Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School

CORPUS CHRISTI CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 1 st - 4 th July 2002

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CORPUS CHRISTI CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

Full inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

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CORPUS CHRISTI CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Ellenborough Park South Weston-Super-Mare North Somerset Postcode: BS23 1XW

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The governing body

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Name of chair of governors: Mrs M Gleeson

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: June 1997 Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 4

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Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

2440 Mrs P Francis Registered inspector Science Foundation Stage curriculum Special educational needs What sort of school is it? The school’s results and pupils’ achievements. How well are pupils taught? How well is the school led and managed? What should the school do to improve further? 9756 Mr K Parsons Lay inspector How well does the school care for its pupils? How well does the school work in partnership with parents? 1951 Ms Y Crizzle Team inspector Art and design Music English as an additional language How good are the curricular and other opportunities offered to pupils?

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Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

32048 Dr R Grigg Team inspector English History Physical education Equal opportunities 31838 Mr M Williams Team inspector Mathematics Information and communication technology Design and technology Geography Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development.

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Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

Serco QAA Herringston Barn Herringston Dorchester Dorset DT2 9PU

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Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with the inspection contractor. Complaints that are not satisfactorily resolved by the contractor should be raised with OFSTED by writing to:

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Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 5

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 6

Information about the school How good the school is What the school does well What could be improved How the school has improved since its last inspection Standards Pupils’ attitudes and values Teaching and learning Other aspects of the school How well the school is led and managed Parents’ and carers’ views of the school

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HOW HIGH ARE STANDARDS? 11

The school’s results and pupils’ achievements Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

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AREAS OF THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES 31

Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 6

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Corpus Christi Voluntary Aided Catholic Primary School is of average size and serves a wide area of the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, in North Somerset. During the inspection 238 pupils, aged four to 11 years, from diverse social backgrounds, attended the school with 80 per cent of the children from families of the Catholic faith. There are more boys than girls, particularly in Years 3 and 5. Most pupils are white. However, nearly six per cent of pupils come from ethnic minority backgrounds although only just over one half of these are at an early stage of learning English. The proportion of pupils who are eligible for a free school meal is in line with the national average. Overall, pupils’ attainment on entry is average although it varies widely. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and the proportion with a Statement of Special Educational Needs are broadly in line with the national average.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Pupils with special educational needs have moderate learning difficulties, emotional and behavioural difficulties and there are four pupils with a statement. The school is included in the Weston Education Action Zone (WEAZ) and in a local Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) partnership with two other schools. In March, the school was awarded Investors in People status.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

Corpus Christi school provides a sound education for its pupils and gives satisfactory value for money. Generally, most pupils’ achievement is satisfactory; it is good in mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT) due to a successful whole-school focus for improvement in those two subjects. Pupils have good attitudes to their work and behave well. This is due to the overall good teaching and the good leadership and management from the headteacher and acting deputy headteacher, supported by the governors.

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What the school does well

• The headteacher, his acting deputy and the governors provide a clear educational direction for the school that promotes effective teaching and learning. • The good improvement in mathematics and very good improvement in ICT have resulted in pupils’ good achievement and above average standards in Years 1 to 6 in both subjects. • As a result of the good relationships that teachers and their assistants enjoy with pupils, the good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development and teachers’ good management of behaviour, pupils have good attitudes to their work and behave well. • In Years 1 to 6, the good teaching promotes effective learning. • The school takes good care of its pupils.

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What could be improved

• The unsatisfactory teaching in the reception year, which leads to underachievement for children in the Foundation Stage. • Below average and low standards of attainment in art and design and music in Years 1 to 6, and in design and technology and geography in Years 3 to 6. • The role of the subject co-ordinators in monitoring and evaluating standards of work, and teaching and its impact on learning. • Statutory requirements are not met in sex education for older pupils or in the National Curriculum for music. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

The school was last inspected in June 1997. Improvement since then has been satisfactory overall, although not as much as could be expected in five years because of various constraints. Very limited improvement occurred until the governors were able to appoint a new headteacher in January 2000, two and a half years after the inspection. In the intervening period from the last inspection to the new headteacher’s appointment, evidence from parents, staff and governors indicates that standards of Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 7 attainment, pupils’ attitudes and their behaviour worsened. The headteacher has also been hindered by the inability to form a stable senior management team due to two long-term absences of senior teachers. The quality of teaching has also suffered from a succession of supply teachers to cover for these absences. In spite of these problems, the school has gained a nationally recognised achievement

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

award for the improvement in its standards, and teaching and learning have improved to good. There has been good improvement in the main key issue from the last inspection, the leadership and management of the headteacher and governors, which indicates a good capacity to improve further. The school has been assisted in its improvement by extra funding from the membership of two initiatives, the WEAZ and a SRB partnership. The local authority has assisted the school in its staffing problems by arranging for, and partly financing, the loan of an acting deputy headteacher for six months.

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STANDARDS

The table shows the standards achieved by pupils at the end of Year 6 based on average point scores in National Curriculum tests.

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Performance in:

1999 2000 2001 2001 English C C B B mathematics D C C B science C C B B

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Key

well above average A above average B average C below average D well below average E

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Key

Children’s achievement is unsatisfactory in their reception year. They reach average standards at the end of their reception year in personal, social and emotional development, mathematical development, and physical development; their attainment is below average in communication, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world and creative development. These standards are due to unsatisfactory teaching in the reception class where the teacher’s expectations are too low and management of children is unsatisfactory.

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Key

By the end of Year 2, in comparison with schools nationally and with similar schools, test results in 2001 indicated standards in reading and writing that were average; in mathematics, standards were well above average. In the teacher assessments for science, the proportion of pupils reaching the average levels and above, was within the highest five per cent nationally. Results in mathematics are particularly good with one third of the pupils reaching the higher levels. The school identified concerns in the below average proportions of pupils attaining the higher levels in reading, writing and science at the end of Year 2, and in the lower proportion of pupils gaining the higher level in science compared with English and mathematics at the end of Year 6. The school acknowledged these as areas for improvement in its school development plan. Inspection evidence shows that satisfactory progress has been made in

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Key

reading and writing, but the impact of improvements made in science has not yet had sufficient time to be seen in the 2002 test results.

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Key

The work pupils were doing during the inspection confirmed these standards for the end of Years 2 and 6, except in mathematics where pupils at the end of Years 2 and 6 reach above average standards. Overall, pupils achieve satisfactorily through Years 1 to 6 with good achievement in mathematics and ICT. Although, across the school, pupils’ skills in speaking and listening are average, this represents a dip in standards since the previous inspection when standards were reported to be above average in Years 3 to 6. Achievement in art and design, design and technology, geography and music is unsatisfactory. The trend in the school’s results is similar to the national trend and the school meets its appropriately challenging targets.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 8

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Pupils like coming to school, they are keen to learn and have good attitudes towards their work.

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Aspect Comment

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Good. Pupils follow the school’s high expectations of behaviour. There have been a few exclusions in recent years for aggressive behaviour, but the rate of exclusion has reduced this year as the school’s behaviour policy has been implemented effectively.

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Aspect Comment

Personal development and relationships Satisfactory personal development. The school’s good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development has not had sufficient time yet to realise its full impact. The good relationships between pupils and staff are characterised by mutual respect.

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Aspect Comment

Attendance Satisfactory. Most pupils arrive at school punctually in the morning, allowing an efficient start to the school day. The attendance figures represent an improvement since the last inspection.

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Teaching of pupils in: Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

Quality of teaching Unsatisfactory Good Good Inspectors make judgements about teaching in the range: excellent; very good; good; satisfactory; unsatisfactory; poor; very poor. ‘Satisfactory’ means that the teaching is adequate and strengths outweigh weaknesses.

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Teaching of pupils in: Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

The quality of teaching and learning is good overall, although in the reception class it is unsatisfactory. In Years 1 to 6, teaching is good in English and the skills of literacy, and in mathematics and the skills of numeracy. The particular strengths in teaching are the effective range of teaching methods, detailed planning, teachers’ good management of their classes and the good use of skilled teaching assistants, which enable teachers to meet the needs of most groups of pupils. As a response to the teaching in Years 1 to 6, pupils usually behave well, they try hard to succeed and work productively at a good pace. They show by their good attitudes that they are keen to learn. Across the curriculum, teachers generally use literacy and numeracy skills well, but there are weaknesses in the development of pupils’ speaking and listening skills. While pupils generally listen attentively, teachers give pupils insufficient

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Teaching of pupils in: Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

opportunities to develop speaking skills. From reception to Year 6, pupils with English as an additional language have particular problems in speaking and listening and there is a lack of expertise among the staff to assist these pupils with their specific needs in oral language. The teaching of ICT has improved since the last inspection and standards are now above average. Pupils make satisfactory use of their ICT skills in English, mathematics, science, art and design and history. Their improved skills are not used sufficiently yet in the other subjects of the curriculum.

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Teaching of pupils in: Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

In the reception class, the teacher provides many practical and visual activities to stimulate children to learn. However, she expects too little from children in their work and behaviour. She supervises the children when they are working rather than interacting with them to challenge them to greater effort or higher standards. The fall in standards in the areas of learning since the last inspection is related to the decline in teaching that has worsened from good to unsatisfactory. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 9

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum Satisfactory. There is a good range of investigative work in mathematics and science, however, opportunities for creative work are unsatisfactory. Statutory requirements are not met in music and sex education. Extra- curricular provision is good.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils with special educational needs Satisfactory. Teachers plan effectively to meet these pupils’ needs in English, mathematics, science and ICT. They use teaching assistants well to support these pupils. The quality of individual educational plans is satisfactory.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils with English as an additional language Satisfactory. Although these pupils make satisfactory progress, teachers and their assistants need further training to meet their specific needs more precisely.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Good overall. There is good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development. Provision for pupils’ cultural development is satisfactory and the school prepares pupils adequately for life in a diverse society.

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Aspect Comment

How well the school cares for its pupils Good. Teachers and teaching assistants know pupils well and take good care of them.

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Aspect Comment

The school has a satisfactory partnership with parents.

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff Good overall. The headteacher demonstrates good leadership. He conveys his clear sense of direction and the high standards he expects effectively. Together the headteacher and acting deputy headteacher have developed a good management partnership that has helped to move the school forwards. Most co-ordinators provide satisfactory leadership in their subjects.

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Aspect Comment

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Good. The governing body has played its full part in raising standards in the school over the last two and a half years. Governors express a determination not to let past problems recur and they have put in place procedures to ensure that they fulfil their role effectively.

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Aspect Comment

The school’s evaluation of its performance Satisfactory. The headteacher analyses pupils’ performance effectively and monitors teaching, assisted by advisers from the local authority, but co-ordinators do not play a full role in the process yet.

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Aspect Comment

The strategic use of resources Satisfactory. Spending is monitored well and the principles of best value are applied satisfactorily.

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Aspect Comment

The school has a satisfactory level of staffing, adequate learning resources and accommodation. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 10

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• The school is helping their children to become mature and responsible. • Behaviour in the school is good. • Their children like school. • They would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. • Teaching is good. • Their children are making good progress. • The information they receive on how their children are getting on. • The way in which the school works closely with parents. • The range of activities outside lessons. • The amount of homework.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

The inspectors agree with parents’ and carers’ positive views of the school. While inspectors agree that the quality of the annual reports on pupils’ progress does not give sufficient information to tell parents how their child is getting on, inspectors’ findings do not support their views on the other concerns. The school makes good efforts to keep parents informed and to listen to parental views. Activities outside lessons are quite extensive for a primary school. Homework, including reading books, is usually appropriate for this age group. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 11

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

1. In 2001, the school received a nationally recognised School Achievement Award for its progress. Inspection findings show that since the last inspection, there has been very good improvement in standards in information and communication technology (ICT), good improvement in mathematics and standards have been maintained in English, science, history and physical education (PE). There has been a decline in standards in art and design, design and technology, geography and music from average to below average, and well below average in art and design at the end of Year 6. The school’s emphasis on improving standards in English, mathematics, science and ICT as its first priority, has been successful. The success of the headteacher’s efforts to improve teaching is evident in that the quality of teaching is consistently better in those four subjects and helps to explain the improving standards.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

2. Children enter school with attainment that is within an average band. Overall in the reception year, children’s achievement is unsatisfactory. While they reach the Early Learning Goals by the end of the reception year in personal, social and emotional development, mathematical development and physical development, achievement is unsatisfactory in communication, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world and creative development, and children do not meet the Early Learning Goals in these areas. These standards are due to unsatisfactory teaching in the reception class where the teacher’s expectations are often too low. Opportunities to develop essential basic skills are not of a high enough quality, management of pupils is unsatisfactory, there is insufficient high quality interaction with pupils to improve what they do and work does not always build systematically on what went before to

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

improve children’s skills, knowledge and understanding.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

3. In the 2001 national tests for pupils at the end of Years 2 and 6, the school identified concerns in the below average proportion of pupils attaining the higher levels in reading and writing at the end of Year 2, and in the lower proportion of pupils gaining the higher level in science compared with English and mathematics at the end of Year 6. The school acknowledged these as areas for improvement in its school development plan. Inspection evidence shows that satisfactory progress has been made in reading and writing (see paragraph 78). However, the recent unvalidated test results in science for 2002 show a decline in the proportion of higher levels attained. This does not match the results overall in English, but does reflect the results in the writing tests where a high proportion of pupils, about one quarter, attained the lower level in writing. This may have had an impact on their written recording in the science tests. All the

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

2002 results should be seen in the context of a high proportion of pupils, 29 per cent, with special educational needs in the current Year 6.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

4. The work that pupils were doing during the inspection demonstrated that they achieve well in mathematics and ICT in Years 1 to 6 and reach above average standards. They reach average standards and achieve as expected in English, science, history and PE in Years 1 to 6, and in design and technology and geography in Years 1 and 2. Pupils reach below average standards and achieve less well than expected in art and design and music in Years 1 and 2, and in design and technology, geography and music in Years 3 to 6. In art and design in Years 3 to 6, achievement is poor and standards are low. There are no significant differences between the performance of boys and girls. In art and design standards are low because essential skills are not taught well initially. Pupils are not supported adequately in developing their knowledge, understanding and skills systematically, hence, as they become older, they are not building

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

adequately on what has gone before. In music, standards are below average because there is a lack of expertise in the subject across the school. Some classes do not have regular lessons to supplement the work of the teacher for singing and aspects of the National Curriculum are not taught. In geography and design and technology, standards have fallen to below average because the school has had more pressing needs in English, mathematics science and ICT. Consequently, other subjects have not been addressed systematically in order to develop the Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 12 curriculum and teaching, and pupils have not had the necessary range of experiences or acquired key skills by the end of Year 6.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

5. After his appointment, two and a half years after the last inspection, and after standards had fallen further, the new headteacher appreciated that the most important improvement to make was in the pupils’ attitudes to their learning and their behaviour. Until teachers’ management of pupils had improved, he realised that the impact of teaching on learning and pupils’ standards of attainment was likely to be minimal. The school has undertaken several initiatives to improve the social skills and behaviour of pupils. The result of these initiatives is that teachers consistently apply good approaches to the management of pupils’ behaviour. Teachers can now spend most of their time in teaching rather than in trying to control poor behaviour. Most pupils’ behaviour is now good and they are keen to learn and achieve well. The headteacher has also been constrained in his efforts to improve teaching, his second priority for improvement, by a

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

succession of supply teachers to cover two long-term absences. One class has been taught by seven teachers during this academic year. Although, overall, teaching and learning are now good, achievement does not always reflect this because there has not yet been long enough for the good learning to have a positive impact over a whole key stage. For the same reason, achievement in some subjects is better in Years 1 and 2 than it is in Years 3 to 6.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

