Watlington Community Primary School

WATLINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: May 27 th to 30 th 2002

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WATLINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

Inspection number: 245266 Watlington Primary School - 2 Full inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 Watlington Primary School - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School category: Community Age range of pupils: 4 to 11

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Rectory Lane Watlington King’s Lynn Norfolk

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The Governing Body, Watlington Primary School

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

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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INFORMATION ABOUT THE 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. Watlington Primary School - 4

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

20704 Terry Elston Registered inspector Science, design and technology, information and communication technology, pupils with special educational needs. The school’s results and pupils’ achievements. How well are pupils taught? How well is the school led and managed? 19693 Sally Hall Lay inspector Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development. How well does the school care for its pupils? How well does the school work in partnership with parents? 19897 Arthur Evans Team inspector Mathematics, history, physical education, religious education. How good are the curricular and other opportunities offered to pupils? 19142 Audrey Quinnell Team inspector Children in the Foundation Stage, English, art and design, music, geography, equal opportunities.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

“Thule” 60 Joy Lane Whitstable Kent CT5 4LT 01227 273449

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

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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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London, WC2B 6SE Watlington Primary School - 5

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 5

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? 10

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Watlington Primary is a smaller than average school for pupils aged four and 11. There are 200 pupils, including 32 in the two Reception classes. There are significantly more girls than boys. The numbers have increased steadily over the past four years as many more houses have been built in the village. Many of these houses are owner-occupied, but a significant number have been taken up by housing associations. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is below the national average, at around seven per cent. The attainment of children on entry is below average, with a significant number having particularly weak skills in language and mathematics. The last inspection judged attainment on entry as average, and this difference shows how the characteristics of this area are changing. Over 23 per cent of full time pupils are designated as having special educational needs, mostly with moderate

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

learning difficulties, which is about average. Six pupils have a statement of special educational need, which is also above average. Very few pupils come from ethnic minority groups, and none has English as an additional language. Ten pupils left the school at times other than the normal times, which is not unusual, but 28 joined part way through the year, and this is a higher proportion than is normally found.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

This is a sound school that has undergone significant change in the last year. There has been a decline in standards but they are now improving and are the same as with national averages in English, mathematics and science by Year 6. The new headteacher leads the school well, and has put in effective measures that are already raising standards. The satisfactory quality of teaching ensures that pupils make sound progress. Pupils’ attitudes to work are good, as are relationships throughout the school. Parents feel the school serves their children well. The school provides satisfactory value for money

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What the school does well

• The spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision is good, and helps pupils to develop into mature, responsible members of the school. • The headteacher has made a good start, and her strong leadership is starting to raise standards of teaching and learning. • The quality of teaching and learning in Years 3 to 6 is good, and ensures that pupils make good progress. • There are very good procedures for child protection and pupils’ welfare. • Relationships are good throughout the school, and this makes it a happy community.

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What could be improved

• Standards of higher attaining pupils in English and mathematics, which are not as high as they should be. • The provision for children in the Foundation Stage, which does not meet their needs in important areas. • Standards attained by Year 6 in information and communication technology are below average because the school lacks sufficient computers to develop pupils’ skills. 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 has made satisfactory improvements since it was last inspected in March 1998. Of the main issues from that report, the school has raised standards in music, design and technology and Watlington Primary School - 7 history. It has improved the curriculum significantly by good monitoring by co-ordinators, set better targets in the school improvement plan and ensured that the school now meets all statutory requirements. Higher attaining pupils still do not achieve well enough, though, and standards in information and communication technology are still below average. The quality of teaching has improved in Years 3 to 6, and is much the same lower down the school. Pupils’ behaviour is good, but not as good as before, mainly because of a few groups of girls who find it hard to concentrate. The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is much improved, and is now a

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

strength of the school. Parents’ views are more positive, and the governors now take a more decisive role in the management of the school. In view of the commitment of the headteacher, staff and governing body to take the school forward, it is well placed to improve further.

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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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Key

English C C E E well above average above average A B mathematics B C E E average below average C D science C C D E well below average very low E E*

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Key

Whilst the trend shown in the table is downwards, care should be taken when using these figures because, with only 17 pupils in the group, each represented nearly six per cent of the total. This inspection finds that standards by the current Year 6 pupils are average in English, mathematics and science, and have improved since 2001 as a result of the school’s good targeting of areas of weakness. Too few pupils, however, exceed nationally expected levels. The school easily beat its modest targets in English in 2001, but fell some way short of ambitious ones in mathematics. Year 6 pupils’ standards are average in all other subjects except information and communication technology, where the shortage of computers is slowing down pupils’ progress. Children make steady progress in the Foundation Stage, but their standards are below average by the time they complete the Reception year. Year 2 pupils’ national test scores in 2001 were well below average in reading and mathematics,

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Key

and very low (in the bottom five per cent nationally) in writing. The standards of the current Year 2 pupils have improved since those tests, but are still below average in all aspects of English, mathematics and science. Standards are average in all other subjects. Overall, pupils make satisfactory progress through the school to attain the standards found in the current Year 6. Pupils with special educational needs make steady progress towards their targets, and are included in all activities Watlington Primary School - 8 PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

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Key

Attitudes to the school These are good. Pupils enjoy their work, and always try to do their best.

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Key

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Good, in class and in the playground. The behaviour of a few girls, though, is unsatisfactory, particularly in practical activities. Acts of bullying are rare.

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Key

Personal development and relationships Good. Pupils are mature, and are keen to take responsibility. Relationships are good throughout the school.

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Key

Attendance Satisfactory, and ensures that pupils make sound progress.

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Key

Pupils’ good behaviour and attitudes make this an orderly school where nearly all are keen to learn.

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Key

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

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Key

Quality of teaching Unsatisfactory Satisfactory 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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Key

The overall quality of teaching is satisfactory, and this accounts for pupils’ satisfactory progress through the school. Teachers’ planning is satisfactory, but does not always meet the needs of all pupils when it provides too little challenge for higher attaining groups. This is why few attain the higher levels in the national tests. Teachers mostly manage classes well, but sometimes struggle to contain pupils’ enthusiasm in practical activities. This happens particularly in physical education, where the quality of teaching is unsatisfactory. Literacy lessons have a sound structure, and teach pupils important basic skills of reading and writing. The teaching of numeracy is good, and pupils grow in confidence with number work. In the Reception classes, the teaching is too directed, and gives children too few opportunities to develop their independence. In Years 1 and 2, the teachers are good at asking questions to make pupils think carefully, and they use resources well so that

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Key

pupils enjoy learning. In Years 3 to 6, pupils are kept focused by the teacher setting time limits, and learn quickly as teachers split lessons effectively into time for direct teaching and practical activities. The quality of teaching is good in mathematics, science and music, and pupils’ skills develop well as a result. The teaching of pupils with special educational needs is satisfactory, and has a positive impact on their standards. Watlington Primary School - 9 OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL Aspect Comment

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Key

The quality and range of the curriculum Satisfactory. There is sound provision for literacy and numeracy, and a wide variety of other experiences. The curriculum for children in the Foundation Stage is not planned to give them sufficient opportunities to develop their independence. There are good extracurricular activities for older pupils but few for Years 1 and 2. Good provision for personal, social and health education teaches pupils how to live healthily and value the opinions of others.

