staff and pupils when using ICT are excellent. Teachers and support staff have very high expectations and lessons are a positive environment for pupils to learn in.

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Quality of teaching in ICT

 Although teachers encourage pupils to use of range of hardware and software for their ICT work, and for work in other subjects, this is not always possible because of the limitation of some resources, especially for the control and data-logging strands of the curriculum.

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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 an emphasis on communication, presentation and data-handling. Good use is made of a commercial company who visit the school to develop the knowledge and skills of Years 4, 5 and 6 pupils in control technology, through workshops based on a ‘Mission to Mars’. Pupils make and program wireless controlled buggies to travel over different surfaces. The school recognises that it needs to resource this aspect of the ICT curriculum, so as not to have to totally rely on commercial groups.  Good use is made of ICT to support other subjects, especially literacy and numeracy. As a result, attainment in these subjects is rising, as confirmed in the latest, not yet validated, Year 6 national test results.  The ICT suite is used well to support the discrete teaching of the subject and to support cross-curricular links. However, opportunities for pupils to share their knowledge and understanding, or for teachers to overcome

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Quality of the curriculum in ICT

errors and misconceptions, are missed because of a lack of a projector and interactive whiteboard to support demonstrations by teachers and pupils.  A good emphasis is placed on teaching pupils to be safe when using new technologies. By Year 2, pupils have a satisfactory understanding of e- safety. By Year 6, pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe at home and at school when using new technologies.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT

The effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT is satisfactory.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in ICT

 There have been three ICT leaders during the last three years, which has limited the development of the subject. The present ICT leader will be leaving at the end of the summer term to take up a new post in another school. However, you act as the shadow leader for the subject to ensure continuity and progression in its development.  ICT has not been the main focus of the school, as you have concentrated on raising standards in English and mathematics. However, you have ensured that ICT has remained a focus and has been given a priority in the school’s development plan.  The ICT development plan identifies well the weaknesses in the subject and how they can be improved. It is focused on raising standards in ICT, including the need to embed assessment and improve resources.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 raising the achievement of pupils by:  embedding the use of assessment so that the progress of all groups of pupils can be regularly and accurately monitored  involving pupils in target setting, so that they are aware of what they need to do to improve and can act on the targets set  continuing to resource the subject, especially for control technology, to ensure flexibility within the delivery of the ICT, and less reliance on outside agencies, to fill the gaps in the ICT curriculum.

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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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