6. In English, pupils achieve adequately from an average starting point and standards by the end of Years 2 and 6 are average. Standards in reading, spelling and speaking and listening are average, while in writing they are slightly below average. Standards in speaking and listening have fallen since the last inspection because teachers do not provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to speak in lessons or in drama, do not challenge them enough to answer clearly or to use words well to express more subtle ideas, and do not help them sufficiently to improve the quality of their performance. Basic skills in reading are well taught throughout the school. As a consequence, most pupils make good progress although older pupils do not have adequate skills to use the library effectively for research.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

7. In mathematics, pupils achieve well due to the good teaching in the subject and, at the end of Years 2 and 6, standards, including those in numeracy, are above average. Pupils have a good knowledge of mathematical language and by the end of Year 6 are adept at solving problems.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

8. The school has not identified any pupils as gifted, but recognises one pupil as being talented in art and design. The school recognises its higher attainers. The key issue in the last inspection, to extend these pupils more, has been addressed in English, mathematics, science and ICT, as teachers’ planning and challenge matches these pupils’ needs much more precisely now and they make satisfactory progress. They are not so well catered for in other subjects. Pupils who have special educational needs make satisfactory progress in relation to their prior attainment because of the good support that they receive from the teaching assistants and work that matches their needs well in English, mathematics, science and ICT. Targets in some individual educational plans meet their needs well, while others are too broad. The progress of pupils who have English as an additional language is generally satisfactory. Although they receive extra

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

support in lessons, teachers and their assistants need further training to meet their specific language needs more precisely.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

9. Pupils’ attitudes and behaviour are good. All pupils, regardless of their background or level of attainment, enjoy their lessons, show enthusiasm for school and uphold its values. This has a positive effect on their learning, attainment and conduct. The quality of pupils’ personal development is satisfactory. This is a similar picture to that found at the last inspection, although evidence from parents, governors and staff indicate that there was a decline in pupils’ attitudes, values and behaviour during the two and a half year period between the last inspection and the new headteacher’s appointment. This improvement was his first priority when he started at the school, and has been successful. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 13 10. Pupils have good attitudes to learning. They are well motivated. They come to the classroom willing and prepared to work hard. They show commitment to their work, both in lessons and in

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

after school activities. For example, many pupils are prepared to stay on at the end of the school day to take part in the wide range of sports and other clubs. Pupils in Year 6 were especially enthusiastic to describe their residential visit to North Wales. Pupils in Years 1 to 6 listen to instructions with care and sustain their concentration well in class. In the reception class, children do not always listen attentively to each other or to the teacher, especially while sitting together on the carpet for introductions and instructions. Pupils work independently on individual and group tasks; a pair of boys in Year 2, for example, worked diligently in one room with the minimum of supervision to prepare information they had gathered from the Internet whilst their classmates undertook a related task in an adjacent room. In all age groups, attitudes to learning promote pupils’ attainment and progress. Pupils are interested in the

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

subject matter of their lessons, and are enthusiastic about the prospect of gaining new knowledge and skills because they are taught well. Where teaching is just satisfactory or unsatisfactory, pupils’ attention is not held so securely so their motivation wanes.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

11. Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school is good. This is in line with the views of parents. Pupils clearly understand the school’s expectations regarding behaviour and uphold its code of conduct. For example, they were well mannered when in the dining hall, eating their lunch quietly. Pupils behave well because they have accepted and absorbed the school’s ethos of fairness and care for one another. This results in pupils being self-disciplined, polite and considerate, as when they spontaneously hold doors open for visitors. Few pupils have been excluded; those who have, were excluded for aggressive behaviour and the rate of exclusion has reduced this year as the school’s behaviour policy has been implemented effectively. Behaviour in the classroom and assemblies is generally orderly. This helps teachers to teach effectively and pupils to learn well.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

12. Relationships within the school are good. Those between pupils and staff are characterised by mutual respect. This enhances the quality of both lessons and pastoral care. In class, pupils follow teachers’ instructions, value what they have to say and are willing to accept guidance from them. Relationships among pupils are also good and are based on co-operation and friendship. In lessons, pupils usually work collaboratively without close supervision, share resources and take turns to use equipment. Examples of genuine applause for the success of others show how well they relate to each other. They socialise well out of class. Pupils of different ages, gender and ethnic origins play together harmoniously in the playground. Pupils in the reception year have a ’buddy‘ in Year 6 who takes some responsibility for their welfare, helping them to settle into school life. As part of their studies the older pupils have chosen to

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

create multimedia story presentations featuring the younger children as major characters. This shows their desire to demonstrate care in a practical way. In class, duties and jobs are given to pupils on a regular basis and they respond to their tasks sensibly.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

13. Pupils’ personal development is satisfactory. The improvement in the school’s provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development has not yet had sufficient time to have a strong impact. The school has a satisfactory programme of personal, social and health education that helps to prepare pupils for life outside school and encourages them to express and reflect on their feelings . Pupils are not always prepared well to give or receive constructive criticism. For example, in a Year 6 circle time, pupils sometimes gave candid opinions of the performance of a group of classmates in rehearsals for a play. They failed to notice the hurt that was caused, as the subjects of the comments visibly stiffened with embarrassment, but said nothing. In the school as a whole, pupils relate well to one another. Instances of bullying have been rare, and readily resolved. In the various times of prayer during the school day all pupils, whether

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

practising Catholics or not, take part with great respect. Pupils interviewed felt that their own views were valued and, therefore, they had respect for those of others. Pupils of all ages are encouraged to take responsibility; for example, by representing their class on the school council. They show maturity and responsibility when helping to organise events to raise funds for charity. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 14 14. Pupils' attendance is satisfactory and has a positive effect on pupils’ attainment and progress. Most pupils arrive at school punctually in the morning, allowing an efficient start to the school day. Unauthorised absence is below the national average. Attendance figures would be better except for two factors. A number of parents take their children out of school for holidays in term time and pupils transferring to other schools sometimes stay on the register for weeks, recorded

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

as absent, before their new school makes contact. This overall picture represents an improvement since the last inspection.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

15. Teaching in Years 1 to 6 has shown good improvement since the last inspection when it was judged to be satisfactory with 12 per cent of unsatisfactory teaching, of which one per cent was poor. In Years 1 to 6, teaching and learning in most lessons are good. However, this good teaching has not been in place for long enough to have a cumulative, positive effect over the whole school to raise achievement in all subjects. In the reception class, the quality of teaching is unsatisfactory overall and has worsened since the last inspection.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

16. Overall, teaching and learning in the reception class are unsatisfactory because teaching in two out of every five lessons is unsatisfactory and there is underachievement by children particularly in communication, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world and in creative development. The quality of teaching in personal, social and emotional development, mathematical development and physical development is satisfactory. The teacher is assisted well by two experienced and knowledgeable teaching assistants who use their own initiative to support children, as they receive inadequate leadership and direction from the teacher in their work. The fall in standards in the areas of learning since the last inspection is related to the decline in teaching that has worsened from good to unsatisfactory.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

17. In the reception class too little is expected from children in their work and behaviour. Children usually try to succeed, but they soon learn that they do not need to extend themselves to receive praise. The teacher understands that children of this age need many practical and visual activities to stimulate them to learn, and these she provides, but there are too few opportunities for them to speak at any length and to practise their use of number in other areas of learning. When children are working at their activities, they show interest and concentrate adequately for their ages. In most of the lessons seen, the teacher supervised the class rather than interacting with the children to question them about their work or challenge them to greater effort or higher standards. When children sat on the carpet to listen to the teacher, they often became restless and inattentive due to the teacher’s unsatisfactory management of their behaviour, and they

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

were often too noisy when working in groups. The lesson planning is satisfactory overall and identifies clear learning objectives in literacy and numeracy providing work that matches most pupils’ needs adequately. In the other areas of learning, most children undertake the same activities and the higher attainers, in particular, are not challenged enough. While teaching assistants support children with learning difficulties well, they give satisfactory support to children with English as an additional language, but require further training to target their support more precisely to the children’s specific needs in language.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

18. In Years 1 to 6, teaching is good overall. Pupils make at least satisfactory progress, and good progress in most lessons. Teaching was good or very good in two out of three lessons seen and satisfactory in the remaining one in three. In Years 1 to 6, teaching was good in English, mathematics, science, information and communication technology and in physical education; it was satisfactory in history and music. In geography in Years 1 and 2, teaching was satisfactory; in Years 3 to 6 it was unsatisfactory. Limited teaching was seen in design and technology. In art and design, no teaching was seen in Years 1 and 2, but, whilst teaching in lessons seen in Years 3 to 6 was generally good, essential skills are not taught well initially. Pupils are not supported well in developing their knowledge, understanding and skills systematically through the school, which suggests that teaching overall is unsatisfactory. A

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

contributory factor in the weaker teaching in art and design in Years 1 and 2 and in geography in Years 3 to 6, is the teachers’ unsatisfactory knowledge and understanding of the subjects. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 15 19. A strength in the teaching is the teachers’ good management of their classes. Adults and pupils have good relationships and teachers base their good management of pupils on these. As a result, pupils usually behave well, they try hard to succeed and they work productively at a good pace. They show by their good attitudes that they are keen to learn. Teachers use an effective range of teaching methods. They establish routines well and pupils know what they are expected to do and how to behave. In science, most lessons were using scientific skills of enquiry and pupils needed to use equipment and work co-operatively in groups, which most pupils managed well. In mathematics, teachers set realistic problems for pupils to use and

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apply their mathematical skills. These opportunities to use their investigative skills motivate them to learn. Teachers’ good lesson plans are detailed and demonstrate all stages of a lesson clearly. All pupils are familiar with WALT, ‘We are learning to’. Teachers share these clear objectives for pupils’ learning with them and at the end of lessons, and often refer to WALT when they review what has been learned during the lesson. Pupils are usually interested and they concentrate well. Pupils with learning difficulties learn well in English, mathematics, science and ICT due to work that is matched appropriately to their needs and good support from teachers and their assistants. In the remaining subjects, work is not always so well matched to their needs although they still receive extra support, usually with their basic skills. Their individual educational plans are overall satisfactory, but their quality is variable; some of the

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targets are too broad, others are precise.

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20. Across the curriculum, teachers generally use literacy and numeracy skills well, but there are weaknesses in the development of pupils’ speaking and listening skills. Teachers give pupils too few opportunities to develop their spoken language because teachers talk too much. During assemblies led by the headteacher, he used a strategy called ‘buzz’, where pupils turned to their neighbour to discuss their thoughts before contributing ideas publicly. This enabled pupils to think through their contributions and try them out before offering them to the teacher. His good example has not been followed by teachers in the classrooms. Drama is also rarely used in lessons to develop pupils’ speech. When pupils contribute suggestions or reports on their work, they are often reluctant to speak and the average and below average attainers have particular difficulties in speaking in sentences and at length. In circle times, when pupils sit in a

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circle to discuss personal and social issues, pupils’ responses to the teacher’s questions were often one word and pupils did not participate in thoughtful discussion. There is no extra funding for the teaching of pupils who have English as an additional language. These pupils have particular problems in speaking and listening and there is a lack of expertise among the staff to assist these pupils in their oral language. While teachers and their assistants support pupils with English as an additional language adequately and they make satisfactory progress, teachers do not plan work that matches their specific needs in the acquisition of language. The headteacher is about to introduce individual ‘action plans’ for each of the pupils who are at the early stages of language acquisition, to improve their progress.

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21. The quality of teachers’ assessment and its use is sound. While pupils work, teachers and their assistants support and assess their work and give advice on how to improve. Generally, teachers use the plenary at the end of the lesson well to review pupils’ learning and to resolve any difficulties encountered. There were some good examples, in mathematics and science, where the results of teachers’ assessment of pupils’ progress were well used to adjust planning for the next session or later within the same lesson. In mathematics in Year 4, the good communication between the two teachers who share the teaching of a class meant that work on addition in columns was revised in the next lesson after the difficulty had been identified. In science in Year 2, the teacher assessed that the investigative work was not proceeding well because pupils needed further guidance on their social skills in working co-operatively in groups.

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The lesson was stopped and the necessary guidance and reminders were given. In the very good lessons, a key strength was the teacher’s very good questioning skills that challenged pupils to try harder to succeed and extended their learning. These skills were also used to assess pupils’ understanding effectively. Written marking is not used so well. Most marking consists of a tick and a word of praise with little guidance for pupils on how to improve their work. While some pupils have targets to improve their behaviour, the school has not yet begun to use individual targets for pupils in their work so that they can be guided precisely on how to Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 16 improve. Homework is used regularly and generally includes reading and spelling. This is satisfactory. Sometimes there are useful links to other subjects, such as history and science.

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22. The teaching of ICT has improved since the last inspection and standards are now above average. Pupils make satisfactory use of their skills in English, mathematics, science, art and design and history. Their improved skills are not used sufficiently yet in the other subjects of the curriculum.

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STUDENTS?

23. In the Foundation Stage, the curriculum is satisfactorily planned and includes all the areas of learning including religious education. Provision for children who have special educational needs is satisfactory. There are weaknesses in planning to meet the needs of those who have English as an additional language, but the headteacher has plans to improve this.

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STUDENTS?

24. The quality and range of learning opportunities provided for all pupils in Years 1 to 6 are satisfactory. The allocation of time to all National Curriculum subjects is broadly satisfactory. The school would benefit from a closer analysis of time to make certain that they are more in line with national recommendations, and of timetables, to be sure that all year groups are taught all subjects regularly. This was also reflected in the previous inspection where the allocation of time seemed appropriate, but variation was seen in practice. All subjects of the National Curriculum are taught as well as religious education. Provision for personal, social and health education is satisfactory. For example, health education is taught through science and includes drugs misuse, but the school does not fully meet the statutory requirements for meeting the needs of older pupils in relation to sex education. Governors have made decisions, parents have

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STUDENTS?

been advised of these programmes and have been told of their right to withdraw their children from this work, but the programme has not been taught in the classroom. There is a daily act of collective worship. However, there are too few opportunities for pupils to develop skills well in art and music. Statutory requirements are not met in music across the school. The weaknesses identified in information and communication technology in the previous inspection have been addressed.

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STUDENTS?

25. The whole-school planning initiative in curricular mapping aims to avoid undue repetition and to help pupils to build on their prior learning as they move through the school. However, already there is evidence that repetition does occur and pupils do not always add usefully to their learning as envisaged. For example, in science several worksheets on materials used by pupils of all abilities in Year 3 were also used in Year 5 without any development of the tasks. Curricular mapping was designed for single year group classes. This means that pupils in the mixed Years 5/6 class have not received the same areas of subject experiences as their year group in the single Years 5 and 6 classes; for example, in history. These different experiences coupled with the succession of supply teachers over the year, means that pupils in the Years 5/6 class have achieved less well than their peers in the single Years 5 and 6 classes.

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STUDENTS?

26. Planning generally caters well for the needs of the higher attainers and pupils who have special educational needs in English, mathematics, science and information and communication technology. It is generally satisfactory in other subjects although there are weaknesses in art and design, design and technology and geography. Planning shows that pupils who have English as an additional language are generally catered for adequately; in practice, it is good in mathematics and information and communication technology and satisfactory in English and science and some other subjects. However, in line with most other pupils, it is unsatisfactory in art and music in Years 1 and 2, and in design and technology and geography for the older pupils, consequently, standards are lower than they should be.

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STUDENTS?

27. Although the headteacher collects planning documents from individual teachers regularly, these documents are not monitored thoroughly. The quality and usefulness of planning is not evaluated with a view to its effectiveness on how well all pupils learn. Subject co-ordinators are generally not in a good position to keep an overview of their subjects through whole-school Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 17 planning and the monitoring of teaching and learning. The school has yet to take a detailed look into what pupils know and understand, and make appropriate adjustments to short-term plans to help meet pupils’ needs more effectively, particularly in the foundation subjects.

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STUDENTS?

28. The school has responded to recent changes in education, with the exception of music, and implements the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies well. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s guidance is generally used for other subjects and the locally agreed syllabus is used for religious education. The school is aware of the need to develop schemes, including religious education, to better meet the needs of its pupils. Priority was given to creating policies in anti-bullying, behaviour, spirituality and child protection. These documents are in place and practice shows that to a large extent they have been implemented successfully. The school’s focus has been to raise standards in English, mathematics, science and ICT, and this has been particularly successful.