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Key

Provision for pupils with special educational needs Satisfactory. Pupils make steady progress towards their targets, and good support by teaching assistants ensures their inclusion in all school activities.

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Key

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Good. Good spiritual provision in times of prayer and in lessons. The good provision for social and moral development shows in the way most pupils behave well and work productively together. Good provision for cultural development teaches pupils much about the richness of our culture, and that of other peoples of the world.

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Key

How well the school cares for its pupils Good, with very good procedures for child protection, and good monitoring of pupils’ personal development. Assessment procedures are satisfactory, but are not used well enough to provide challenging tasks for higher attaining pupils. The well-balanced curriculum gives pupils a broad range of interesting tasks. The good multicultural provision is important because these pupils meet few people from different ethnic groups. The quality of information for parents is satisfactory, and nearly all feel well-informed about the school’s work.

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Key

Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff Good. The headteacher has created a good team spirit in the school, and her initiatives to raise standards are already having an impact. There is good support by the deputy headteacher who plays an important part in the leadership of the school.

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Key

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Good. The governors are well led effectively by an enthusiastic Chair. New measures to get governors more involved in monitoring the school are working well.

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Key

The school’s evaluation of its performance Good. New self-evaluation systems are helping the school to address its weaknesses. Performance management procedures are good, and their targets are helping pupils and teachers improve.

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Key

The strategic use of resources Satisfactory. Funds for pupils with special educational needs are used effectively to support pupils and teachers, and the school has appropriate funds allocated to address weaknesses in the provision of computers.

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Key

The headteacher has a firm determination to raise standards, and the staff are in full support. The school’s priorities for development are appropriate, but the improvement plan sets targets for only the year ahead. The school is well staffed with appropriately qualified teachers, supported effectively by knowledgeable classroom assistants. There are no formal induction procedures to support staff new to the school. The supply of learning resources is satisfactory, but the school is short of computers and geographical equipment. The accommodation Watlington Primary School - 10 is satisfactory, but play facilities for children in the Foundation Stage are lacking and this affects their progress. The school has satisfactory procedures for securing the best value from its spending.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• The good start made by the new headteacher. • The good teaching in Years 3 to 6. • The behaviour of pupils. • The approachability of all staff. • The quality of information about their child’s progress. • The links with parents, that some feel are not strong enough. • The range of extracurricular activities for younger pupils.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

The inspection team agrees with parents’ positive views, and with the criticism about extracurricular activities. The team finds, however, that the school does work closely with parents, and the information about pupils’ progress is satisfactory. Watlington Primary School - 11

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

1. In the national tests, standards attained by pupils in Year 2 have improved little over the last three years, and those attained by pupils in 2001 showed a significant fall since 1998. The results by Year 6 pupils were much the same, but care should be taken with the small numbers of pupils involved. Those who entered the school with significant special educational needs in the spring and summer terms, each representing over six per cent of the total, made a big impact on the results. Nevertheless, standards declined in this period. However, since the present headteacher was appointed earlier in September 2001, the school has been good direction. More rigorous monitoring of standards, careful analysis of pupils’ results in the national tests and good measures to target areas of weakness are starting to have an impact, and this inspection finds that standards have risen significantly since the

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

2001 national tests. The school easily exceeded its modest targets for Year 6 pupils English in 2001, but missed them in mathematics. This year’s targets are challenging, but evidence shows that pupils are on course to achieve them in both subjects.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

2. Over the past four years, there have been significant differences in the attainment of boys and girls. Since 1998 in the Year 2 national tests, girls consistently out-performed boys in both reading and writing. By Year 6, the roles were reversed, and boys did much better than girls in English, mathematics and science. This inspection finds little difference between boys and girls apart from in Year 6, where the behaviour of a number of girls affects their progress.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

3. Most children enter the Foundation Stage at below average levels of attainment, with their language and mathematical skills being particularly weak. The children make satisfactory progress, but are below average in all areas of their development when they leave the Reception classes. The development of their physical, personal and social skills is hampered by too little experience of independent work, and poor play facilities. Too much of their work is directed by adults, and, as a result, when given independence, they are unsure what to do.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

4. In Year 2, this inspection finds that pupils’ standards are below average in all aspects of English, mathematics and science but have improved from the well below average standards in the 2001 national tests. These are lower standards than those reported in the previous inspection. Standards are average in all subjects, and show an improvement in design and technology, information and communication technology and history, where improved curricular planning has raised standards since the last inspection.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

5. In Year 6, this inspection finds that standards are average in English, mathematics and science, and also average in all other subjects except information and communication technology, where they are below average. These levels of attainment are similar to those found in the previous inspection except in design and technology, music and history where, again, better planning has raised standards. In information and communication technology, pupils’ standards suffer from the shortage of computers and the consequent lack of regular practice that pupils have to develop their skills.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

6. Overall, pupils achieve satisfactory standards given their attainment on entry to the school. They make steady progress in Years 1 and 2, and the vast majority attain national standards in English, mathematics and science by the end of Year 2. Pupils achieve well in Years 3 to 6 as the good quality of teaching has an impact on their learning of skills and knowledge. Years 1 and 4 pupils achieve particularly well because of the consistently good teaching in these classes, and many attain above Watlington Primary School - 12 average standards in both English and mathematics. Pupils with special educational needs make steady progress towards their targets, and develop their reading skills well as the result of good assessment of their needs and well focused support. Higher attaining pupils do not fare so well; too little of the teaching makes the most of their abilities, and too few attain the standards of which they

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

are capable, particularly in English and mathematics.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

7. The pupils have maintained their good attitudes found at the time of the last inspection. The vast majority of parents who returned the questionnaires said that their children enjoy coming to school, and that pupils are enthusiastic learners. This was seen in a Year 1 science lesson when the pupils were testing how well different materials were attracted to magnets. The pupils gasped as the teacher showed them the giant magnet and were amazed as it picked up dozens of paperclips. They could hardly wait to use their own magnets and worked feverishly as they tested different materials. A few pupils, mainly older girls, take a long time to settle and quickly lose concentration. For example in a year 4/5 Science lesson, some of girls were more interested in using the magnifying glass to look at each other’s hair, than examining the specimens of flowers. These girls achieve less in the lessons

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

and, as a result, the boys generally make better progress.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

8. Children in the Foundation Stage settle into school well, and enjoy coming to school. They have positive attitudes to their work and play. Behaviour is good. They are learning to interact well with their teachers and the learning support assistants.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

