Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Trudie Cawthra Headteacher Longparish Church of England Primary School Longparish Andover Hampshire SP11 6PB

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Subject inspection of Longparish Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 5 December 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. The findings do not change the overall effectiveness judgement of outstanding from the last section 5 inspection.

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Subject inspection of Longparish Church of England Primary School

This inspection was conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for a no formal designation inspection of schools. The inspection was carried out to enable Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector to better understand the quality of education in specific subjects provided by outstanding primary schools.

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Main findings

Leaders have mapped out the content that pupils will learn in modern foreign languages (MFL). With mixed-age classes, this requires considerable thought to ensure that pupils do not repeat the same content as the previous year. All pupils learn French in Years 3 and 4. In Years 5 and 6, they switch to learning German. The rationale for teaching both languages is mostly based on teachers’ subject knowledge and their enthusiasm. Staff also feel that this gives pupils valuable experience of more than one language and prepares them for secondary school.

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Main findings

Leaders and staff know that there is work to be done to meet the breadth and ambition of the national curriculum. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 learn more or less the same aspects in German as they did in French when in Years 3 and 4. They do not study one language across the whole of key stage 2, which limits pupils’ progression and does not allow pupils to access the full programme of study for MFL. Opportunities to develop speaking and listening skills are built into the curriculum, but are more limited for reading and writing. Pupils do not generally progress to more complex use of either language beyond replacing single words or phrases in sentences.

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Main findings

Pupils do not have regular, timetabled language lessons. Teachers aim to deliver a one hour lesson each week, but this does not always happen. Staff described ‘pinch points’ in the school year when other learning or events take priority over MFL. Sometimes languages are taught in half-termly blocks, so pupils have long gaps between their lessons. Teachers try to ‘drip feed’ languages into everyday routines, such as counting down in a different language when changing activities. In key stage 1, pupils become confident with vocabulary for greeting people by answering the register in different languages, including French, German and Spanish. However, because of the somewhat sporadic language learning, pupils do not have enough opportunities to practise and consolidate new vocabulary. As a result, it is not embedded in their memory.

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Main findings

The languages curriculum is mainly focused on learning vocabulary. Teachers plan lessons to develop and extend pupils’ vocabulary. They choose activities which engage pupils as they want lessons to be fun. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 practised vocabulary about hobbies from the previous lesson through a variety of activities and were keen to find new words in a dictionary. Staff must ensure that activities are always purposeful and designed to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills.

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Main findings

Grammar is taught incidentally if it fits in with the topic being taught. For example, pupils knew possessive adjectives in French from learning about family members. They knew the difference between ‘mon’, ‘ma’ and ‘mes’ and older pupils knew that there are three genders for nouns in German. However, pupils could not apply this to other contexts, such as the difference between ‘un/une’. The disjointed approach to teaching basic grammar does not support pupils’ understanding of how each language works.

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Main findings

Staff reference sound-spelling links (the links between sounds and spellings of words) in their planning and ensure that these are pointed out to pupils. Pupils are particularly confident in their German pronunciation and have some understanding of how accents are used. Pupils also enjoyed singing German carols when learning about the Christmas truce as part of their commemorations for the First World War.

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Evidence

I met with the headteacher, the subject leader for MFL/class teacher of Year 5 and 6 and the Year 3 and 4 class teacher. I visited language lessons in key stages 1 and 2. I met with two groups of pupils from key stage 2 to discuss their learning in French and German. I reviewed a sample of pupils’ language work from both key stage 2 classes. I also looked at medium-term and long-term curriculum plans for MFL, the MFL action plan, pupil surveys conducted by leaders and information on how MFL fitted in to the whole-school curriculum.

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Context

The school is a smaller-than-average-sized primary school. There are currently 107 pupils on roll and four classes: Reception, Year 1/2, Year 3/4 and Year 5/6. The majority of pupils are from a White British background. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average. The number of pupils entitled to free school meals is below average. The proportion of pupils included in the register of special educational needs is above average.

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Context

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Hampshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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