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STUDENTS?

29. Provision for pupils who have special educational needs is satisfactory throughout the school. The special educational needs co-ordinator, who is also the temporary co-ordinator for Key Stage 1, has regular non-contact time in which to fulfil her responsibility. The school has adapted its practice to meet the recommendations of the revised Code of Practice. All class teachers have a comprehensive file in which there are detailed records of all pupils who are on the school’s register of special educational needs, including the dates of all reviews of their progress. This file also contains pupils’ individual educational plans. Overall, these are satisfactory in quality, but some have specific targets that are easily measured, while in others, targets are too broad. The school also uses finance from the two initiatives in which it is involved, the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) and the local education action zone, to install

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STUDENTS?

computers, software, furniture and personnel to introduce Successmaker, which has had a positive impact on the learning of pupils with special educational needs.

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STUDENTS?

30. Equality of access and opportunity is satisfactory. However, there are occasions when insufficient consideration is given to making sure that boys and girls are encouraged to participate in the extra-curricular and other small group activities. These are often single gender groups. The school has yet to consider initiatives and strategies to help pupils, particularly those who have English as an additional language, to interact and participate more fully in opportunities to use speech meaningfully in subjects, such as geography, for older pupils.

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STUDENTS?

31. Educational visits take place to enrich the curriculum, including residential visits for Years 5 and 6. Visitors are invited into school to work with pupils and these include local artists. There is a good range of extra-curricular activities and these include drama and sports.

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STUDENTS?

32. The school plays an important part in the life of the local Catholic community. In return, this community makes a good contribution to pupils’ learning. Links with the three local parishes are close. The parish priest from Corpus Christi in particular, often comes into school as well as regularly conducting acts of collective worship. The school attends this church, which is immediately adjacent, to celebrate special occasions such as harvest festival and Christmas, and the close links mean that the church is an integral part of the pupils’ lives. Pupils have visited the local theatre to see how it operates and the local environment is used well to support aspects of the curriculum; for example, the topic on seaside holidays in Year 1, and a visit to a local travel agency for children in the reception class.

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33. The school’s relationships with its partner educational institutions are good. In particular, liaison with other local primary schools has been strengthened by involvement in the Weston Education Achievement Zone (WEAZ) and through joint bids with two other primary schools for SRB funding. Management of the resulting projects is carried out jointly; for example, Walliscote School managed the family and pupil support worker on behalf of all three schools. Another productive relationship is with the other Catholic schools within St Bede’s catchment area. There are some links with local pre-school groups, whilst at the other end of their education, Years 5 and 6 pupils have the opportunity to visit their future secondary schools and there is appropriate liaison and a well-planned transition. Teenage pupils from local secondary schools come to Corpus Christi for their work experience. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 18

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STUDENTS?

34. The school makes good provision for pupils’ spiritual development. The school’s mission statement emphasises that ’the whole community of Corpus Christi, at all times and in everything it does, attempts to serve as witness to the Catholic faith’. This aim is reflected in the life of the school. Religious observance, including the celebration of Mass, is an important part of what the school provides. Acts of collective worship are held daily and within them the school addresses a variety of religious and moral themes. They include spiritual elements through activities such as prayer and reflection, as well as the ambience established in the school hall for these occasions. The saying of prayers is integral to the life of the school; for example, in class at the start of the afternoon session or at a meeting of the school council. During a circle time in Year 1, for example, the opportunity was taken to include the singing of a hymn to

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reinforce the theme of the lesson. Such occasions provide uplifting opportunities for a short period of reflection amidst the bustle of school life. The headteacher is providing a strong spiritual lead to the school, encouraging his example to permeate the school. Staff are adept at taking opportunities in lessons to address spiritual themes, when pupils are encouraged to reflect on their own achievements and those of others. Most classrooms have religious pictures and crucifixes as a possible focus for such thoughts. The religious education theme at the time of the inspection, ’differences’, was reflected in other subjects; for example, in history in Year 4, pupils had considered the differences between the Spartans and Athenians, highlighting how spiritual values can be learnt through a wide variety of subjects. Year 6 started the year by spending a day together at a local church, where they considered the gifts God had given them;

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at the end of the year they also celebrate moving to secondary school. Years 3 to 6 celebrate Mass in their classrooms with their parents. Occasions such as this provide a strongly embedded spiritual basis for the work of the school.

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STUDENTS?

35. The school’s effective provision for moral development is based on clear values, linked to respect and care for the individual, which are shared by pupils, teachers and parents alike. Teachers provide pupils with very good examples of hard work, care and consideration for others, often taking great pains to help pupils when they need support with some aspect of their work. The school has clear expectations and effective strategies for promoting good behaviour, firmly established in a moral code. Pupils understand right from wrong, and are aware of the consequences of their actions. Assemblies make an important contribution to the development of pupils’ moral awareness. Pupils are given good opportunities to explore moral issues in a programme of personal and social education and in religious education. The school provides a positive focus to caring for others through fund-raising for a range of charities. There are

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opportunities for pupils to take responsibility in lessons, carrying out such tasks as tidying away sensibly and willingly. The school council provides a useful forum for pupils of all ages to explore their own and others’ views.

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36. The school’s good provision for pupils’ social development is reflected in harmonious relationships among pupils, and between them and their teachers. Pupils regard the school as a friendly place and feel safe. There are many extra-curricular activities, which are well supported by the pupils. Pupils form good relationships in lessons, with many opportunities to develop their social skills in collaborative working and listening to the contributions of others in discussion; for example, in circle times. Pupils are given some good opportunities to work together in pairs or small groups; for example, in assemblies. The teachers are aware of pupils’ individual social as well as academic progress and achievements. Pupils are given opportunities to support each other; for example, non-participants were encouraged to write messages to classmates who were preparing for their first Mass. New pupils in the reception class have a

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special induction service of welcome to the school, when Year 6 pupils present them with their school tie as a symbol of joining the school community, and similarly there is a service to mark pupils’ promotion from the lower school into Year 3. The school makes good use of the Year 6 visit to the Rhos y Gwaliau residential centre to develop the pupils’ social skills. As one pupil said of the week, ’I found that if I put my trust in others I could do more’ – truly a lesson for life.

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STUDENTS?

37. The school’s cultural provision is satisfactory. A particular strength is drama; the drama club performs for parishioners, whilst at the time of the inspection, pupils in Year 6 were busy rehearsing their performance of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’, a challenging piece for this age Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 19 group. Pupils take part in local music festivals and the choir regularly sings in Corpus Christi Church. The school has also participated in the local ‘Arts in the Park’ day, when pupils perform and work with local artists. The school’s cultural provision is inevitably limited by the below average standards achieved in art and music within the school, with the opportunity to expand pupils’ range of experience further. This applies to pupils’ understanding of both English culture and their understanding of multicultural Britain. Pupils develop an awareness of major world faiths and events through religious education. There are other opportunities to experience

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elements of other cultures. The school has contacts with a school in Tanzania, which has provided a natural way of helping pupils to understand another society. A display on Africa in the entrance included contributions from the family of a pupil originally from the continent, but mixed artefacts from various different African cultures were indiscriminately displayed together. Pupils’ work in art and design, and design and technology is used to extend their ideas of other cultures; for example, designing Kenyan masks and studying Australian Aboriginal art.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

38. The school’s standards of support for pupils have been improved since the last inspection, but the improvements to the provision are recent and have not yet had time to have a full impact on pupils’ personal development. The school places particular emphasis on pupils’ social and personal development. This extends beyond the formal provision within the curriculum. The school mission statement outlines its ethos: ’each and every child is valued and encouraged to achieve human wholeness…in a happy secure Christian environment’. This attitude permeates the school. Corpus Christi School has a strong sense of community, and this strength means that it does not just function through formal rules. Virtually all parents believe that the school is effective in helping their children to become mature and responsible individuals.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

39. The headteacher and all members of staff make good provision for the care and welfare of their pupils. The school has good child protection procedures in accordance with local guidelines. The headteacher is experienced in this field and the staff have been briefed on their responsibilities. Appropriate records are kept. The governors and headteacher are active in ensuring that health and safety procedures are in place and followed. Formal risk assessments are completed prior to school trips. Routine health and safety procedures and testing are in place. No unsafe practice was seen in lessons during the inspection.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

40. The school provides a caring and supportive environment. All staff make considerable efforts to address the welfare of individual pupils when they need it. The contribution of teachers is noted and appreciated by both parents and pupils. There is provision within the programme for personal and social education to encourage pupils to take responsibility for themselves, notably through the ’Here I am’ programme. Support from the staff enables pupils to feel safe and valued and to concentrate on their learning, thus helping them to make progress to the best of their ability. All teachers are active in the pastoral care of their pupils. Throughout the school, teachers know their pupils well and successfully meet their individual needs. They are effective in supporting them when they need it. The monitoring of pupils’ personal development is good. It is largely informal, although more formal systems are in place if they are needed. Some pupils

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

have benefited well from help provided by the pupil support worker funded by the SRB partnership, and the Muller Foundation provides another useful resource to counsel pupils who need it.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

41. The school has good procedures to monitor attendance and encourage pupils to come to school regularly. A teaching assistant is employed to monitor absences and to contact parents on the first day of absence if no reason has been provided. There are thus systems in place to identify problems with attendance as they emerge, although the strong support for the school from parents means that these are not often needed. The educational welfare officer visits the school regularly and follows up any problem cases.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

42. There are good procedures to monitor and promote pupils’ behaviour. These are not just the formal systems. The key lies in the school having clear expectations, which are consistently maintained by all staff. The result is that most pupils understand and conform to the standards Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 20 required, although there are a few pupils who have problems doing so. The school’s behaviour management policy includes clear guidance to staff on rewards and sanctions, which is being applied well by staff. All classrooms have their rewards charts, whereby ten points for good work or behaviour lead to a certificate. Sanctions are also in use, with lunch-time detentions tending to remain as a largely unnecessary ultimate background threat. The anti-bullying policy is very good, including as it does, guidance on how subjects in the curriculum can be used to help to prevent bullying, and the role of awareness training. The emphasis on resolving bullying issues

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

rather than punishing a culprit is effective in this school.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

43. Improving assessment and recording arrangements was identified as a key issue in the previous inspection report. Inspection evidence shows that adequate progress has been made on this issue and assessment is now satisfactory overall, although there are a number of areas for further development.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

44. The school analyses and records assessment tests that take place in English, mathematics and science. The data is used to set whole-school and year group targets. For example, curricular targets are set in literacy and numeracy in the light of results from national tests. These are appropriately tied to the national strategies and cover the necessary skills. All subjects of the National Curriculum are assessed, and examples of pupils’ work kept in developing portfolios. However, this work is not used consistently to generate the next targets for improvement. Assessment in the non-core subjects remains unsatisfactory and the monitoring role of the co-ordinator is underdeveloped.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

45. The headteacher has effectively introduced a system of clear learning objectives throughout the school and short-term planning has, consequently, improved. This has had a positive impact on teaching and learning because, in most cases, pupils know exactly what they are learning in each lesson. Where assessment is effective, teachers adapt their planning to take into account the needs of individual pupils. In one good example, two teachers liaised effectively by modifying a mathematics lesson so that they could address difficulties experienced in subtraction by particular pupils during the previous lesson.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

46. Although the school has a brief out-of-date assessment policy, this does not set out agreed procedures for staff to follow. Partly because of this, the quality of day-to-day assessment and record keeping varies from class to class according to individual teachers’ expectations. When assessment does take place, it is usually to check what facts pupils have learned. Home reading logs, for instance, record what books pupils have read, but there is little further comment on targets, progress or how pupils may be helped. In lessons where oral and written feedback is good, misconceptions are noted and corrected with pupils being told what to do in order to improve their work.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

47. For each subject, teachers collect evidence of pupils’ work for their portfolios. These assist teachers in deciding upon the level reached by pupils. These portfolios are started in the reception class and follow pupils as they move through the school. Tracking of pupils’ progress and individual target setting are still in their early stages. The school does not formally track pupils’ social development although in everyday classroom activities, pupils are personally well supported by teachers and other adults. The exception to this is in the reception class, where the teacher effectively tracks children’s progress through the stepping stones and Early Learning Goals of the personal, social and emotional area of learning as part of the planned curriculum.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

48. Records for pupils with special educational needs include regular reviews of appropriate targets in their individual educational plans. Overall, arrangements for assessing the progress of pupils with special educational needs are sound. In the classrooms, pupils with special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language are generally well supported. However, procedures for tracking the progress of pupils with English as an additional language are not sufficiently tight, which means that strategies are not always matched to their particular needs. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 21

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

49. The school mission statement places great store by the school’s relationship with parents: ’it is our firm belief that the parents are the first and foremost educators of their children and we have been called upon to assist them achieve their God given task’. In practice, the school’s relationship with parents is a developing one as it works to overcome past difficulties. The proportion of parents who responded to the pre-inspection questionnaire or attended the meeting with inspectors was somewhat disappointing, but of those expressing a view, nearly all were positive about all aspects of the school. In particular, parents believe that their children like school, the teaching is good and their children work hard and make good progress. They endorse the standards of behaviour and think that the school helps children to become mature and responsible. A minority of parents expressed reservations about the amount of homework,

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

the information the school provides in terms of how pupils are getting on, how closely it works with parents, and the range of activities provided outside lessons. Inspectors’ findings do not support some of these concerns. Homework, including reading books, is usually appropriate for this age group. The school makes good efforts to keep parents informed and to listen to parental views. Activities outside lessons are quite extensive for a primary school. However, the quality of the annual reports on pupils’ progress does not give sufficient information to tell parents how their child is getting on. Overall, parents’ views of the school are satisfactory.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

50. The overall quality of information for parents is sound. The prospectus fulfils virtually all statutory requirements, as does the annual governors’ report to parents. The latter is a well-written document that gives a good flavour of the school. The annual reports to parents on their children’s progress consist of one side of A4 paper. For Years 1 and 2, they consist of three or four lines for English, mathematics, science and religious education, and a section each on topic work, expressive arts, information and communication technology and general comments. Reports need to comment on all subjects individually. The reports for Years 3 to 6 do have this, but some comments are very terse. For example, a year’s work in a subject for one pupil was summarised as ’A real contributor to all school and class music’. Written reports need to be expanded to give parents a much clearer idea of how their children are performing against

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

national standards and what they need to do to improve. Parents’ evenings are held termly, and most parents do attend them. The school provides regular well-written newsletters, which give a good picture of the life of the school.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

51. The contribution of parents to the school and their children’s learning is sound. Most parents do support their children’s homework. A few parents help in school, whilst others help with school trips. Parents support school policies and most have signed a home-school agreement, although there is no evidence that this has improved the relationship between parents and school. The Parent and Friends Association is active in organising social and fund-raising events.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

52. The school fulfils the recommendations of the Code of Practice for pupils who have special educational needs. Parents are invited to attend the regular reviews of pupils’ individual educational plans and Statements of Special Educational Needs where appropriate. Both the co-ordinator for special educational needs and the governor, who leads the governors on this aspect of their responsibilities, have plans for extending their links with parents, which would be a positive move forwards.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

53. There has been good improvement in the leadership and management of the school by the headteacher and governors since the last inspection in June 1997 when the main key issue was to improve the leadership and management of the headteacher and governing body. Evidence from parents, governors and staff indicates that the school deteriorated further during the two and a half years until the governors appointed a new headteacher in January 2000. The present headteacher had to start from a lower point than that identified by the last report. He correctly identified the most important priorities for improvement as the unsatisfactory attitudes and behaviour of pupils, the elimination of unsatisfactory teaching and the raising of standards in Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 22 English, mathematics and science. He used as many external agencies and initiatives as he could to support the staff in this work. The satisfactory improvement in the school, including