9. At the time of the last inspection, when there were fewer pupils in the school, behaviour was very good; it is now good. The majority of the pupils, including those with special educational needs, behave well in lessons, and respond well to the reward system of house points. They feel that the sanction of loss of ‘Golden Time’ works well, and is applied fairly by the teachers. Most of the pupils are courteous, and the parents are impressed with the pupils’ politeness. For example, they all open doors for staff and visitors. The pupils work best when lessons are structured but, in the hall or outside, many find it difficult to listen to the teacher or do as they are told. This was seen in the Year 2 physical education lesson when the pupils were bouncing balls as hard as they could, and rushing around with little control. Consequently, they made very little progress with their ball skills. The

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

behaviour of a few Year 6 girls, who shout out and talk when the teacher is talking, slows down the pace of the lessons and disrupts learning. The pupils say that rare incidents of anti-social behaviour are dealt with swiftly. There was one fixed-term exclusion last year.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

10. The pupils’ personal development and relationships are good. The pupils co-operate with each other in lessons and work well in groups. The school is a harmonious community and the pupils accept others with particular difficulties as their equals. The vast majority of pupils show respect. This was seen in a Year 3/4 music lesson when the pupils listened carefully to each other’s compositions, and sensitively made constructive comments on how the pieces of music could be improved. The vast majority of pupils have good relationships with their teachers and adults working in the school. The pupils enjoy socialising at lunchtime and play sensibly in the playground. They have few opportunities to help improve school life, but they enjoy acting as house captains, register monitors and helping in the library.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

11. The attendance of the pupils is satisfactory. The attendance rate of 91.6 per cent for 2000/01 is inaccurate. Two pupils who were on roll were not included in the attendance totals as they were educated at a special centre for the whole year. The school has now changed to a computerised system for monitoring attendance and the data for current academic year reflects the true picture of pupils’ attendance. The attendance rate for 2001/02 is 94.9 per cent and the unauthorised absent rate Watlington Primary School - 13 is 0.14 per cent. If the inaccurate figures for 2000/01 are ignored, there has been a constant high rate of attendance over the past few years. Most parents bring their children to school on time and the school day starts promptly. The pupils’ good attendance and punctuality have a positive impact on their learning.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

12. The quality of teaching and learning overall is satisfactory, and good in Years 3 to 6 where, during this inspection, more than a third of lessons were good or very good. Parents are pleased with the quality of teaching, with 94 per cent of those replying to the pre-inspection questionnaire saying that it was good. The school has worked hard to achieve consistency in the teaching by regular monitoring of lessons by senior staff, and this accounts for the higher proportion of good lessons compared with the last inspection, and lower proportion of unsatisfactory ones.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

13. Teachers’ planning of lessons follows a consistent format, and generally provides a good structure to pupils’ work, with clear statements of what different groups should learn. A weakness in some planning lies in the lack of sufficient challenge for higher attaining pupils, particularly in English, and this explains why too few achieve high enough standards in the national tests.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

14. The quality of teaching and learning for children in the Foundation Stage is unsatisfactory overall; it is satisfactory for communication, language and literacy, mathematical development and knowledge and understanding of the world. It is, however, unsatisfactory in the areas of personal and social development, creative and physical development, as the teachers lack sufficient knowledge of how young children learn. This limits their ability to plan effectively for all the different levels of young children’s learning. Planning is unsatisfactory, as it does not provide sufficient opportunities for children to develop independent learning by choosing activities for themselves or for making choices within adult-initiated activities. Too many lessons are over-directed by adults, including creative development time. Planning for outdoor play is insufficient. Children lack easy access to an appropriate outside area and this affects their physical skills and their independent learning. The

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

teachers and learning support assistants know the children well as individuals. The children respond quickly to the high expectations for behaviour, attentiveness and following instructions. All adults in the two Foundation Stage classes listen with interest to what the children have to say and, when working with them, demonstrate satisfactory skills in helping the children to develop their language for communication. The strength of the teaching in the Foundation Stage is the good teamwork between the teachers and the learning support assistants.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

15. In Years 1 and 2, the quality of teaching is satisfactory. Teachers teach the basic skills methodically, and pupils make steady progress in their reading and number. Teachers are good at asking the right questions to make pupils think. In a good Year 1 literacy lesson, for example, the teacher kept all pupils involved in learning by asking them if they thought the pupils at the front had the correct answer. By asking, ‘Has he got it right?’ and, ‘Which words actually describe the fort?’ the teacher made learning fun, and had all groups of pupils thinking hard about their writing and reading. Teachers make good use of resources to interest pupils. In a good religious education lesson, for example, the teacher started with a video recording about aspects of Islam, and followed this up by showing them prayer mats and photographs. These captured pupils’ attention, and soon had them asking good questions to extend their learning. Teachers’ control of pupils is satisfactory but, where

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

there are shortcomings in lessons, particularly those involving practical activities, teachers struggle to manage the behaviour of a few disruptive pupils. In Years 1 and 2, the quality of teaching and learning is good in mathematics, and satisfactory in all other subjects. Only one lesson was seen in physical education, and no judgement is possible. Watlington Primary School - 14 16. In Years 3 to 6, the pace of teaching and learning is usually brisk, and pupils make good progress. Pupils are kept focused by the teacher setting time limits, and by saying such things as, ‘This should take only five minutes’ teachers ensure that pupils cover sufficient ground in each lesson. Teachers’ methods are effective. They split lessons carefully into time for direct teaching, time for practical activities and a summing-up session at the end to see to what extent pupils’ learning has met the lesson’s objectives. They generally manage pupils’ behaviour well, but teachers sometimes find it

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

difficult to channel their enthusiasm in physical education, and the pace of learning suffers as a result. Looking at individual subjects, the quality of teaching in Years 3 to 6 is good in mathematics, music and science, and satisfactory in all other subjects except physical education where it is unsatisfactory. The quality of teaching in information and communication technology is satisfactory, but pupils’ learning is held back by the lack of computers. When they have to wait over a week to put into practice the skills they have learned, the impact of the teaching is lost, and standards are too low as a result.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

17. Teachers’ marking is satisfactory, and provides pupils with sound advice about how they can improve. Teachers set homework regularly, and this helps pupils deepen their knowledge of topics covered in lessons. There is, however, insufficient monitoring of the level of challenge provided by the books pupils take home for reading practice, or of how much the pupils have read.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT?

18. The quality of teaching and learning for pupils with special educational needs is satisfactory. Pupils’ targets set by teachers are challenging but achievable. They focus mainly on literacy, numeracy and behaviour, and provide a sound structure for pupils’ learning. Pupils are supported well in many lessons by a good number of teaching assistants, who ensure their inclusion into all aspects of lessons.

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

19. The school provides a sound curriculum for the pupils in Years 1 to 6, offering them a broad and reasonably balanced range of learning activities. This is an improvement from the previous inspection, when insufficient attention was given to subjects other than English, mathematics and science. The school affords a sound preparation for the high school. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 have swimming lessons at Downham Market, although the school recognises that there are organisational problems in ensuring this provision. There is no instrumental music tuition. Total weekly teaching time meets national recommendations for pupils of this age, which it did not at the time of the previous inspection. The school meets statutory requirements for all the subjects of the National Curriculum and religious education meets the requirements of the locally agreed syllabus. The school meets its obligations to

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

provide a daily act of collective worship, which is largely Christian in character, and this successfully addresses one of the key issues of the previous report. Given last year’s poor results in the national tests for English and mathematics, there is less time devoted to the teaching of these subjects than required. Nevertheless, the school is implementing the national strategies for literacy and numeracy satisfactorily. The teachers consolidate learning in these subjects by setting regular homework tasks in every class. Occasionally, they set homework in other subjects.