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

good teaching and learning, pupils’ good attitudes and behaviour and improved standards in mathematics and ICT, is the result of the work undertaken. He has implemented the action plans from appropriate priorities in the annual school development plans and the action taken so far has succeeded. There is a need now to extend the improvement to standards in the foundation subjects. It is noticeable that in subjects where pupils achieve less well than expected, in art and design, design and technology, geography and music, those subjects have not yet been priorities for improvement. In spite of the bureaucratic demands on the school to submit a bid for funding, the headteacher has been greatly assisted in his efforts for improvement by funding from the WEAZ, and the successful bid to the SRB partnership as one of three schools in the area. In his efforts to improve the school, the headteacher has been

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

constrained by the uncertainty caused by long-term sickness absences of two members of the senior management team, including the deputy headteacher. He has delegated as many responsibilities as he feels he can, but has difficulty in delegating as much as he would like, due to the absence of the two senior teachers. He has taken on personal responsibility for the co-ordination of religious education, history and assessment, recording and reporting.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

54. The headteacher demonstrates good leadership. He conveys his clear sense of direction and the high standards he expects effectively. He provides good pastoral leadership, particularly spiritual leadership, and the school’s aims are reflected in the school’s work. There is a commitment to equality of opportunity for all groups of pupils whatever their ethnic or social background or level of attainment, and teachers demonstrate good role models in their positive attitudes to pupils from ethnic minorities, as seen in science. However, the headteacher recognises the need for training for all staff to ensure that the specific needs of pupils who are at an early stage of learning English are met more effectively, and he has draft action plans to introduce to staff at an appropriate time. The staff have accepted the developments the headteacher has introduced for the school to move forwards and give him their support willingly.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

The local education authority has supported him by providing an acting deputy headteacher to strengthen the depleted senior management team. Together the headteacher and acting deputy headteacher have developed a good management partnership that has helped to move the school forwards. Recently the development of the subject co-ordinators’ roles has been a priority for the school. Overall, their leadership in their subjects is satisfactory; it is good in mathematics, sound in English, science, ICT, history and physical education and unsatisfactory in the remaining foundation subjects. There is no co-ordinator for music. The co-ordinator for special educational needs provides good leadership. She has regular non-contact time to undertake her role and has a good overview of pupils on the register for special educational needs across the school. She supports teachers well in drawing up individual educational plans

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

55. The monitoring and evaluation of the school’s performance is satisfactory. The headteacher analyses pupils’ performance thoroughly and takes effective steps to improve any areas of weakness, with the result that pupils’ attainment in the school’s national test results over the last three years has improved steadily. Subject co-ordinators keep an overview of their subjects through their monitoring of teachers’ planning. The headteacher has put in place a programme of regular monitoring of teaching and has received assistance from local authority advisers to moderate his judgements on the quality of teaching. However, co-ordinators do not have the opportunity to fulfil their roles properly in respect of monitoring pupils’ work across the school or teaching and its impact on learning. They do not always have the necessary skills to analyse the school’s performance data and use this information to target improvement in specific areas

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

of the curriculum or teaching; for example, in science. They have begun to receive training from the headteacher on classroom observation and reporting back to colleagues, but their skills are at an early stage and the governors do not yet provide finance for non-contact time.

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

56. The governing body has played its full part in raising standards in the school over the last two and a half years. Governors express a determination not to let past problems recur and they have put in place procedures to ensure that they fulfil their role effectively. They are active and committed. They are effective in fulfilling most of their statutory responsibilities. Governors are Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 23 very involved with the work of the school, and have a good understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. Many of them are linked with particular classes and are frequent visitors to the school. Their effectiveness in their work is assisted by a well-written school code of conduct for governors. The Chair of Governors has a weekly meeting with the headteacher, at which discussions can be wide-ranging. The governing body is very well led and is effective in carrying out its responsibilities, with a suitable range of sub-committees that are fulfilling their

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

responsibilities well. The governors are clear about their ’critical friend’ role and understand the long-term goals for the school. They challenge the work of the school and ensure that resources and school improvement are targeted strategically to match the priorities set. The school improvement plan is used well to steer the development of the school and the priorities are monitored and evaluated routinely as they are implemented. The budget is set to enable priorities to be effectively funded.

p.23

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

57. The school’s finances are controlled well and the secretary carries out her work effectively. Spending is monitored well and the principles of best value are applied adequately so that governors have decided, for example, that investment in an attractive relocation package for the new deputy headteacher is money well spent if it attracts the right calibre of candidate. The travelling bursar scheme ensures that specialist financial support is available at a realistic cost to the school. The school uses new technology satisfactorily in the school office for administration and financial control. The headteacher takes an appropriate overview and up-to- date figures are reported regularly to the governors’ finance sub-committee. The latest auditor’s report, dated November 2001, raised a number of recommended improvements to the system, and the school has responded positively to the majority of these issues. The school has

p.23

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

financial controls in place to ensure that the specific grants it receives are used for the designated purposes; grants are used well to support a number of initiatives to raise standards in imaginative and flexible ways. For example, money from the local SRB scheme has been used to set up Integrated Learning Systems to support pupils’ acquisition of basic skills.

p.23

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

58. Overall, the school is appropriately staffed with both teaching and non-teaching staff. One class where the teacher is on long-term sickness absence has had a succession of supply teachers, which has inevitably affected the education of the pupils involved; a fact commented upon by a number of parents. The school has had difficulty in recruiting good quality supply teachers who would remain with the class for an unknown long-term temporary appointment. The recruitment of a new deputy headteacher will also be an important stage in the continuing development of the school. Good quality learning support assistants are employed and good use is made of their skills; for example, in the provision of consistent high quality support to pupils with special educational needs and in deploying them to operate the ‘Successmaker’ scheme with groups of pupils. The school has good procedures for the professional development of its staff. Systems

p.23

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

for induction, appraisal and performance management are good and were commended by the assessor in March when the school was recently awarded its status as an Investor in People.

p.23

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

59. The school possesses adequate resources for learning in nearly all subjects and for pupils in the reception class. The one exception is geography, where there is a general lack of maps, globes, textbooks or photographs. The school buildings are adequate for their purpose. The layout, with several classrooms in individual buildings around the edge of the site, means the pupils have to cross the playground to have access to resources such as the computer suite. The school environment is enriched significantly by a very good private field that provides an excellent outdoor area for both play and learning, a real asset in this urban setting. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 24

p.23

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

60. In order to continue the good work of the school, the headteacher and governors should now address the following in their action plan:

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(1) improve the teaching in the reception class to address children’s underachievement, particularly in communication, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world and in creative development.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(2) improve the standards of attainment in art and design and music in Years 1 to 6, and in design and technology and geography in Years 3 to 6* by:

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

- providing training for teachers to increase their skills and confidence in the four subjects; - providing guidance for teachers in planning the curriculum for each subject that builds progressively on pupils’ prior learning across the school.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(paragraphs 1, 18,105, 110, 114–116, 120, 122, 124, 141, 146)

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(3) improve the role of the subject co-ordinators in monitoring and evaluating standards of work, and teaching and its impact on learning.*

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(paragraphs 27, 55, 89, 97, 104, 113, 119, 125, 135, 148, 157)

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(4) fulfil the statutory requirements in sex education* for older pupils and the National Curriculum for music.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

61. The following minor weakness should also be addressed:

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

improve pupils’ skills in speaking and listening by:

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

- providing sufficient opportunities for pupils to speak in lessons; - providing opportunities for drama; - teachers helping pupils to improve the quality of their performance; - providing in-service training for teachers to improve their knowledge and understanding of how to help pupils with English as an additional language in their speech.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(paragraphs 6, 8, 10, 20, 28, 30, 66, 67, 79, 101, 132)

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

* show priorities within the school’s own development plan. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 25

p.24

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 30

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactor y Poor Very Poor

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

The table gives the number and percentage of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about teaching. Care should be taken when interpreting these percentages as each lesson represents more than one percentage point.

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 238

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 32

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 4

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 42

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

English as an additional language No of pupils

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 8

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 19

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 19

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

School data 5.7 School data 0.0 Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 26 National comparative data 5.6 National comparative data 0.5

p.25

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 27 Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2) Year Boys Girls Total

p.26

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 1 for the latest reporting year 2001 21 10 31

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Boys Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Percentage of pupils School 97 (81) 97 (78) 100 (78) at NC level 2 or above National 84 (83) 86 (84) 91 (90)

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Boys Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Percentage of pupils School 94 (76) 90 (78) 100 (86) at NC level 2 or above National 85 (84) 89 (88) 89 (88)

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Girls’ and boys’ results are not entered separately, as there were only ten girls taking the tests.

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6) Year Boys Girls Total

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 2 for the latest reporting year 2001 15 28 43

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Boys 12 11 15 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 22 22 27

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Percentage of pupils School 79 (80) 77 (80) 98 (80) at NC level 4 or above National 75 (75) 71 (72) 87 (85)

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Boys 11 12 14 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 24 24 25

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Percentage of pupils School 81 (76) 84 (80) 93 (77) at NC level 4 or above National 72 (70) 74 (72) 82 (79) Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 28 Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 29 Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

p.27

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Black – Caribbean heritage 0 Black – Caribbean heritage 0 0

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Black – African heritage 3 Black – African heritage 0 0

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Any other minority ethnic group 7 Other minority ethnic groups 0 0

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

This table refers to pupils of compulsory school age only. This table gives the number of exclusions of pupils of compulsory school age, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded.

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Teachers and classes Financial information

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 10 Financial year 2001/2002

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 23.8

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Education support staff: YR – Y6 Total income 490,892

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Total number of education support staff 11 Total expenditure 487,370

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Total aggregate hours worked per week 177 Expenditure per pupil 1,927

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Balance brought forward from previous year 10,515

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Balance carried forward to next year 14,037

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 4

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 3

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 0

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 2

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) 0

p.29

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

FTE means full-time equivalent. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 30

p.29

Percentage of responses in each category

Strongly agree Tend to agree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

My child is making good progress in school. 52 36 10 0 2

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

Behaviour in the school is good. 39 55 2 0 5

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 29 50 14 5 0

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 27 52 21 0 0

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 61 31 8 0 0

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 53 40 3 0 3

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

The school works closely with parents. 35 45 16 2 2

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

The school is well led and managed. 66 21 10 0 3

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 40 56 3 0 0

p.30

Percentage of responses in each category

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 18 56 16 3 6

p.30

Other issues raised by parents

Eleven parents made further comments on the reverse of the questionnaire form. The opinions expressed are reflected in the questionnaire responses summarised above. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 31

p.30

AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

62. Children are admitted to the reception class in the September of the school year in which they reach their fifth birthday. On entry, the range of attainment of pupils is usually within an average band with pupils with special educational needs and high attainers at each end of the continuum. Initial assessments show that for this year’s reception children, attainment on entry was slightly below average, particularly in writing; it was better in mathematics. Overall, the teaching in the reception year is unsatisfactory because teaching in two out of every five lessons seen was unsatisfactory and this leads to underachievement particularly in communication, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world and in creative work. Children’s overall achievement across the Foundation Stage is unsatisfactory. While they meet the Early Learning Goals by the end of the reception year in personal, social

p.31

AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

and emotional development, mathematical development and physical development, achievement is unsatisfactory in communication, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world and creative development, and children do not meet the Early Learning Goals in these areas. Since the last inspection, standards of attainment have remained at average in one half of the areas of learning, but have declined in communication, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world and creative development. This fall in standards is related to the decline in teaching, which has weakened from good to unsatisfactory.

p.31

Personal, social and emotional development

63. This area of learning is taught adequately. Children’s achievement is sound and they meet the Early Learning Goals. When they undertake practical activities, children show interest, are motivated to learn and usually concentrate well, but when they sit on the carpet listening to the teacher, they become restless quickly and do not listen attentively to the teacher or other children, or concentrate for appropriate periods of time for their ages. They are confident in trying new activities and respond positively when asked to report to the class on their activities.

p.31

Personal, social and emotional development

64. Children form good relationships with adults and other children. Adults emphasise the importance of sharing and taking turns, as seen when children sit on the carpet to listen to the teacher, but they do not always take turns to speak. Children worked together harmoniously during activities when they explored the sailing boats in the water tray, built sand castles in the sand tray and when they built construction kit models of vehicles needed to transport people for their holidays and found and offered pieces that other children needed. Teaching assistants support children well, but the teacher supervises the activities rather than challenging children to achieve more through high quality interactions with them. During the class worship, children thought about how they would welcome someone to their class at school or to their home, and showed a good awareness of the feelings of others in their oral contributions.

p.31

Personal, social and emotional development

65. Children quickly learn some independent skills. They tidy up at the end of activities and follow routines sensibly. Staff actively promote independence by providing a range of interesting activities where children can make some choices within planned tasks or can choose to play with a wide range of activities that are not overcrowded. They make choices about the activities they wish to pursue and for how long. They decide whether to persevere with the same activity or change to a different task in the ‘plan-do-review’ sessions during some afternoons. They know the class procedures for changing activities and make decisions from what is available on the board in the classroom. Children’s behaviour is good when they are involved in practical activities, but is only satisfactory when sitting on the carpet listening to the teacher because they are cramped in the space. The teacher sits in a position that is too far away from some

p.31

Personal, social and emotional development

children and the teacher does not adequately manage their behaviour. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 32

p.31

Communication, language and literacy

66. There has been a decline since the previous inspection when children attained average levels and achieved satisfactorily. This is due to the unsatisfactory quality of teaching now compared to the good teaching during the last inspection. As a result, by the end of the reception year, the majority of children do not meet the Early Learning Goals. Children generally enter the reception class with close to average levels of attainment. By the end of reception, children have not made the gains that could be expected of them. This is because insufficient account is taken of what they already know and need to know. Opportunities to develop essential basic skills are not of a high enough quality. Many children communicate reasonably effectively when they have the opportunity to speak; for example, in circle time linked to literacy. However, too often they are only required to give short responses. Children who have special educational

p.32

Communication, language and literacy

needs are reasonably well catered for and do as well as can be expected in relation to prior attainment. Children who have English as an additional language are supported adequately, but adults do not focus on their precise needs enough.

p.32

Communication, language and literacy

67. The written activity that follows circle time helps children to recall their weekend and write and draw pictures to tell their news. They listen with good interest to each other and settle to the written activity reasonably well, but do not sustain concentration well enough throughout the session. However, they are productive. The higher attaining children successfully write a sentence or two and use full stops accurately. They generally know about keeping a space between each word. Others work at writing initial and final sounds. Almost all children have good pencil control and generally form letters correctly, but insufficient attention is given to helping them to look more carefully at size, shape and placement. Some lower attaining pupils write busily, but without care. They are intent on filling up a few lines. The teacher’s low expectation and easy praise are clear signals to children that not much is expected of them. This does not

p.32

Communication, language and literacy

help them to work as diligently as they could and try their best. The teacher’s display of useful words was often used well by children. The guidance sheet to help them to remember letter formation was also very useful and referred to by a few from time to time. However, support to help the majority on to the next stage of learning was missing and this held children back from developing their skills further. In general, the majority showed good interest in the work, but soon became noisy and listened less well. This was clear at the end of the lesson when some were invited to read their work to the whole class. While a few were pleased to do so, others were reluctant and restless. They do not take the work too seriously. They have learnt not to have high expectations of themselves. Children learn some letter sounds, but not letter names. They generally do not apply this learning when they read. Reading skills develop slowly for the

p.32

Communication, language and literacy

majority. This is because all children have insufficient experience of talking about the work. The emphasis is on reading the words and higher attaining children generally read simple texts successfully. Average attaining children do less well and lower attaining children generally do not recognise any words or separate words well enough as they point to them and pretend to read. Overall, children have limited strategies to support their own learning. Lower attaining children already begin to show a lack of confidence in the work. The quality and content of reading diaries is not good enough to identify what children need to know and practise, to help them improve their reading skills.