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

20. The previous inspection found that long term planning of the curriculum was weak in catering for pupils’ differing needs and for the mixed age classes. This has now improved. Long term planning for English is based on the local authority’s scheme of work. Mathematics is soundly based on the National Numeracy Strategy, supplemented by a commercial scheme of work. Science and physical education are based on commercial schemes, whilst planning for other subjects is soundly based on national guidelines, adapted to meet the needs of the school. This is done on a two-year cycle, in order to meet the needs of the mixed age classes in Years 3, 4 and 5. The teachers plan in more detail for Watlington Primary School - 15 the work that the pupils will do each term and each week and they are mindful of the need to match work to differing needs.

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

21. The quality and range of the learning opportunities for children in the Foundation Stage are unsatisfactory. Although the planning is to the recommended areas of learning for the Foundation Stage, there are insufficient child-planned or child-initiated activities. Appropriate focused teaching of literacy and numeracy skills is carefully planned for in both classes. However, children are not given sufficient independent opportunities to practise, use and reinforce their early literacy and numeracy skills. The lack of a covered outside area and an appropriate outside play and work area for children in the Reception classes limit the provision for the full range of the curriculum and learning opportunities. Children only have a regular set amount of time to be outside each day. This consists of two breaks of fifteen minutes, plus their lunchtime break. This does not provide sufficient or frequent

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

enough opportunities for children to move ‘spontaneously between indoor and outdoor environments’ as stated in the recommended curriculum for children in the Foundation Stage. There are only three set periods of time allocated for physical development each week, one of which was cancelled during the inspection due to the hall being used for a Stranger Danger talk.

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

22. This is an inclusive school, where pupils have equal opportunities to take part in all activities. Boys and girls work and play happily together, and have the same access to all sporting teams. The staff work closely with outside agencies to support and encourage pupils with particular difficulties to take a full part in school life. The school consults with the Plymouth Brethren families to ensure that their children are fully integrated into the school community, whilst being sensitive to making alternative curricular arrangements where appropriate.

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

23. There is a good range of extracurricular activities for pupils in Years 3 to 6. These include after- school or lunchtime clubs for football, cricket, netball, cross-country running, jump rope and recorders. School football and netball teams play matches against local schools. The netball team recently reached the final of the area large schools’ tournament. Nevertheless, the inspection’s findings confirm the view of a good number of parents that there are no such opportunities for younger pupils. The teachers enrich learning by organising worthwhile visits to places of interest, including Lynn Museum, Park Farm, Kentwell and Hunstanton. There is a residential visit to Kingswood, where pupils in Years 5 and 6 can participate in outdoor activities and information and communication technology. Whenever possible, the teachers make good use of the knowledge and expertise of visitors to the school, in order to enrich the pupils’ learning. These include the fire service, the school

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

nurse, the Christian Fellowship, the Vicar, theatre groups and football coaches. During the inspection, older pupils were visited by a musician.

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

24. The school makes sound use of the community to enrich the pupils’ learning. There are close links with the Church of St Peter and St Paul, which the teachers use as a valuable resource for learning in subjects such as religious education and history. Once a month, the Vicar and clergy from the free churches in Downham Market lead acts of collective worship in school. The teachers make effective use of talks by health workers, police and representatives from the church. A parent brought in some wartime memorabilia and spoke to the pupils about the war. At Christmas, there is no shortage of volunteers to sing carols for the residents of a local senior citizens’ home.

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

25. There are good links with the village pre-school playgroup, enabling these children to make a smooth transition into the Reception classes. Before joining the school, these children can spend ‘taster’ sessions, in the mornings, at lunchtimes and in the afternoons. There are also good links with the high school, to which most of the pupils in Year 6 transfer at the age of 11. High school staff come and talk to the pupils in Year 6, and the pupils have the opportunity to participate in two design and technology days and two information and communication technology days at the high school. Watlington Primary School - 16 They also have an induction day there, in order to familiarise themselves with what will soon be their new surroundings.

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PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

26. There is good provision for the pupils’ personal, social, health and citizenship education. This is taught in a variety of ways, sometimes as a discrete subject and sometimes through other subjects, such as science, geography and religious education. In science, the pupils learn about the need for a balanced diet in contributing towards a healthy lifestyle and they learn about the dangers of drugs misuse. They learn about bodily changes as they grow older. There is formal sex education for pupils in Year 6. In ‘circle time’, the pupils gather round in a circle to talk about issues which matter to them and to develop confidence and self-esteem. During the inspection, younger pupils listened to a talk given by the community police officer on the dangers of talking to strangers.

p.16

PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

27. Pupils with special educational needs benefit from good, well-written individual plans, which provide clear targets towards which pupils and teachers can aim. The requirements of the Code of Practice are met, with all parents being partners in the setting of targets. Teaching assistants provide informed support, so that, in nearly all cases, pupils are able to handle the tasks set for them.

p.16

PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

28. The school makes good provision for the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. In the previous inspection, this was broadly satisfactory. Provision for the pupils’ spiritual development was unsatisfactory in the previous inspection, with insufficient time for the pupils to reflect on matters of concern. This has improved and provision is now good. The pupils are given time to think about issues during acts of collective worship and in personal, social and health education lessons. Pupils from every year group contributed to a very effective mural, displayed in the foyer. This encourages them to be the best they can and to take care of God’s world. There is a good display of work in which the pupils have written effectively about the ‘rights of the child’. At the annual Christingle service in the village church, the pupils reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Acts of collective

p.16

PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

worship make a good contribution to the pupils’ spiritual development on themes such as golden rules, new life, friendship and environmental conservation. In an act of collective worship led by the Vicar, the pupils reflected on the qualities we need to make a better world and on the Queen’s fifty years as monarch.