p.32

Communication, language and literacy

68. Teaching provides some useful opportunities to develop essential skills, such as in role play. Three children showed a good sense of purpose, used initiative and took responsibility as they checked holiday arrangements in the ‘travel agency’ and booked flights and hotels for an inspector. They developed communication and language skills well as they responded to adult interaction and enjoyed the work. However, the level and quality of adult interaction is not always of a high enough calibre to challenge children and meet their developing needs.

p.32

Mathematical development

69. By the end of the reception year, most children count, recognise and write accurately numerals up to ten, can draw one more object in a series and can tell the time on the hour. A few children have difficulty in writing all numbers the correct way around. Higher attaining children are beginning to work within the early levels of the National Curriculum in number. They add two Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 33 single-digit numbers and tell the time correctly at half past the hour. Most children attain the Early Learning Goals in mathematical development, which represents satisfactory achievement from their average attainment on entry to the reception class.

p.32

Mathematical development

70. In the single lesson seen, the quality of teaching was satisfactory. Teachers and other adults use mathematical language insufficiently throughout the day; for example, during registration or singing. The teacher uses much practical work for children to visualise numbers. For example, the teacher used a large clock face for children to visualise how the two hands turn and they recorded their drawings of hands on clock faces. The teacher planned the activities and matched the needs of children with different prior attainments well. What she wanted each group to learn was clear and the adult with each group was well deployed. The teacher worked with the higher attainers and used the result of her assessment of their learning to provide further challenge for them by moving on to telling the time in half hours, as she assessed that they knew and understood the o’clock. Children with learning difficulties made satisfactory progress

p.33

Mathematical development

in the lesson and with good support from a teaching assistant, showed o’clock on a clock face and in answer to questions from the adult, suggested what they might be doing at those times of the day.

p.33

Knowledge and understanding of the world

71. Children are presented with a wide range of experiences to help them to learn, but their achievement is unsatisfactory during their time in the reception year because the teaching does not challenge children enough. During the inspection, children explored objects such as shells and pebbles from the seashore using touch, and sight aided by a magnifying glass. They talked about the objects and described them in simple terms; for example, a child described the large shell as ‘big and bumpy’. They used tools to build sandcastles in the sand tray and built vehicles such as cars, buses, trains and aeroplanes from pieces in a commercial construction kit. They selected the tools and techniques they needed to shape and join the materials they used. Children used computers confidently and controlled the mouse to click and drag labels underneath a matching picture and recognised many letters on the keyboard to type simple

p.33

Knowledge and understanding of the world

words on labels for objects. They sorted pictures of clothes correctly into two suitcases, one for a person travelling to a hot country and the other for a person travelling to a cold country. They understood the work of a travel agent from their visit to an agency in the town and they used role play in their class travel agency to book holidays for customers and issue tickets. They understood what it is like to go on a camping holiday from their role play activities in the area outside the classroom where they played inside a tent. They have begun to learn about the beliefs of people who practise the Catholic faith by listening to Bible stories and taking part in denominational collective worship.

p.33

Knowledge and understanding of the world

72. The quality of teaching is unsatisfactory. The teacher plans activities that match the recommended curriculum for the Foundation Stage and these planned activities complement other areas of learning such as language and social skills. While the teaching assistants and other adult helpers give good support to the children, including those with particular learning needs, all children undertake similar activities during the week and in her planning, the teacher rarely matches the activities to pupils’ differing prior attainments. She expects too little from children and does not provide sufficient challenge to them during their activities, particularly for the higher attainers. She sets up activities, supervises them, but does not interact with children enough to ask questions and probe their understanding to improve their learning. Consequently, they could make better progress in lessons and could achieve more over the Foundation Stage.

p.33

Knowledge and understanding of the world

While the teaching assistants use their own initiative to give children good support in their learning, they are not receiving adequate leadership or direction in their work from the teacher.

p.33

Physical development

73. The quality of teaching is broadly satisfactory. The majority of children are on course to meet the Early Learning Goals by the end of the reception year and generally achieve satisfactorily. This is about the same as in the previous inspection. However, in some areas of the work children have not developed skills as well as could be expected. Children moved with good Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 34 control, co-ordination and safety as they rode tricycles and used the see-saw. In their hall lesson they tried hard to follow instructions and attempted, with varying degrees of success, to throw a beanbag ‘underarm’. However, the lesson was not suitably planned to meet their needs and insufficient opportunity was given to help them to practise skills. This means that all children achieved less well than expected in consolidating their learning of ‘chest’ and ‘underarm’ throws and gained very little understanding about team games. However, they

p.33

Physical development

showed a sense of fair play; for example, that all of them should begin at the same time. Warm- up activities were attempted reasonably well, but without a clear understanding of why these activities were necessary. By the final activity, children were unable to follow the teacher’s instruction with a good sense of purpose and laughed when a child dropped the beanbag that had been passed to her. This caused many of them to lose concentration and behave less well. Children do not develop skills of throwing, catching and judging distance adequately to help them in simple team games. Children are encouraged to change into their kit themselves. Most do this reasonably well. Adults give appropriate support as necessary.

p.34

Physical development

74. The teacher provides a broadly satisfactory range of activities to develop children’s manipulative skills. Children learn to handle pencils, brushes and glue appropriately, and scissors with care.

p.34

Creative development

75. Teaching in this area of learning is unsatisfactory. This is because there are too few useful opportunities for children to develop their imagination and creativity through activities that enable them to explore colour, shape and materials and to talk about the work. The majority of children are not on course to meet the Early Learning Goals by the end of the reception year and achievement for all children is unsatisfactory. Children know how to handle tools and need opportunity to practise and perfect their skills. However, they do not receive consistent quality adult support to help them to add to their learning systematically. In the previous inspection children attained average standards and achieved satisfactorily.

p.34

Creative development

76. Children are keen to be involved and showed good levels of concentration as they painted pictures of holiday activities, made seaside objects using plasticine and models using recyclable materials. They worked happily. However, the quality of work they produced, particularly in painting, is very similar to that produced earlier in the year. While skills of handling small pieces of plasticine, rolling it into small balls and ropes was good, their experiences of the work have not helped them to add to their basic skills well enough. Children tackled cutting of cereal boxes, a recognisably difficult task, and showed very good perseverance and effort. However, when cutting pictures out of magazines their cutting was not as accurate as it could be. Once again, they experienced the work without developing their skills. Children learned to sing songs from memory, but while they liked the work initially, they

p.34

Creative development

soon lost interest in doing it well because there was no expectation for them to do so. Children who have special educational needs joined in cheerfully. However, those who have English as an additional language did not know the words or phrases and generally remained silent. Nearly all had a go with the actions and enjoyed this for a short while. Adults did not support them well enough in this work. Children generally sang the song as instructed, but did not improve the quality of their singing or movement as they performed the actions. Adult intervention, when it occurs, is not sufficiently useful and is more about managing children than helping them to practise and improve the quality of their work. There is every sign that children would respond well if given quality opportunities to do better.

p.34

ENGLISH

77. Pupils at the end of Years 2 and 6 reach average standards in English. Pupils enter Year 1 with about average language skills and achieve as they should as they move through the school. In the last three years, standards in English have steadily improved at a rate above the national trend. This has been largely because of good leadership and teaching, together with the successful introduction of the National Literacy Strategy. Inspection evidence shows that at the end of Years 2 and 6, standards are average in reading, average in speaking and listening and slightly below average in writing. Results from recent years show girls reaching higher standards Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 35 than boys, especially in junior classes, but these differences in the performances of boys and girls are not significantly different to the national picture. Pupils who have special educational needs make good progress due to the work that is matched well to their prior attainment and

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ENGLISH

the good support that they receive from teaching assistants. Pupils who have English as an additional language make satisfactory progress. They receive extra support in lessons particularly from teaching assistants, but staff need further training to meet these pupils’ specific language needs more precisely.

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78. The proportion of pupils at the end of Year 2 achieving the higher Level 3 in reading and writing was below the national average according to the results of national tests in 2001. The school identified this as an area for improvement in its school development plan for 2002. Inspection evidence shows that satisfactory progress has been made in this regard. The range of writing opportunities has been increased. Support arrangements for potentially higher attaining pupils, through guided reading and writing groups, are beginning to be implemented. In one good lesson observed during the inspection, a group of higher attaining Year 2 pupils read together key sections from an information book on animals before skimming the information to find specific words that might appear in the glossary.

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79. Inspection evidence shows that the majority of pupils attain average standards in speaking and listening skills at the end of Years 2 and 6. This represents a dip in standards since the previous inspection when standards were reported to be above average in Years 3 to 6. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, sometimes in whole-class discussions pupils are not given enough opportunities to speak because teachers talk too much. The nature and range of pupils’ talk is sometimes limited when teachers do not ask enough questions that stimulate discussion. In one Year 5 lesson observed, only the higher attaining pupils answered the questions set by the teacher because the majority of pupils lacked the knowledge and confidence to contribute to a whole-class discussion. Lower attaining pupils in particular are reluctant to speak out. Secondly, the school does not give enough attention to tracking and

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supporting the development of pupils’ oral skills. Thirdly, apart from Year 6, drama is not used as widely as it could be across the school as a means of developing speaking skills generally. It is also the case that the frequent change of supply teachers in the Years 5/6 class has had a detrimental effect on standards. However, the high proportion of pupils with special educational needs in Years 2 and 6, for whom speaking is more of a challenge, should also be taken into account when considering standards attained.

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80. When the teaching is consistently good, as observed in the Year 6 class, pupils are provided with an appropriate range of audiences to practise and develop their speaking and listening skills. In one such lesson, small groups of Year 6 pupils were asked to review, in a constructive manner, each other’s work. They undertook this task in a sensitive way following the good role model set by the teacher. In another instance, Year 6 pupils rehearsed a performance of ‘Twelfth Night’ and many had opportunities to speak expressively to a wider audience as individuals, in pairs and as part of a group. These carefully planned arrangements ensure that pupils’ self- confidence and respect for each other are increased. Throughout the school, higher attaining pupils speak articulately. They use subject-specific language when necessary and have no qualms about talking in different contexts. Year 5 pupils learn about historic changes in the

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language by exploring Daniel Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’. Higher attaining pupils can explain the modern meaning behind phrases used by the author, such as ‘it might not be my fancy’, and effectively use such terms as ‘sped’ rather than ‘ran’ in their writing. Other pupils take interest in words such as ‘musket’, ‘threshold’ and ‘personage’. Such lessons make a positive contribution towards pupils’ cultural understanding.

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81. Standards in reading are broadly average at the end of Years 2 and 6. Basic skills in reading are well taught throughout the school. As a consequence, most pupils make good progress. Year 2 pupils have a good sight vocabulary and use a good range of ways to tackle unfamiliar and often quite difficult words. Most pupils are familiar with literacy terms appropriate for their ages. By the end of Year 2, pupils know and understand terms such as ‘index’ and ‘author’, while older pupils demonstrate knowledge of plot, character and setting when reading stories. Guided reading sessions are beginning to be used effectively to reinforce learning and develop higher- Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 36 order reading strategies. In one good lesson, Year 6 pupils were able to read a text quickly to find what they wanted. However, opportunities for developing advanced reading skills could be extended further. In this respect, the school library is not used as well as it should be.

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82. By the end of Year 2, pupils read an appropriate range of books with reasonable fluency and accuracy and with good expression. Shared reading is well developed through the school. In one lesson, Year 1 pupils took great delight in joining in with the teacher when reading aloud one text. Higher attaining pupils could explain that reading with expression meant ‘making it real’, ‘to bring it to life’ and ‘to sound like people in the story’. They used facial gestures and voice control to very good effect as they whispered and shouted in line with the story.

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83. In writing, observed standards for pupils at the end of Years 2 and 6 are slightly below the national average, although this is partly due to the high proportion of pupils with special educational needs in the respective classes. The school has analysed recent results from national tests and has rightly targeted the development of writing as a priority and sound progress has been made in this regard. The use of writing frames across the school in science, to help pupils to record their investigations, is one instance of good support. The range of writing opportunities for pupils is good. Pupils in Year 3 explore the use of rhyming couplets based on famous people and produce some very effective work. For instance, ‘James Bond, Jumped in the Pond, He fought his way out, Without any doubt’. By the end of Year 6, the majority of pupils are able to write effectively for different purposes. For example, they compose persuasive

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letters, produce informative posters and write imaginative stories.

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84. Standards of handwriting are variable through the school and could be higher. Most infants form their letters well and they are of a consistent size and correctly orientated. By the end of Year 6, the majority of pupils write neatly in ink and present their work in an organised way. However, the school’s marking policy is not sufficiently clear about what is expected in handwriting and general presentation. Consequently, the quality of presentation in pupils’ books varies among classes of the same age range. Sometimes pupils do not learn the value, joy and purpose of handwriting. In a handwriting lesson in Year 5; for instance, pupils did not have the opportunity to move beyond the mechanical exercise of copying words from the board. The lack of regular monitoring also hinders progress in ensuring consistency of expectations in raising writing standards.

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85. Standards in spelling by the end of Years 2 and 6 are average. Spelling strategies and patterns are well taught. For instance, pupils in Year 1 learnt about the ‘ing’ pattern through matching exercises, singing, simple active games and the shared reading of a large format text. Through good support from a teaching assistant, one pupil with special educational needs was able to point out that two words had the same pattern. Regular spelling tests are set to assess progress. Pupils are encouraged to use the correct vocabulary in their lessons. By the end of Year 2, spelling is reasonably accurate or phonetically plausible. Pupils with special educational needs and for whom English is an additional language find the spelling of common words quite difficult, although the use of information and communication technology is helping to raise spelling standards generally.

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86. The quality of teaching is good in Years 1 to 6. As a result, pupils learn well in lessons. This is an improvement since the previous inspection, when the quality of teaching was judged to be satisfactory. The reasons for improvement include better planning and the effective implementation of the National Literacy Strategy. Lessons are planned with a clear focus and this means that pupils know exactly what they are doing. The pace of lessons is generally brisk. In lessons observed, pupils with special educational needs are well supported in their literacy work through the effective deployment of teaching assistants. As a consequence, they make good progress in lessons. In one very good lesson observed in Year 4, a group of lower attaining pupils were well supported by a teaching assistant as they focused on spelling certain vowels and consonants. The teacher started the plenary by asking the group to report back to

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the class on their progress, thus fostering good relationships and a sense of worth. When teachers model reading and writing, pupils begin to see their relevance and value. In a Year 1 lesson, both the teacher and the teaching assistant brought in their favourite poems to read. The Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 37 pupils thoroughly enjoyed hearing the humorous poems and the tone of the lesson, that reading can be fun, was set. Shared writing is developing well in the school as teachers make effective use of new training materials and resources linked to the National Literacy Strategy.

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87. English lessons make a positive contribution towards pupils’ social and cultural development, which is an improvement since the previous inspection. For example, Year 3 pupils use the Greek myths as a basis for extended writing. In one lesson observed, Year 6 pupils supported each other as they rehearsed for their performance of ‘Twelfth Night’. While individuals were on stage, others in the audience followed along carefully offering prompts sensitively and mouthing the words and songs in unison. They evaluated their progress in a mature manner and showed very good social skills.

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88. Information and communication technology is generally developing well to support English lessons. Programs to support basic language skills, such as spelling, are used well. Pupils respond positively to such support and value opportunities to use ICT. In one very good lesson, a higher attaining pupil in Year 6 used presentation software to compose and present a story for younger pupils to the accompaniment of Mozart. Opportunities are sometimes missed in lessons for pupils to use the computer in the process of writing and to support those who have very limited alphabetical knowledge.

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89. The co-ordination of English is satisfactory. The co-ordinator has a clear view for the future development of the subject and sets a very good role model in her enthusiastic teaching of literacy. She is aware of areas for development, such as extending the use of guided reading and writing. Staff training in the teaching of literacy, and particularly writing, has been undertaken with teachers attending courses and visiting other schools to see examples of good practice. The co-ordinator is aware of raising standards in writing as an area for improvement and has set appropriate whole-school targets linked to the National Literacy Strategy. The setting of targets for individual pupils, however, varies from class to class. Where they are effective, pupils know how to improve their work. There has been some monitoring of teaching by the local education authority adviser for literacy, but internal monitoring has not occurred, which

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has meant that progress towards the targets has been variable.