p.16

PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

29. There is good provision for the pupils’ moral development. The teachers ensure that the pupils know the difference between right and wrong. ‘Golden Rules’, which focus on honesty, kindness and respect, are prominently displayed in all classrooms. There is a clear behaviour policy, which emphasises ‘assertive discipline’. The teachers reward good behaviour and positive attitudes with ‘Golden Time’, and they celebrate it in ‘Our Happy Book’ and in a weekly achievement assembly. The pupils can earn house points for good work and self-discipline, and these contribute to a house cup every term. The individual plans of some pupils with special educational needs include appropriate targets for improving behaviour and some pupils have behaviour contracts

p.16

PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

30. Provision for the pupils’ social development is good. Most parents believe that the school helps their children to mature and to become responsible. Many pupils help with classroom tasks and the older pupils have some additional responsibilities. Volunteers keep the library tidy. The pupils willingly support a number of local and national charities, including the British Heart Foundation, Save the Children, Harvest Aid for Romania, ‘Jeans for Genes’ and Riding for the Disabled. The pupils can develop social skills by taking part in extra-curricular activities, class assemblies, school productions and school visits. In geography and personal, social and health education lessons, the pupils learn much about environmental pollution and the need to conserve resources. There is a large aluminium can recycling bin in the school grounds. Pupils in Years 4 and 5 developed their social skills well by

p.16

PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

conducting a survey in every class, in order to ascertain the pupils’ views on the school’s provision for extracurricular activities. They concluded their report with some recommendations. Watlington Primary School - 17 31. There is good provision for the pupils’ cultural development. They learn about the work of some famous European artists and sculptors, such as Mondrian and Henry Moore, and in history, they learn about the legacy of the Romans, Vikings and Tudors. Some pupils participated in a school ‘Greek Day’, when they enacted the story of The Trojan Horse and the legend of Medusa. Visits are made to Lynn Museum. An annual book fair aims to encourage a love of reading. In geography, the pupils learn about aspects of the culture of Finland and Greece. The teachers ensure that the pupils are adequately prepared for life in a multi-cultural society. This was a weakness in the previous inspection. During the inspection, the pupils in Year 6 had the opportunity to listen to a visitor playing

p.16

PUPILS OR STUDENTS?

musical instruments from diverse cultures. A recent African event demonstrated the vitality of African music and it had a big impact on pupils’ singing in acts of collective worship. Last summer, the younger pupils visited a local multi-cultural ‘Extravaganza’, and some older pupils participated in an after-school workshop on the theme of ‘Sing the World’. The teachers ensure that their choice of books is representative of a culturally diverse society. In an English lesson for pupils in Years 3 and 4, the teacher read a story set in a Muslim culture.

p.17

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

32. The school has very good procedures to ensure the pupils’ welfare, health and safety. The school is a caring community. The teachers, and, in particular, the headteacher, show high levels of care and concern for the pupils. Some pupils in Year 6 said,

p.17

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

‘The school is a friendly place and the teachers are helpful. We know we could talk to them if we were upset’.

p.17

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

33. Children in the Foundation Stage are cared for well and are very happy to come to school. They share good relationships with their teachers and learning support assistants and other adults in the school. Soon after children enter the Reception classes they are assessed using a procedure designed specifically for this age range. The evidence from this provides a precise insight into the stage of development of each child.

p.17

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

34. The procedures for monitoring and supporting pupils’ personal development are good. The teachers know the pupils well and make valuable comments about their personal development in the pupils’ annual reports.

p.17

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

35. The school pays very good attention to health and safety. The health and safety policy is detailed and includes school procedures. The headteacher is particularly vigilant of potential hazards and makes regular checks of the premises. There are appropriate systems in place for electrical testing, fire drills and risk assessment. In lessons, pupils are taught valuable skills to keep themselves safe. For example, a police officer talked with the pupils about the dangers of talking to strangers, and explored practical ways of reducing risks. Supervision during breaks and after school is good.

p.17

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

36. The school has appropriate arrangements for child protection and has drawn up a sound policy. The headteacher is the designated member of staff with responsibility for child protection and carries out her duty effectively. Adults working in the school have a good understanding of the school’s procedures. The headteacher is fully aware of the arrangements for pupils in public care.

p.17

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

37. The arrangements for first aid are good, and many of the staff have received basic training. Pupils who are ill or injured receive very good care and attention, but there is no medical room. Pupils are treated in the small school office and there is a lack of privacy. The staff keep very good records of Watlington Primary School - 18 accidents and inform parents as necessary. The procedures for the storage and administration of medication are very good.

p.17

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

38. The school’s arrangements for monitoring and improving attendance are good. The computerised registration system is well managed, and enables staff to follow up unexplained absences and track attendance rates of individual pupils. The school strongly discourages parents from taking their children on holiday during term time, and praises pupils with full attendance. The headteacher closely monitors lateness and works with the educational welfare officer on the rare occasions when attendance or punctuality is a cause for concern.

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

39. The school procedures for monitoring and promoting good behaviour are good. The ethos of good behaviour is reinforced in lessons, at lunchtime and in assemblies. The ‘Golden Rules’ are displayed around the school, and the pupils understand the consequences of their actions. Rewards and sanctions are applied consistently throughout the school, both in lessons and at lunchtime. Rewards such as house points are effective and pupils enjoy receiving praise during achievement assemblies. Not all teachers have successful strategies to deal with minor instances of disruption, particularly by older girls. The behaviour policy does not reflect the current good practice and it is under review. The procedures for monitoring and eliminating oppressive behaviour are good. The school has drawn up a sound anti-bullying policy, and bullying is discussed in ‘circle time’ (whole class discussions). Parents,

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

pupils and lunchtime supervisors say that rare incidents of anti-social behaviour are dealt with effectively.

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

40. A key issue of the previous inspection was to make regular and frequent assessments of pupils’ attainment and to make use of the information to plan what the pupils should learn next. The headteacher is responsible for co-ordinating assessment arrangements throughout the school. These are better than they were in the previous inspection, but the headteacher recognises that they need to be developed further. She has developed a clear policy, which outlines the types of assessment to be carried out in each year group, from entry into Reception through to Year 6. There are now satisfactory procedures for assessing the pupils’ attainment and for tracking their progress from one year to the next. The teachers are starting to use information gained from assessments and from analysis of the pupils’ performance in national tests to identify areas for improvement in learning, and to set targets for the pupils to aim towards. These targets are regularly shared with the pupils. In the

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

pupils’ English exercise books, for example, there are useful assessments to show how their attainment matches the expected National Curriculum levels, and this is good practice.

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

41. A weakness in the school’s assessment procedures is its lack of effective use for higher attaining pupils. These pupils are not clearly identified by assessment as a group needing extra support, and too much of the work planned for them lacks the challenge that would take them to higher levels of attainment.

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

42. The assessment of pupils with special educational needs is thorough, and provides a clear picture of their difficulties. Their needs are addressed effectively, and are used well to set individual targets towards which pupils and teachers can aim. Teachers work closely with the headteacher, who is the co-ordinator for pupils with special educational needs, to review pupils’ progress regularly, and use information from these reviews well to plan future targets.

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

43. The school’s marking policy has recently been reviewed. It recognises the need for marking to be an important part of the assessment process and to be a means of helping the pupils to improve. Where the teachers have talked to the pupils about their work, they tick or initial it. Whilst the teachers mark work positively, using house points effectively, there is very little evidence of written comments on the pupils’ work, which might help them to improve. Watlington Primary School - 19

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

44. The parents generally expressed positive views of the school at the pre-inspection meeting and through the questionnaires. The vast majority say that their children are expected to work hard and are making good progress. They value the way in which staff are willing to discuss their concerns and suggestions. They are pleased that their children enjoy school and feel that their behaviour is good. Nearly a third of parents who replied to the questionnaire believe that the school does not provide a good range of extracurricular activities. The inspection team judges that there is a satisfactory range of activities outside lessons, but that these are mainly for the older pupils.

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

45. Induction procedures for children starting school are very good. The teacher visits the children in their playgroup several times, so that they get to know her before they come into school and she is able to meet their parents. Before their children start in the Reception classes, parents are invited to come into the school for an evening meeting, where they hear about what their child will experience and to receive the school’s documentation. During the autumn term, parents are invited to come into school for an evening to hear about different aspects of the curriculum for their children.

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

46. A significant minority of parents feel that the school does not work closely with parents. The inspection team does not share these parents’ views. The school has established good links with its parents and is constantly striving to improve the partnership between home and school. The parents value the ‘open door’ policy and feel that the headteacher is very welcoming and approachable. The school has sought parents’ opinions and acted on their suggestions.

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

47. The information which the school provides to parents is satisfactory. The school works hard to encourage new parents to become involved with their children’s education. They are invited to beneficial meetings and given good information about the curriculum and school routines. The school also arranged a helpful course, ‘Keeping up with your children’, which was well received. The prospectus and governors’ Annual Report are informative and contain all the required information. Regular newsletters keep parents well informed about future events and celebrate the school’s successes. The school invites parents to a useful ‘meet the teacher’ session at the beginning of the school year and sends parents helpful information about the topics their children will be studying.

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

48. A quarter of the parents who returned the questionnaire felt that the school does not give them enough information about how their children are getting on. The inspection team found that, during the year, the school provides parents with satisfactory information about their children’s progress. The interim reports are good and contain helpful and clear information for parents, and form the basis for discussion at the parents’ spring consultation. The annual reports are satisfactory, and give parents appropriate information about how their children are getting on in English and mathematics. In other subjects, most of the reports only give an outline of the topics, and do not give parents enough information about what their children can do and how they can improve their work. The school has already responded to parents’ concerns that they are not invited to formal opportunities to talk with

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

teachers between July and February. Additional parent-teacher consultations are planned for the autumn term, providing parents with good opportunities to talk with teachers.

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

49. Parents of pupils with special educational needs speak highly of the school’s provision for their children. They are well informed of their child’s progress, and the measures taken by the school to address their child’s specific problems. Teachers and the co-ordinator for pupils with special educational needs meet parents regularly, and these meetings provide valuable exchanges of information concerning pupils’ work at home and school. Watlington Primary School - 20 50. The parents’ involvement with the school is satisfactory, and is improving. The parent governors are very supportive and work hard to improve the school’s links with parents. The active Parent- Teacher Association organises fund-raising and social events. The vast majority of parents have signed the home-school agreement and enjoy attending events and open days. The school appreciates the assistance of several parents who run the school ‘discos’. Although the parents want the school to

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

provide more out-of-school activities, they have not responded to the school’s invitation to help with after school clubs.

p.20

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

51. The parents’ contribution to their children’s learning is satisfactory. The school values the help offered by the small number of parents who help in the classrooms. Others help on visits. Parents are keen to support their children’s learning and attendance at the consultation sessions is high. The parents receive good information about the school’s expectations of homework, and, as a result, are able to support their children’s learning. The home-school reading diaries are rarely used as an effective means of communication between home and school.

p.20

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

52. The quality of the leadership and management is good. The headteacher leads the team well, and has already created a strong team spirit in her first two terms in post. The headteacher, sensitive to the fact that she was previously the deputy, did not try to do too much too soon. The headteacher began by strengthening the role of co-ordinators, a weakness in the previous inspection. They were given the responsibility for monitoring the quality of teaching in their subject, which was something that they had done little of before. This proved effective, and provided valuable information to the headteacher and co-ordinators about how well teachers taught. Co-ordinators were given time out of classes to complete a thorough audit of pupils’ work in their subjects. This worked very well; it taught co-ordinators much about how to evaluate standards, and enabled them to pinpoint areas of weakness

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

that teachers’ lesson planning could address. The mathematics co-ordinator, for example, found that many pupils struggled with the concept of place value, and extra work on this topic improved pupils’ competence significantly. This process also uncovered inconsistencies in the use of schemes of work, and these were quickly resolved.

p.20

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

53. The headteacher has introduced the setting of targets for pupils in each year group to attain. This is good practice, and helps both pupils and teachers to focus on specific skills that pupils need to move on to the next stage. This process has not, however, identified how teachers can extend higher attaining pupils so that they achieve the levels of which they are capable. This was also an issue brought up in the previous inspection.

p.20

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

54. The headteacher has made a good start at monitoring pupils’ results in the national tests, working closely with the literacy and numeracy co-ordinators, and enlisting the help of a knowledgeable governor to look at science. Again, this is new to the school, and the benefits were soon felt as weaknesses were found in extended writing in English, fractions and capacity in mathematics and pupils’ understanding of the text of questions in science. All these findings are helping to raise standards, and explain how pupils’ attainment has risen this year.

p.20

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

55. The headteacher has a clear vision for the future and high expectations of staff and pupils. The school development plan has a good set of priorities with accurate predictions of how much they will cost, and regular monitoring of its effectiveness. This plan covers only the year ahead, as was the Watlington Primary School - 21 case in the school’s previous inspection, but the headteacher decided, with justification, to do this as a short-term measure before governors worked with the staff this year to produce a three-year plan.

p.20

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

56. The headteacher makes good use of expertise outside the school. Advisers from the local education authority, for example, have provided information following their monitoring of lessons. External advisers have helped the headteacher and governing body introduce good performance management procedures. These give all staff clear targets for their development, and include specific goals for pupils’ attainment in each class.

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

57. The headteacher works closely with the deputy headteacher, and they share a common vision for the school’s development. The deputy headteacher, also new to the post, supports the headteacher well, and has already contributed to the school’s development by producing a good teaching and learning policy. The deputy headteacher has responsibility for induction procedures for new staff. The school has no policy, or specific collection of materials, but the practice is sound, and is valued by new staff.

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

58. The governors, well led by the enthusiastic new Chair, support the school well, and have a good understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. The Chair has introduced good new measures to increase the level of governors’ involvement in the school, including the attachment of members to subjects so that they can monitor standards. Governors work closely with the headteacher to set challenging targets for pupils to attain in the national tests, and these are reviewed regularly to see if they are appropriate. Governors have used expertise from the local education authority well to enable them to make effective use of comparative data about pupils’ attainment, and this has helped them in their target-setting.

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

59. The headteacher is the co-ordinator for pupils with special educational needs, and has good expertise. The headteacher is committed to ensuring that pupils’ needs are met in the classroom whenever possible, and this provides pupils with good opportunities to learn from higher attaining groups. The headteacher is also responsible for the Foundation Stage, and has a clear overview of provision for the children. She fully understands the strengths and weaknesses in the department. In order to raise the teachers’ awareness of what constitutes good practice in the Foundation Stage, she is planning for the Reception class teachers to visit two other schools to observe good practice.