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90. Resources are adequate for the teaching of literacy. During the inspection, several classes used small whiteboards to very good effect as they developed their knowledge of words and sentences. The range of non-fiction material is narrow, although the school does make satisfactory use of local and regional library services to acquire information books to support the teaching of subjects. The quality of dictionaries and thesauri has improved as a result of a school audit and these are used in the upper classes to good effect. The co-ordinator has targeted the development of home-school readers in junior classes as an area for improvement. However, homework is generally well used to reinforce classroom learning. At present, displays around the school and in the library do not give pupils much information about books and writers they might enjoy, or present poems they can read and discuss.

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ENGLISH

91. Most pupils enjoy their English lessons. Their positive attitudes and good behaviour contribute significantly to their progress in English. Attitudes to learning have improved since the previous inspection largely because the quality of teaching is better. Generally, pupils listen carefully to the teacher, other adults and each other. Many are eager readers and are willing to share what they have read with others. Higher attaining pupils in the upper classes, who were selected for reading to the inspectors, spoke with knowledge and confidence about their favourite authors, such as J.K. Rowling and Dick King-Smith. When their interest is engaged, pupils respond eagerly to stimulating teaching. Pupils in the Years 5/6 class enjoyed making their own compound words, such as ‘microphoto’ and ‘megatelephone’, as they learnt about the legacy of the ancient Greeks in the English language.

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92. Standards are above average by the end of Years 2 and 6. This is a good improvement since the last inspection, when standards were average. These findings reflect the results of the National Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 38 Curriculum tests for pupils at the end of Year 6 in 2001. Last year’s assessments of pupils at the end of Year 2 showed them to be well above average. Pupils in the current Year 2 are not attaining quite as highly because they did not receive as secure a foundation in earlier years. Boys and girls of all prior attainments and those with English as an additional language are achieving well, making good gains in knowledge, skills and understanding by the time they leave school. The school exceeded its targets in 2001 and looks well placed to do the same in the current year. The National Numeracy Strategy is taught well and interpreted effectively to meet pupils’ needs.

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93. By the end of Year 2, pupils work out solutions to realistic problems; for example, they show good multiplication and division skills in solving problems that involve money. They calculate well mentally, especially doubling and halving because they have learned their tables well. They accurately use mathematical symbols and language such as ’sort’, ’table’ and ’graph’. Pupils of all abilities produce tables to plot; for example, the frequency of names against the number of syllables they contain. Higher attainers interpret data from simple line graphs, some of them using ICT to support their skills, working in pairs at the class computer. Teachers ask probing questions, which make pupils think hard and then explain their thinking. The highest attainers have a good grasp of place value, especially in conjunction with work on capacities because they know their metric units well, readily sequencing numbers up to 1500 as in 1500ml. They

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have a good perception of fractions, and are beginning to use decimals. Average attainers sequence numbers well into the hundreds, but sometimes need a little support to clarify the exact relationship between litres and millilitres. They are secure with halves and quarters, but are less confident with other fractions. The lowest attainers, including some with special educational needs, are confident in sequencing up to 100, but not so secure beyond this. They are confident adding and subtracting two-digit numbers, measuring length (in ’pencils’ more than centimetres) and in calculating in halves. Most pupils describe common two and three- dimensional shapes, higher attainers also grasping the idea of reflection and rotational symmetry.

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MATHEMATICS

94. By the end of Year 6, higher attainers solve problems well; for example, calculating the best value holiday accommodation taking into consideration such factors as double occupancy and child reductions, explaining their reasons well. Average attainers are less secure in their explanations, but their conclusions are generally reasonable. Lower attainers do not tackle such involved problems, but cope well with tasks tailored to their needs, such as working out expenditure in a sweet shop. Average attainers plot coordinates well, but do not use them to transfer two-dimensional shapes as competently as the higher attainers. Lower attainers plot only the simplest of coordinates. Lower attainers are starting to estimate; for example, comparison of vulgar fractions and percentages, whereas average attainers estimate and calculate probability well. All pupils calculate the areas of regular two-dimensional shapes, and

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higher attainers reveal good skills working out a variety of missing angles. They all express themselves correctly using mathematical terms accurately. In a mental mathematics session in Year 6 using questions from previous national tests, all pupils worked quickly and largely accurately, and there was little to distinguish different abilities, so enthusiastically did everyone participate.

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MATHEMATICS

95. Teaching is now consistently good, whereas at the time of the last inspection some teachers did not extend pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding sufficiently. Most lessons move at a brisk pace, so pupils learn a lot in the available time. A key strength now is the way in which teachers use realistic problems as settings for a variety of mathematical skills. This helps pupils to investigate and also appreciate the necessary function of mathematics in their everyday lives. This makes them more motivated to learn. Thorough planning enables pupils to develop their skills uniformly in all strands of the subject. Teachers’ plans describe clear learning objectives for different groups within lessons so the focus of teaching and learning is refined well. Pupils with special educational needs work in small groups usually with a classroom assistant so that they have the help they need to consolidate and extend their learning at a suitable pace. The

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assistants are all well briefed by the teachers before the lessons so all pupils learn the right things, including the same correct mathematical vocabulary. There are usually extension tasks available for the highest attainers so they are never without something to stimulate them. This Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 39 means that all pupils achieve well. Intentions are shared with pupils at the beginning of the session and are reviewed at the end so pupils see where the work is leading and how well they are doing. Pupils’ work is assessed carefully and the results are used well to adapt planning for the next steps in learning. This was especially apparent in a Year 4 class shared by two teachers under a job-sharing agreement. When tasks revealed that pupils’ column addition skills had lost their sharpness one teacher accordingly revisited this area, making sure that her colleague had the necessary information that allowed the next lesson to match pupils’ needs

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effectively. Teachers do not all set consistently precise targets for individuals, but there are usually targets for groups within the class. Teachers ask challenging questions and pupils’ responses show good gains in knowledge and understanding. Pupils are quick to applaud the success of their classmates as well as taking delight in their own success. During the written part of the lessons, pupils work well independently and rarely waste time. Throughout the school, pupils present reasonably neat work showing care in their presentation. Teachers are aware of pupils’ differing needs and, together with teaching assistants, work to ensure that pupils have positive learning experiences. The good focus given to presenting real life problems makes the subject challenging, but relevant and enjoyable for all boys and girls, who have consistently positive attitudes to their work in consequence.

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96. Mathematical skills are regularly supported in various areas across the curriculum; for example, for measurements in science experiments and design and technology tasks, and for the collection of data in science and geography. Pupils make good use of ICT to support mathematics and vice versa. For example, work on spreadsheets involved an algebraic formula to keep within budget. This also provided good, practical experience for later life. Pupils made good use of an interactive whiteboard in one Year 6 lesson to illustrate their conclusions at the end of the lesson. This helped everyone to share more easily other’s experiences, comparing problems encountered and working out together how to solve them. The use of computers to support and enhance teaching and learning during the numeracy hour itself is, however, not as developed as it should be because they are infrequently used.

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MATHEMATICS

97. The school has made good improvements since the last inspection. Teaching has improved and standards have risen in consequence. Assessment and record keeping procedures are good and enable the achievement of each pupil to be tracked precisely so that support or extension may be appropriately given. The acting subject co-ordinator manages the subject well. Although he has not monitored the teaching of colleagues, as a leading maths teacher he has demonstrated for them examples of good practice, which has helped them to improve their own skills. Plans for future development are well focused to meet the school’s needs.

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SCIENCE

98. Pupils’ achievement is satisfactory and, at the end of Years 2 and 6, attainment is average. These inspection findings are supported by the unvalidated results of teacher assessments at the end of Year 2 and national tests at the end of Year 6 for 2002. Pupils with special educational needs make good progress due to work that matches their needs and good support from teaching assistants. Boys perform in tests better than girls in line with national differences. Pupils with English as an additional language make satisfactory progress because they receive extra support from teaching assistants in helping them to understand what they have to do and in recording the results of their investigations. Since the last inspection, there has been satisfactory improvement. Pupils’ attainment and the leadership and management of the subject have been maintained, however, the quality of teaching has improved from satisfactory to good.

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99. By the end of Year 2, pupils are developing good skills of scientific enquiry. Pupils in Year 1, with adult support, made predictions of what they think may happen; for example, which material would provide better protection for the ears against loud sounds, from a choice of plastic foam, cotton wool, tissue, polystyrene or beanbags? They made careful observations of what happened and compared their predictions with the results. Higher attainers used simple equipment to collect data to answer questions, such as the distance away from the source of a sound before it is no longer possible to hear that sound. They recorded their observations simply. In Year 2, pupils put forward their ideas on how to solve their own scientific questions, Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 40 collected data using simple measurements and recorded their observations in charts to answer those questions. For example, whether the person with the largest feet has the largest hand

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span? They have a secure understanding about what makes a fair test. Scrutiny of pupils’ work shows that pupils have a sound knowledge and understanding for their ages of life processes and living things, materials and their properties, and physical processes.

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100. By the end of Year 6, pupils have developed a sound model for investigating answers to their own questions, such as which type of paper absorbs the most liquid and whether the application of heat makes sugar dissolve faster. They select equipment to test their theories and make a series of observations and measurements that they present as line graphs, sometimes entering the data on to a computer program to form the graph. The work in their books shows that they have a sound knowledge and understanding for their ages of all aspects of the science curriculum.

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SCIENCE

101. The quality of teaching and learning across Years 1 to 6 is good. Teachers have a sound knowledge and understanding of science and use the correct scientific language with pupils, which they, in turn, learn to use accurately. For example, in Year 4, pupils knew the differences between metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks and how they were formed. Teachers teach the basic skills of literacy and numeracy well within the subject. Pupils used tools to measure in centimetres in Years 1 and 2 and plotted data on line graphs, as in Year 5 when pupils plotted the times of sunrise and sunset through the months of the year to find the longest and shortest days. The co-ordinators have provided writing frames at various levels for use in recording scientific investigations to ensure progression across the school, and teachers provide pupils with word banks of scientific vocabulary used in the lesson. Teachers make good use of

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the final part of the lesson to review what has been learned in relation to the initial learning objective. Pupils report back on their investigations and their results. Teachers do not always allow enough time for pupils to respond and while higher attaining pupils are fluent in their responses, the average and below average attainers, including pupils with learning difficulties and those who are at an early stage with their English, tend to answer in phrases or single words. Teachers plan their lessons effectively and provide work that matches pupils’ needs and teaching assistants are deployed well to support a group, often those with learning difficulties and those who are at an early stage of learning English. In Year 5, two teachers taught together at various stages of the lesson, but split into two ability groups when the skills needed for recording results in a line graph called for different levels of mathematical skills. As a result of

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these strategies, pupils with special educational needs learn well.

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102. Teachers expect pupils to work hard, behave well and succeed and they provide a high proportion of practical investigative work for pupils. Due to these strengths in the teaching, pupils across the school have very good attitudes to science, make good progress in lessons, try to succeed, concentrate and behave well and undertake practical activities independently. In the very good teaching in Year 4, the teacher’s questioning skills were particularly effective and probed pupils’ understanding very well. Teachers’ explanations and demonstrations are usually clear, as seen in Year 5 when the teachers used a standard lamp and a globe to set up a model of the earth on its axis orbiting the sun. Pupils could see how night and day are formed as the earth spins on its axis and could see the effect of the earth’s tilt on Great Britain and that it is tilted away from the sun in winter and towards the sun in the summer. In a Year 3 lesson on

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SCIENCE

light and shadows, the lack of a visual explanation inhibited some pupils’ understanding of how shadows are formed. Teachers use computers effectively in science; pupils plot graphs of results, use a CD-ROM to find information on animals and classify them and use a computer microscope to make close observations of small objects such as a woodlouse, part of a leaf or a hair. Marking of science work is usually limited to ticks and praise with rare evaluative comments to help pupils to improve their work. However, there are examples of better marking in Year 2.

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SCIENCE

103. The science curriculum has satisfactory breadth, balance and relevance since the school has begun using its revised policy supported by national guidance on long-term planning. The many changes of supply teachers in Year 5 have had the effect of a dip in standards for these pupils. The presentation of work in books is poor and work taught, particularly in materials and their Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 41 properties, has not built on what has gone before and in some cases is repetition of work from Year 3. The emphasis on scientific enquiry has provided good opportunities for pupils to co- operate in groups and develop socially. During the inspection in Year 2, teachers provided good role models for pupils in their positive attitudes to ethnic minority groups. When pupils identified different skin colours in a picture of several children, the teachers made very positive comments about black pupils and celebrated the cultural differences.

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SCIENCE

104. The joint science co-ordinators give satisfactory leadership to the subject. They give helpful guidance, such as the writing frames for recording investigations and ideas for investigations; from the budget they manage, they have provided good resources that are well organised and accessible. They have a target in the school’s development plan to raise the proportion of higher levels attained in the Year 6 tests by eight per cent. They have emphasised scientific enquiry, have planned training for their colleagues led by the local science adviser and have monitored planning to ensure that the science curriculum is covered. Unfortunately, the 2002 test results show that the target has not been met, in fact has dropped from 2001 by ten per cent. As the present Year 6 has a high proportion of pupils with special educational needs, it suggests that neither the nature of the year group nor an analysis of assessment data across previous years

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were taken fully into consideration when setting the target. The co-ordinators do not yet monitor teaching or pupils’ work and they are not skilled enough in interpreting performance data to identify strengths and weaknesses in the school’s results and use their analysis to overcome the weaknesses in pupils’ learning to improve standards further.

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ART AND DESIGN

105. Almost all lessons available for observation during the inspection were seen. No lessons were observed in Years 1 and 2. Judgements on standards are made from these observations, the analysis of pupils’ work, displays, photographic evidence and discussions with staff. Standards of attainment by the end of Year 6 are well below average and pupils from Years 3 to 6 achieve poorly. By the end of Year 2, pupils attain standards that are below average and achievement in Years 1 and 2 is unsatisfactory. The underachievement in this subject is because essential skills are not taught well initially and pupils are not supported well in developing their knowledge, understanding and skills systematically. It is clear from the samples of work that pupils do not learn quickly or securely enough over short and long periods of time. In general, teachers do not have satisfactory subject knowledge or a clear understanding of how to present and discuss the

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work. Teachers’ expectations are not high enough.

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ART AND DESIGN

106. Pupils who have special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language achieve in line with their year group. There is no significant difference in performance between boys and girls and ethnic groups.

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ART AND DESIGN

107. Pupils in Year 1 produce their first drawing of themselves. Pupils learn about sculpture and make animals using clay and sand. They paint pictures of flowers and have a reasonable range of experiences including cutting and sticking. Pupils in Year 2 have similar experiences. There is evidence of emerging skills in observational drawing of cross sections of fruit in a Year 2 class. This shows that when pupils are taught well they produce work of quality that is more in line with average standards. All pupils generally have some experience of using ICT although overall, the contribution to this subject is minimal. There are examples of work using a painting application and dressing a teddy bear. However, the work produced does not reflect standards that could be expected of these pupils judging from the quality of their first drawings of themselves. In Year 1 an average attainer produced a very muddled picture of dressing the teddy

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bear. This is one of many examples where teachers have not assessed pupils’ work thoroughly to help them to move on to the next stage of learning. The same exercise was seen in work from the reception year.

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108. In Years 3 to 6, pupils continue to have similar experiences that are often linked to other subjects such as history. However, because skills do not develop well enough, art does not make a significant contribution in cross-curricular work. Sketchbooks, art folders and art and design books show that over a period of years, pupils tend to return to portraits and name labels Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 42 frequently without improving their skills appreciably. Pupils have experience of observational drawing, such as, a plastic cup, but do not gain in their learning of how to draw. In Year 6, pupils work with paper to cut, stick and layer and show fairly weak skills.