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

60. The school has sound systems to ensure the best value is gained from its spending. The headteacher and governing body, for example, have monitored the effectiveness of the significant expenditure on teaching assistants, and found that they provide good value for money. When standards in music were felt to be not high enough, the governing body worked well with the music co- ordinator to research a more appropriate scheme of work, and provide pupils with a better music system. This proved effective, and raised the quality of teaching and learning significantly. The school secretary is efficient, but is still getting to grips with the school budget, having had little involvement before the new headteacher came into post. The local education authority is supporting the school, but temporary problems with the computer system are making accurate financial management difficult and time-consuming.

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

61. The school is well staffed with appropriately qualified teachers. The deputy headteacher ensures that staff training is focused appropriately on the school’s priorities and teachers’ needs. The good number of teaching assistants support teachers and pupils well, and ensure that pupils with special educational needs are included in all school activities. Their contributions to question-and-answer sessions are especially valuable, and give these pupils much pleasure when they provide the correct answer. The supply of learning resources is satisfactory. They are good in science, and satisfactory in all other subjects except religious education, where they are limited, in geography, where there are Watlington Primary School - 22 shortages of up-to-date atlases, and information and communication technology, where the school lacks sufficient new computers. These shortages lower pupils’ standards. There are plans to increase

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

the number of computers in the very near future. The accommodation is satisfactory, although some classrooms are crowded.

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

62. For the Foundation Stage children, the indoor accommodation in one of the classes is satisfactory, but the mobile classroom is cramped. Outdoor provision is inadequate, and is not easily accessible; this affects pupils’ physical, personal and social development. Learning resources are satisfactory for children in the Foundation Stage, including a reasonable range of good quality large wheeled toys. However, these are stored in a shed some way away from the Reception classes, and are not easily available. Watlington Primary School - 23

p.22

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

In order to build upon recent improvements in pupils’ standards, the governing body, headteacher and staff should:

p.23

mathematics by:

• making better use of assessments to identify these pupils; • planning work that extends these pupils and enables them to attain the levels of which they are capable; • monitoring more carefully the reading that pupils are expected to do at home, ensuring that they read regularly, and that the books they read are sufficiently challenging: and • providing more opportunities for pupils to write at length. (Paragraphs 6, 13, 17, 41, 77, 84, 86, 89, 91, 99, 147)

p.23

(2) improve the teaching and provision for children in the Foundation Stage by:

• providing more opportunities for children to make choices and develop their independence; and • ensuring that they have an appropriate play area, and ready access to play equipment. (Paragraphs 3, 14, 21, 63-76)

p.23

the school with sufficient computers so that pupils can put into practice the

skills they learn in lessons. (Paragraphs 5, 16, 61, 126)

p.23

OTHER ISSUES WHICH SHOULD BE CONSIDERED BY THE SCHOOL

• Improve the supply of learning resources in geography and religious education. (Paragraphs 61, 120, 148) • Produce a school improvement plan to set targets for the next three years. (Paragraph 55) • Find more effective way to manage the behaviour of the few girls who disrupt the learning of themselves and others. (Paragraphs 7, 16, 39, 79, 93, 139, 141) • Provide more extracurricular activities for younger pupils. (Paragraphs 23, 44) Watlington Primary School - 24

p.23

Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 72

p.24

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very Poor

p.24

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

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 two percentage points

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 200

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 14

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 6

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 46

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

English as an additional language No of pupils

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 0

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 28

p.24

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 10

p.24

Attendance

School data 7.2 School data 1.2 Watlington Primary School - 25 National comparative data 5.6 National comparative data 0.5

p.24

Attendance

Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Watlington Primary School - 26

p.25

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 1 for the latest reporting year 2001 20 26 46

p.26

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics

p.26

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Boys 10 10 14 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 21 21 21

p.26

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Percentage of pupils School 67 (88) 67 (83) 76 (96) at NC level 2 or above National 84 (83) 86 (84) 91 (90)

p.26

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

p.26

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Boys 11 14 14 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 21 21 21

p.26

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Percentage of pupils School 70 (88) 76 (88) 76 (92) at NC level 2 or above National 85 (84) 89 (88) 89 (88)

p.26

Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

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

p.26

very small numbers of pupils only the total figures are shown

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 2 for the latest reporting year 2001 10 7 17

p.26

very small numbers of pupils only the total figures are shown

National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science

p.26

very small numbers of pupils only the total figures are shown

Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Total 11 10 15

p.26

very small numbers of pupils only the total figures are shown

Percentage of pupils School 65 (82) 59 (75) 88 (82) at NC level 4 or above National 75 (75) 71 (72) 87 (85)

p.26

very small numbers of pupils only the total figures are shown

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

p.26

very small numbers of pupils only the total figures are shown

Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Total 8 12 11

p.26

very small numbers of pupils only the total figures are shown

Percentage of pupils School 47 (68) 71 (64) 65 (68) at NC level 4 or above National 72 (70) 74 (72) 82 (79)

p.26

very small numbers of pupils only the total figures are shown

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year. Watlington Primary School - 27 Watlington Primary School - 28

p.26

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black – Caribbean heritage 0 Black – Caribbean heritage 0 0

p.28

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black – African heritage 0 Black – African heritage 0 0

p.28

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Any other minority ethnic group 5 Other minority ethnic groups 0 0

p.28

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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.28

Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 9 Financial year 2001/2002

p.28

Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 22.2

p.28

Teachers and classes Financial information

Education support staff: YR – Y6 Total income 388437

p.28

Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 10 Total expenditure 362363

p.28

Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 211 Expenditure per pupil 1949

p.28

Teachers and classes Financial information

Balance brought forward from previous year 1687

p.28

Teachers and classes Financial information

FTE means full-time equivalent. Balance carried forward to next year 27761

p.28

Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 1

p.28

Recruitment of teachers

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

p.28

Recruitment of teachers

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 2

p.28

Recruitment of teachers

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 1

p.28

Recruitment of teachers

Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) 1

p.28

Recruitment of teachers

FTE means full-time equivalent. Watlington Primary School - 29

p.28

Results of the survey of parents and carers

Percentage of responses in each category

p.29

Results of the survey of parents and carers

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

p.29

Results of the survey of parents and carers

My child is making good progress in school. 32 60 6 0 2

p.29

Results of the survey of parents and carers

Behaviour in the school is good. 35 57 2 2 5

p.29

Results of the survey of parents and carers

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 34 46 15 3 2

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 29 45 25 0 2

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 42 55 2 0 2

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 43 51 5 0 2

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school works closely with parents. 32 45 20 0 3

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school is well led and managed. 40 48 5 0 8

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 29 52 8 0 11

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 25 37 25 5 9 Watlington Primary School - 30

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

63. Children are admitted to the Reception class at the start of the autumn term or the spring term during the year in which they become five years old. There is a staggered entry for the first week, and then they attend full time. They are taught within a caring, supportive environment where they feel safe and secure. Most of the children have attended a playgroup before starting in the Reception class. When children enter the school, most have below average attainment for their age. In the Reception year, children make satisfactory progress from their below average starting point, but their levels of attainment fall below the nationally agreed levels in all areas of their development. The overall quality of teaching is unsatisfactory, due to the inadequate provision for independent learning.