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109. Local artists are invited to work with pupils and this offers useful opportunities for pupils to learn from experts.

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ART AND DESIGN

110. Of the lessons observed in Years 3 to 6, two were good and the other was satisfactory. Taking account of all the evidence, the overall judgement on the quality of teaching is unsatisfactory. In the good lessons observed, teaching met the needs of the pupils by helping them to overcome their difficulties in their artistic and personal development well. Pupils in Year 3 responded well to the opportunity to work on sculptures using recyclable materials. Adults supported pupils well as they asked about mixing colours to make brown. In Year 6, pupils worked very quietly on designs in the style of William Morris. They carefully drew simple outlines, cut, placed and glued their work and added some detail. They learnt that the lines on leaves are called veins. In the Years 5/6 lesson, pupils showed very good interest in learning about and producing dot pictures in the style of Aboriginal art. Each part of the lesson was carefully prepared to help

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pupils to develop their knowledge and skills gradually and achieve success. Many pupils perceive themselves to be lacking in essential skills and require constant reassurance. The calm working environment in classes where older pupils work helps them to concentrate. The teachers’ sensitive and encouraging manner creates a good sense of purpose. The work is immediately worthwhile and achievable. Pupils responded willingly to the encouragement and honest response from adults about how they were doing and the guidance offered on how to improve. At times, pupils had a chance to think for themselves. Teachers’ timely intervention and the small stage approach throughout the sessions supported all pupils very well. Some useful opportunity to discuss the work emerged towards the end of the lessons and this was particularly useful in the sculpture work because pupils were encouraged to ask the whole group for their thoughts on how to overcome a problem. Pupils listened very well to the speaker and

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ART AND DESIGN

responded well to the opportunity to make suggestions. However, these good characteristics in teaching would seem to be too infrequent and this is why pupils do not learn as well as they should and achieve higher standards of which they are capable.

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ART AND DESIGN

111. Since the previous inspection in 1997 standards of attainment have fallen and the extent to which all pupils achieve is no longer satisfactory. Talking about work remains underdeveloped and pupils’ awareness of western and non-western art and craft is generally still not taught well enough. The subject was not a focus in the curriculum and this is still the case. The quality of teaching is now unsatisfactory.

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ART AND DESIGN

112. Literacy skills are sometimes used well. Some written evaluations in Year 1 show that pupils, particularly the higher attainers, write grammatically correct sentences, spell simple words correctly and use punctuation satisfactorily. The below average attainers produce similar work, but it is less well presented. However, too often the work is presented untidily. Numeracy does not make a significant contribution to this subject. Teachers generally take care to display pupils’ work attractively, but there are few displays overall. However, there is evidence of links to other subjects such as history.

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ART AND DESIGN

113. The subject co-ordinator has developed resources including reference books for teachers and pupils to support them in following a clearly detailed and satisfactory curriculum. In principle, the sketchbooks and art and design books are useful, but they are not used well enough to help to record, assess and monitor work of individual pupils or to help them to produce work of improving quality. The subject leader does not have a satisfactory overview of the subject and a well-informed view on standards. The school has yet to enable the subject co-ordinator to take greater responsibility or to have time in which to fulfil her role. There are significant training issues for the subject leader and the staff generally.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

114. Owing to the school’s timetabling arrangements it was not possible to observe many lessons. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 43 Judgements are, therefore, based largely on an examination of the small amount of pupils’ work available, photographic evidence, discussions with staff and pupils and the examination of planning documents and records. This indicates that attainment by the end of Year 2 is average and pupils’ achievement is satisfactory. By the end of Year 6, standards are below average, which means that pupils are not achieving as they should. Standards have fallen since the last inspection when pupils’ attainment was average throughout the school. This is because the school has not focused its attention on design and technology given other more pressing needs. Staff changes have meant that many teachers lack sufficient knowledge of the subject and confidence to plan and teach the necessary skills so pupils do not learn as well as they should.

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This is an area already identified in the school development plan for the next academic year.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

115. Boys and girls of all abilities in Year 2 make basic drawings of their plans to suit the task. They make relevant sketches, but these do not illustrate the sequence of their work. In a task to create a model lighthouse, brief written comments indicated that pupils knew what they had done and had thought about ways of improvement. Only the higher attainers gave practical examples of this, but their comments such as ’change all the electrics’ lacked precision. There was little variation in approach to tasks throughout the class, suggesting limited originality. Photographs and examples of models show that tools are used carefully and that materials are assembled and joined satisfactorily. There was no evidence to show that pupils have a good grasp of the suitability or limitations of the materials used. Their capacity to evaluate how their design meets a need, is not well developed because they are not taught to think about the end

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

use of the product. There was little evidence of any examples of food technology except brief references to making sandwiches in Year 1. There was no sign of ICT having been used to support learning.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

116. In Year 6 the needs of the user and the limitations of materials are still not clearly considered, so pupils’ skills in evaluation remain underdeveloped. Pupils talked about the models of buildings that they were making, describing satisfactorily their safe use of saws, glue guns and simple electrical components. They could not explain the purpose of their creations beyond simply illustrating studies of the town. They had never considered, for example, whether it would it serve as a toy and be strong enough for a young child to play with, or if any parts could be dangerous in use. They described reinforcement of some joints, but there was no clear evidence whether the pupils had concluded this for themselves or had been advised by the teacher. The quality of finish of the ongoing work is satisfactory, but its lines are not especially clean and neat. Thanks to a reasonable grasp of simple electrical circuits through their work in science

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

they had, however, modified the position of electric lights to improve visibility. Pupils’ books show only a narrow range of design and technology tasks, broadly the same for all abilities. Whilst they include the need to measure accurately, there are few indications that pupils make things for a precise function and have any significant understanding of the concept of fitness for purpose. They have undertaken a limited amount of food technology work overall. Pupils in Year 3 have made sandwiches, but there were no indications that their learning was any different from that of Year 1.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

117. It is not possible to make an overall judgement on the quality of teaching because too few lessons were observed. In both lessons observed the teachers effectively stressed the need to think and plan carefully, and made pupils well aware of health and safety implications in construction. They emphasised appropriate vocabulary that helped to develop pupils’ literacy skills. The outcomes by Year 6 show that insufficient emphasis is given to detailed planning, evaluation, modification and testing because pupils lack those skills to refine their work.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

118. In lessons, pupils worked well together and enjoyed making things. They were happy to help each other and worked comfortably in mixed-ability pairs. They related well to teachers and the positive relationships made for well-managed classes. From their limited written work and particularly from photographs, pupils in Years 1 and 2 show some pride in their creations. Pupils in Year 6 talked with interest about their work, but the extent of careless drawings and poor presentation in their books reveal that their attitudes to work are just satisfactory, but not good. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 44 119. The school has taken satisfactory steps to address the shortcomings identified in the last report. There is now planning designed to enable pupils to develop their skills in line with the requirements of the National Curriculum. This is satisfactory in Years 1 and 2, but does not build sufficiently on pupils’ prior learning to enable their skills, knowledge and understanding to

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

develop as systematically and as broadly as they should. There is no monitoring of teaching or a formal assessment system in place, beyond general observations on pupils’ work, to determine precisely how well pupils learn and hence to support future planning in the most effective way. The management of the subject is, hence, unsatisfactory because teaching and learning are still not sufficiently supported so their shortcomings are inadequately addressed.

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GEOGRAPHY

120. Pupils’ attainment by the end of Year 2 is broadly average and pupils achieve satisfactorily. By the end of Year 6, pupils’ attainment is below average and their achievement is unsatisfactory. Standards have fallen since the last inspection because the subject has not been addressed systematically in order to develop the curriculum and teaching. Changes introduced in September 2001 have gone some way to improve the situation, particularly for Years 1 and 2, but there is still further to go to. Pupils’ learning has not been sufficiently consistent, so that by the time they leave school they have not had the necessary range of experiences or skills.

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GEOGRAPHY

121. By the end of Year 2 in their work on the local area, pupils distinguish the physical and human features they have discovered on a walk around Weston-Super-Mare. They express themselves effectively using correct geographical terms; for example, ’headland’, ’promenade’ and ’harbour’. Through their recall of the various activities taking place in the area they are beginning to understand some of the reasons why people come to the town. In written work, for example, contrasting the town with both the Isle of Struay and Luhimba in Tanzania, higher attainers locate places satisfactorily on maps. They describe some of the similarities and differences, but offer few explanations for these. Average attainers draw and present charts appropriately, but their descriptions are often unclear, containing little, if any, evaluation. Lower attainers, including those with special educational needs, respond well to the suitable guidance they receive in the

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GEOGRAPHY

form of worksheets with questions to help them to give descriptions, but they do not offer views or suggest why certain features might be so.

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GEOGRAPHY

122. In a lesson to consider the impact of people on coastal areas, pupils in Year 6 engaged well in debate. Pupils supported each other well in mixed-ability groups so that everyone was able to contribute to the discussion and all boys and girls learned more or less at the same rate. One boy made the perceptive observation that the impact of lifeboat men on the environment is actually negative, despite their obvious social merit, because of the pollution caused by fuel oil. Most pupils showed understanding of how different people can hold different views about a proposed redevelopment of the local environment. Whilst their work in the lesson was satisfactory, a scrutiny of their books reveals that there is little evidence that over the longer term they have done enough. Work on rivers and seas showed understanding of aspects of erosion and coastal protection, but this knowledge was not applied securely to particular

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GEOGRAPHY

locations. Higher attainers offered only superficial views about coastal protection whilst average and lower attainers recorded no real opinions at all. Whilst they have a good local knowledge, there was little to demonstrate pupils’ knowledge of areas further afield. There was no evidence to demonstrate their skills in mapping or to show the extent of any research.

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GEOGRAPHY

123. Evidence from lesson observations indicates that pupils respond well to opportunities to engage with local issues in geography, such as the proposed redevelopment of a nearby building. Examples of pupils’ work, however, especially by Year 6, do not suggest from the quality of presentation that they regularly sustain interest and a desire to complete tasks set. The regular practice of working in mixed-ability pairs or groups means that pupils learn to work well with each other and behave well.

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GEOGRAPHY

124. Teaching and learning are satisfactory in Years 1 and 2. In the Year 2 lesson observed, the teacher asked good questions as pupils worked to focus their attention and adjust the level of challenge for different pupils. Although there was good emphasis on appropriate vocabulary, the Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 45 development of letter writing skills gradually became the major focus of teaching so that there was insufficient emphasis on the geographical skills of enquiry and evaluation. In Years 3 to 6 there is still a tendency for teachers to focus on the development of literacy rather than on geographical skills. In lessons seen, teaching was largely satisfactory so pupils’ knowledge developed appropriately for the tasks in hand. Over the longer term, however, pupils have not acquired the skills, knowledge and understanding that they should, so teaching and learning are, therefore, unsatisfactory overall.

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GEOGRAPHY

125. The school has sensibly introduced nationally produced materials to devise a clear cycle of different units of work. At the moment, these plans do not set out coherent opportunities to develop pupils’ geographical skills and understanding across the different units. There is no systematic approach to assessing levels of skill and understanding so that these can be built on in the next class. There has been no classroom observation of teaching and learning to identify clearly areas for development. These weaknesses, which include her own and colleagues’ training and development, have already been recognised by the subject co-ordinator since her appointment to the post in September 2001, but tackling them is not a priority in the school’s development plan this year. Management of this subject is, therefore, unsatisfactory. There is evidence of commitment to developing issues-based geography, particularly using the

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GEOGRAPHY

locality, in Years 3 to 6. Residential visits to North Wales afford good opportunities for geography-based work. Opportunities for the use of ICT are not well developed, although there was appropriate use of an interactive whiteboard in a Year 6 lesson to present and classify information efficiently. There are no examples of relevant software. Resources are unsatisfactory. The school has recently purchased a small number of modern atlases to replace its outdated stock. There are few globes, maps or aerial photographs. There is a limited collection of printed resources, some useful photographic material obtained from the Internet, and material on the locality in Tanzania.

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HISTORY

126. Standards are broadly average by the end of Years 2 and 6. All pupils, including those with special educational needs, achieve as they should. Standards have been maintained since the previous inspection.

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HISTORY

127. In Years 1 and 2, pupils are developing awareness of changes in their own lives and that of adults around them. Pupils in Year 1 compare simple differences between life in the past and today through, for example, exploring changes in seaside holidays. By the end of Year 2, pupils have acquired an adequate grasp of chronology. By the end of Year 6, most pupils use dates and historical terms accurately to describe the main characteristics of different periods studied. However, the lack of key questions, contrasting sources and timelines; for example, in some wall displays, means that pupils' sense of time and chronology is not fully developed.

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HISTORY

128. By the end of Year 2, pupils demonstrate a satisfactory knowledge and understanding of famous people and events from the past. They can recall basic information about Florence Nightingale, Louis Braille, Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London. Higher attaining pupils can explain how hospitals have changed since the time of Florence Nightingale when they were ‘dirty, crowded, dusty’ and had ‘lots of germs’. However, insufficient use is made of the library to develop pupils’ background knowledge and skills of enquiry, particularly for higher attaining pupils. This was mentioned as an area of concern during the previous report. By Years 5 and 6, pupils are able to describe basic features of life during ancient times. They know, for example, the importance of the River Nile to Egyptian farmers and that some of their beliefs centred around the seasons.

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HISTORY

129. Pupils’ knowledge of local history is satisfactory. Year 3 pupils are developing their understanding of cause and effect. For instance, they know that the railways brought people to Weston-Super-Mare for holidays and, as the town grew, more hotels were built to accommodate the visitors. They also know that swimming became fashionable and healthy. Pupils in Year 6 are able to describe the contribution made by the architect, Hans Price, to the town’s Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 46 development. They enjoyed finding evidence of his achievements in the community through local walks.

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HISTORY

130. Pupils gain an adequate understanding of historical evidence. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 learn to acquire information from different sources, such as photographs. In one good lesson observed, pupils in Year 1 described differences and similarities in historical photographs of Weston- Super-Mare. Pupils in Year 3 use local newspapers and maps in their study of how the town developed. Older pupils are beginning to select and record information that is relevant to their enquiry. By the end of Year 6, pupils know that information can be obtained from such sources as newspapers, books, web sites and contemporaries. However, too few pupils in the older classes are able to evaluate information sources. In one Year 6 lesson observed, an opportunity to develop understanding of historical interpretations was missed when pupils who acquired information from a web site did not compare this to what was contained in a reference book

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HISTORY

131. Pupils learn about different historical representations; for instance, through visits and television programmes. Having visited a local museum, pupils in Year 1 made a visual record of different kinds of toys used in the past. In Years 1 and 2, teachers take opportunities to extend learning through homework by encouraging pupils to find out about personal changes experienced by families. This helps pupils to recognise that history involves ordinary people as well as the famous. Homework is not so well used in the upper classes and pupils are sometimes left with the idea, as one Year 5 pupil put it in one lesson observed, that 'most history is about famous battles and events'.

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HISTORY

132. The quality of teaching in history is satisfactory throughout the school. While the knowledge- based aspects of the history curriculum are covered in a satisfactory manner, teachers do not always give enough attention to developing historical skills of investigation. This is directly related to the tendency for some teachers to talk too much in the introductions to lessons, thereby reducing the amount of time for pupils to work on sources. Older pupils are not sufficiently taught how to question the reliability of historical accounts.

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HISTORY

133. Teachers make good use of history lessons to extend pupils’ vocabulary. Opportunities are also taken effectively to develop reading and writing skills. Pupils in Year 1 produce simple reports to describe differences between domestic artefacts in the past and present. As part of their study of ancient Greece, pupils in Years 5 and 6 use dictionaries effectively to find words that have Greek derivations. Occasionally, teachers develop mathematical skills in history lessons to good effect. Pupils in Year 1, for instance, sorted toys from the past using a Venn diagram.

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HISTORY

134. Information and communication technology is adequately taught in the context of pupils’ history work. In one lesson, Year 6 pupils used an approved Internet site to find out about child labour during Victorian times. The use of structured questions gave pupils the necessary focus as they learnt about the respective contributions of Lord Shaftesbury and Thomas Barnado in the child- saving movement. Visits to local museums and fieldwork opportunities make valuable contributions to developing pupils’ cultural awareness.

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HISTORY

135. Overall, the co-ordination of history is satisfactory. To ensure appropriate coverage of the National Curriculum requirements, a curricular map and nationally approved scheme of work have been recently introduced. Management of the subject is currently in a transitional phase and it is too soon to judge whether the new plans have had an impact on raising standards of attainment. Planning has improved since the previous inspection when there was no curricular guidance for teachers. However, monitoring of teaching and learning in the subject remains a shortcoming.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

136. Pupils achieve well and, by the end of Years 2 and 6, pupils’ attainment is above average. Since the last inspection there has been very good improvement in pupils’ standards, which were judged to be below average by the end of Year 2 and average by the end of Year 6. This is Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 47 largely because the school has worked hard to develop a coherent scheme of work and provide teachers with the necessary support to teach it. The scheme has improved the breadth, balance and progression in the subject. Appropriate training, helped by close liaison with the local authority adviser and the expertise of an ICT specialist classroom assistant in lessons, have given teachers the necessary confidence to enable boys and girls to learn well. The school has usefully identified further development of teachers’ skills as a priority. From September, teachers will begin the next phase of a national training programme.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

137. Pupils with special educational needs make good progress due to the good support that they receive from teaching assistants, some of whom have themselves taken courses to develop their own ICT skills. The school also makes good use of ’Successmaker’, a program that helps to develop pupils’ skills in literacy and numeracy through graded exercises. Pupils in all classes follow the program at appropriate levels in short sessions each week under the guidance of a teaching assistant. Good use is made of a small number of computers in the library for this so pupils may work without disturbing classmates. The system provides immediate and supportive feedback that motivates pupils and helps them to see how to improve.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

138. Teaching and learning are now mainly good. There was no unsatisfactory teaching whereas during the last inspection teaching was unsatisfactory in Years 1 and 2. All lessons take place in the computer suite where a good range of 14 networked computers is sufficient for pupils to work in pairs. Class activities are often organised in such a way that one half of the class at a time works ’hands on’ whilst the others undertake a related activity. This means that pupils frequently work individually, which helps them to develop their skills better at their own pace. Teachers have good knowledge and understanding of the subject. They use correct technical language with pupils and expect them to follow the examples given. They learn the correct terms for parts of the computer and use terms such as ’edit’ and ’retrieve’ accurately in context so they are familiar with hardware and software. Teachers plan effectively and have clear

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

objectives for the lesson, regularly shared with pupils at their workstations by remote learning, where information from the teacher’s computer appears immediately on pupils’ screens, so everyone knows what to do and uses time well. These objectives are reviewed at the end of the lesson, which helps all pupils to see how they are doing and what they must do to improve. Teachers set tasks to suit pupils’ needs. Additionally both teachers and support assistants regularly check how well pupils are achieving in lessons, helping them and extending them by revising the challenges appropriately. As a result of this immediate assessment of their work and discussion with them, pupils are well motivated and work hard. The very good relationships they have with all adults and each other means that they behave very well and maintain concentration. Good records are kept, showing how the skills of each pupil develop. The system

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

is being refined and it is hoped that from September 2002 the individual files for each pupil now being piloted will be kept entirely on computer. This will allow the co-ordinator to access all files remotely from his classroom computer to check consistency of teaching and learning. At present there is no formal checking of classroom teaching, but this is achieved to some extent through team teaching and close monitoring of plans.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

139. As a result of the good teaching, by the end of Year 2, boys and girls save data downloaded from the Internet, for example, to support their work on animals in science. The school ensures that for safety only a suitable educational search engine is used. Pupils have produced graphs of some of their findings, which support their data handling skills in numeracy. In one of the lessons observed they learned how to retrieve information through a binary branching program where they interrogated the database to receive either ’yes’ or ’no’ as answers. Higher attainers also added further questions to the program. Pupils use word-processing programs for writing, varying font, size and colour at will to create the effects they wish. They produce well-controlled pictures using suitable art software. All pupils have controlled a ‘Roamer’ robot, average and higher attainers also using the ‘Superlogo’ program to achieve particular results on screen

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

through a series of instructions. By the end of Year 6, pupils prepare information well, using ‘Powerpoint’ to produce; for example, a high quality multimedia presentation about their residential visit to North Wales. Information from various sources, including digital images, is processed and combined well. The result is of such a high standard that the school uses it at open evenings as an effective means of providing information to parents. Many pupils have Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 48 created complex and engaging stories using varied media, some imaginatively presenting text on screen in time to music. All pupils can present at least a short story of a few frames. All use spreadsheets effectively; for example, to cost the food and drink planned for a party. Higher attainers use spreadsheets to make imaginary stock-market deals, using an appropriate formula to check that they are within budget. Pupils do not measure external events because the school

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

does not yet have the appropriate sensors and software.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

140. Management of the subject has been inconsistent since the last inspection. The present volunteer co-ordinator is in his second year in the role and has developed his skills to a satisfactory level. He acknowledges the expert help provided by the local authority adviser, and particularly that of the acting deputy headteacher and the specialist ICT support assistant, who have enabled the school to make great strides forwards in the past year. The acting deputy headteacher takes his expertise to a new post in September and the post of specialist ICT assistant will be discontinued. Nevertheless, the good foundations laid so far and the planned training for all staff should sustain the momentum created, and pupils’ achievement should continue to be good.

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MUSIC

141. Very few lessons were scheduled during the inspection. These were observed, including some lessons from peripatetic teachers of musical instruments. A judgement on standards is made on these observations and also from discussions with staff, analysis of pupils’ work and observation of incidental musical opportunities. By the end of Years 2 and 6, standards of attainment are below average and achievement from Years 1 to 6 is unsatisfactory. In general, the school does not have high enough expectations of what pupils can do. The work is not taken sufficiently seriously by teachers or by pupils and as a result, all pupils underachieve. In general, class teachers have weak knowledge of the subject. Those pupils who receive tuition from skilled, peripatetic practitioners generally attend regularly for their weekly lesson, but do not practise and prepare sufficiently to help them to develop their skills from week to week. For

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MUSIC

many of these pupils, achievement is not as good as it could be. There is no established place in which to work and this lack of routine is also a weakness in helping pupils to settle to routines including remembering to bring instruments and practise books. There is no school overview of teaching and learning in these sessions. Singing sessions occur regularly for all pupils, but music lessons are not always on the timetable for all year groups. This means that knowledge, understanding and skills are not developed well and experience of the work is mainly limited to singing. In other aspects of the subject, it is patchy.

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MUSIC

142. Pupils who have special educational needs are catered for adequately overall and achieve in line with their year group. Pupils who have English as an additional language in Years 1 and 2 do not achieve as well as their year group. They do not know the words of the songs. They copy the actions to the song, but are not helped to participate more fully. Older pupils generally have a sufficient understanding of the language to participate in singing as they read the words or sing from memory. They achieve in line with their year group. No pupils have been identified as talented.

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MUSIC

143. In Year 1, pupils learn about quiet sounds and in Year 2 they sort pictures to show long and short sounds and have an early experience of composing quiet music for a purpose. As pupils move through the school they learn about loud and soft sounds and about the parts of different instruments, such as the sitar. By Year 6, pupils draw pictures of fast and slow animals, grids to show high and low notes and the names of musicians and their instruments in an orchestra, such as violin and violinist. They sort instruments into groups including woodwind and brass. Pupils’ music books show that all do the same work in the same way. Handwriting and presentation is not as good as it could be. Overall there are few examples of work and pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills do not develop well. Pupils have experience of singing together and in parts. In general, those who join in the singing are tuneful and this is sometimes

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MUSIC

satisfactory. Pupils have some experience of using instruments and keep simple beats while others sing. However, these experiences are not sufficiently frequent or of a quality to help pupils to improve their work and reach higher standards. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 49 144. Of the three lessons observed, teaching in one was very good, in one satisfactory and in the other broadly satisfactory. Taking full account of all the evidence the overall judgement on the quality of teaching is broadly satisfactory. Teaching is clearly not of a consistently high quality, but opportunities occur for pupils to perform within the school and locally and this supports pupils well. However, significant weaknesses are evident in teachers’ knowledge of the subject and how to prepare work to support pupils at their stage of learning. There are too few well planned, quality experiences to help pupils to overcome their difficulties.

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MUSIC

145. In the Years 5/6 lesson, pupils were introduced to the ‘off beat’ and warmed to the lesson as the teacher skilfully took them through the work. The teacher and the teaching assistant made a good team. They were lively and cheerful as they helped all pupils to learn and practise the new song, returning to it throughout the lesson to successfully improve pupils’ performance each time. Many pupils had difficulty keeping to a simple beat and lacked confidence in the work. The teacher helped them to gain confidence and through small successes throughout the lesson, pupils became more enthusiastic. As interest in the work improved, so did relationships and pupils’ concentration. The teacher’s encouragement and firm management of pupils was the correct balance to help pupils to take the work seriously and apply effort. The teacher had taken good account of pupils’ limited skills and experience and provided quality opportunities that met

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MUSIC

individual needs very well. The ‘off beat’ presented appropriate challenge and almost all pupils were very keen to master it. In the Year 3 lesson, pupils learnt about how to use and control pitch, and develop singing voices. When pupils were managed well, they began to show more interest in the work and to take it seriously. At these times they showed satisfactory skills in singing and a desire to do it well. In all lessons and sessions observed, insufficient account was taken of the best way to use the available accommodation and to re-arrange furniture to enable pupils to work and learn in reasonable comfort. This omission is partly responsible for pupils’ restless behaviour at times.

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MUSIC

146. Since the previous inspection in 1997, when all music lessons were taught by a specialist teacher, standards have fallen significantly from above average and pupils no longer achieve satisfactorily. Teaching is now broadly satisfactory with significant weaknesses. There are weaknesses in the curriculum and the subject does not meet statutory requirements because the specialist music teacher only teaches singing to every class and not the full music curriculum. Some teachers also teach additional music to their classes, but not all; consequently, the listening, appraising and composing aspects within the subject are not covered adequately for all pupils.

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MUSIC

147. Literacy contributes to some extent although this could be better. Pupils do not have sufficient opportunity to work co-operatively and collaboratively. They do not develop skills of self- assessment and evaluation as well as could be expected. There is very little contribution from numeracy and ICT. Sometimes the CD is played too loudly and this drowns pupils’ efforts. However, some well-chosen pieces are used in lessons and this shows that some teachers make good use of the materials and guidance from local music workshops. There are some other cross-curricular links, but these are not well developed.

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MUSIC

148. The school does not have a music co-ordinator, but the part-time teacher who teaches singing attempts to keep staff aware of training opportunities. There is no one to keep a good overview of the subject and to raise standards. The music books are a good idea in principle, but are not used frequently or well enough to help to monitor teaching and learning throughout the school. There is an absence of quality in the work. There are clearly staffing issues including training. The current situation is unsatisfactory; there is much to do to raise pupils’ standards to the levels expected for their age.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

149. Standards in physical education are average by the end of Years 2 and 6, as they were at the time of the previous inspection. All pupils, including those with special educational needs and English is an additional language, achieve satisfactorily through the school. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 50 150. Pupils in Year 2 have good gymnastic skills. They use space effectively in their warm-up activities and use small equipment appropriately. They display good co-ordination and movement, responding well to instructions. The majority of pupils understand clearly the need for warming up before they exert themselves, and cooling down at the end of exercises. Higher attaining pupils in Year 2 can explain that cooling down is necessary to reduce the heartbeat and increase the supply of oxygen. In one dance lesson observed, Year 2 pupils showed good body control with high and low movements, involving good body shape.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

151. Most pupils demonstrate sound ball skills throughout the school. By the end of Year 2, most pupils can strike a ball with accuracy. They can pass and receive balls of various sizes. Higher attaining pupils can demonstrate the importance of changing the position of their feet and hands in simple ball games. Most pupils in Year 5 know how to handle a racket and bat to ensure the best strike.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

152. Pupils throughout Years 3 to 6 attend the local swimming pool once a term in each of the four years. By the end of Year 6, almost all pupils can swim 25 metres unaided and this is more than usual. In one lesson observed, groups of Year 3 pupils responded well to good quality instruction. Higher attaining pupils were able to swim about ten metres using the backstroke; average pupils improved their front crawl by working on leg movements, while a group of non- swimmers used floats to swim several metres. Pupils’ behaviour when entering the pool, and while changing and waiting at the poolside for further instructions, is very good.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

153. The quality of teaching is good throughout the school. All pupils, including those with special educational needs and English as an additional language, learn well in lessons because of the good quality teaching and support. Teachers and other adults set good role models in the teaching of physical education. Teachers and pupils dress appropriately. In one lesson observed, both the teacher and teaching assistant were very active throughout the lesson, jogging around the hall when appropriate. Teachers take care to ensure that pupils’ health and safety is promoted in lessons and around the school. For instance, when crossing the road for a games lesson on the playing field or while at the swimming pool. Where teaching is effective, teachers’ and pupils’ demonstrations are used to illustrate good practice to the class. Pupils are also asked to think about how they might improve their performance. In one lesson, pupils in

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Year 2 working in pairs considered how to make throwing a ball to each other through a hoop, placed on the floor, more challenging. Higher attaining pupils demonstrated to the class how moving farther apart from each other could do this. In some lessons, however, higher attaining pupils are not given the opportunity to work at higher levels of skill-acquisition.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

154. Teachers make good use of physical education lessons to extend pupils’ language and mathematical skills whenever appropriate. For example, pupils in Year 1 were posed the problem ‘we have 26 in the hall and we need groups of three’, to which one higher attaining pupil quickly responded that there would be two children left out. In another good lesson, pupils in Years 5 and 6 benefited from the teacher's secure subject knowledge and understanding as she explained the build-up of lactic acid in the muscles while they were cooling down. Information and communication technology is not well used in physical education lessons.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

155. A good range of extra-curricular activities is provided and includes football and cricket coaching, which support and enhance the development of skills well. In one after-school session, although only four pupils attended, clear instruction was provided on how to bowl rather than throw a ball ’overarm’. Participation in the Broadoak dance festival and local competitions provides pupils with opportunities to develop their social and physical skills. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 enjoy outdoor adventure pursuits. Year 6 pupils attend a residential centre in North Wales and respond well to the challenges presented, showing good levels of self-knowledge and understanding.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

156. Pupils enjoy their physical activities and have a very positive attitude towards the subject. They respect teachers and adults who participate. They know the benefits of exercise and are keen to Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School - 51 try out new ideas. When using the hall, younger pupils settle quickly and find space. They respond very well to instructions. In one dance lesson observed, pupils in Year 2 carefully imitated the movement of each other as they worked in pairs. They then worked in small groups and as a whole class, performed a dance routine set to music. The whole session was well managed and pupils made important gains socially. Pupils behave well in lessons in and out of the school.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

157. The co-ordination of the subject is satisfactory. A new scheme has been recently introduced, based on government-approved guidelines and training courses attended by the co-ordinator. Funding from national schemes has been secured and there are plans to use this in the near future to improve resources for gymnastics, and to begin monitoring and assessing pupils’ achievement through the school, which is presently neglected.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

158. Resources are adequate and accommodation good for physical education. Music is used effectively to stimulate interest in dance. In one Year 2 lesson, pupils responded imaginatively to seaside music as they mimed picking up shells, letting sand through their fingers, and spotting a starfish. Years 1 and 2 make good use of the hall, but do not use the playground as often as they could to develop a wider range of skills and tactics. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 have access to a large playing field opposite the school, which is used to good effect.

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