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Personal, social and emotional development

64. Although standards are below average in this area of learning, most children are happy and secure in their surroundings and have settled in well since starting school. However, few achieve the targets in this area by the time they leave the Reception class. At the beginning of the day, they enter their classes with enthusiasm, and are eager to speak with their teachers and other adults within the room. They play happily in the playground during the morning and afternoon breaks. The children attend to their personal hygiene appropriately; most put their coats on independently, but some need help with zips. During assemblies, they are well behaved and join in singing the hymns with the infant pupils. They form good relationships with other children and adults, but their social development is progressing more slowly. It is good during registration, when they respond appropriately and remember to say

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Personal, social and emotional development

‘Good morning’, and are sufficiently confident to take the register to the office with a partner. Sometimes though, children take advantage of the teachers’ quiet, calm approach. They call out, and do not take turns when speaking or when the teacher is speaking. 65. Teachers’ knowledge of how to best develop this area of learning is unsatisfactory, and curricular provision is limited. It restricts aspects of their social development, and also impinges on the breadth of other areas of learning, especially on their creative and physical development. Although there is a good range of resources available, teachers do not provide sufficient times for children to choose activities for themselves, initiate their own ideas or develop independence. This hampers progress in their social interaction, awareness and sensitivity to the needs of others, and slows down the pace at which they can develop a clear understanding of co-operation and taking turns with one another.

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Communication, language and literacy

66. In this area, the quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory, although standards are still below average by the end of the Reception year. Lessons are well prepared, but, at times, the pace is slow with explanations overlong and too drawn out. Sometimes, the group work is identical to that discussed with the class and, although the children show appropriate attitudes to learning, there is an underlying restlessness. Many children are easily distracted from listening, even when the teacher has carefully emphasised the need to concentrate. There are too few occasions when children can choose their activities freely. Although each Reception class has a ‘home corner’, this is used too infrequently to enable the children develop their imaginative play, language skills and independent learning to the full. All adults show the children that they value their efforts at communicating. A few children are

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Communication, language and literacy

eager to talk about the things that interest them, such as how one child has made a ‘bee’ at home. The children enjoy listening to stories. Adults teach initial letter sounds systematically to help children with early reading and spelling skills. 67. In one class, the teacher made learning fun, and children made good progress. They enjoyed the game of three children standing in front of the class, each holding a large letter to form a word, such as Watlington Primary School - 31 ‘hat’ . Several other children in the class were sitting holding other letters. When the teacher asked, ‘What do we need to change to make hot?’ A child holding the ‘o’ quickly stood up and changed places with the child holding the ‘a’ . This was repeated several times with different letters being changed to form various three-letter words. The children made good progress learning initial letter sounds and simple spellings. However, in the other Reception class, the children’s progress was much

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Communication, language and literacy

slower, even though they also played a game. This lesson lacked the pace and liveliness of the other lesson, and did little to extend the children’s learning. 68. Many children have difficulty with their pencil control, but there is not always sufficient intervention by an adult to correct these mistakes, so children continue to practise incorrect letter formation. A few children make a good attempt at writing their own name. The acceptance of early attempts at writing is good, as this enables the children to be confident and to feel they are ‘writers’. However, in one class, children are asked to copy under the teacher’s writing. Although they make a good attempt at doing this, they do not remember what the words are supposed to convey as much as when they write freely for themselves. Children have good encouragement to take books home to practise their early reading skills. 69. Support staff are used effectively in small group activities to support the teachers’ direct teaching.

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Communication, language and literacy

This helps children to develop their knowledge of letter names and sounds, and to form letters correctly when writing. The support staff are well briefed, and assist the teachers in maintaining regular assessments of individual children’s progress. Most children know that print carries meaning, and that text is read from left to right. They have positive attitudes to books, and are aware that pictures also tell the story. A few children are confident that they can read, and are eager to share books with adults. They run their fingers under the text, and recognise some familiar words. There is good liaison between home and school through the reading records. There is insufficient use of good role-play areas. The programme of work is linked to the National Literacy Strategy for young children. Classroom displays have language clues intended to reinforce learning, but lack the vibrancy to stimulate the children’s curiosity. There is a satisfactory emphasis on language development

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Mathematical development

70. The quality of teaching, and children’s progress, are satisfactory, but in the Reception year, few children make enough ground to achieve the nationally agreed targets for mathematics, due to their well below mathematical attainment on entry to school. The children are learning to recognise and name common shapes such as square, triangle and circle. Most count numbers to ten. These skills are practised regularly when singing nursery rhymes, number jingles and playing sorting and ordering games. Some count by rote in two’s to 20, and in tens to 100. However, few children have a secure understanding of the value of numbers to ten. A minority of children are starting to record simple addition to ten. Teachers and teaching assistants provide satisfactory support by playing board games with the children, which enable them to experience counting, addition and subtraction in a practical way. They work purposefully with sand and water, filling and emptying different size containers.

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Mathematical development

71. Teachers ensure that all adults in the Foundation Stage classes use correct mathematical vocabulary, and provide many activities to develop the children’s understanding at that time. Questions are used well to encourage children to organise their thoughts and build on their understanding. The work is satisfactorily planned, and tasks are in line with the recommendations in the National Numeracy Strategy for young children.

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

72. On entry to the school, the children’s knowledge and understanding of the world are below average for their age. During the Foundation Stage, the teachers effectively build on the children’s knowledge, and help them to learn more about the world around them. The quality of teaching is satisfactory, but whilst children make steady progress, their standards are still below nationally Watlington Primary School - 32 expected levels in the Reception year. Many activities are planned and organised well in order that the children can gain in their understanding through practical experiences. The children have a sound understanding of mini beasts, gained through good practical activities with the interaction of an adult. They have found worms while searching in the school grounds, and learn much by keeping some in a vivarium to study some of their habits. The teacher extends their learning well through effective

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

questioning to help the children notice how the worms are dragging the leaves on the surface down into the soil. The children have planted bean seeds in pots, and have a basic knowledge of what plants need in order to grow. They have visited Park Farm to see the animals, and have walked around the village to extend their knowledge of the local area. 73. Occasionally, the quality of teaching and learning is unsatisfactory, particularly when the task is inappropriate, and too challenging for their ages. On these occasions, the activity relies too much on an adult providing the information, and when the teacher talks for too long the children lose interest. When, for example, the children played a game to make a ‘beetle’ by throwing a dice and matching the numbers to the parts on its body , the teacher told the children what to do, and whilst the parts of the beetle were colourful, the task did not extend the children’s understanding of what a beetle actually

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

looks like. A small group of children were expected to repeat the game with the teacher, while the rest of the children undertook other activities. However, they became restless, lost interest when it was not their turn and their learning was not extended. When the children were playing with some plastic mini beasts, although they could name the ‘green grasshopper’ , they could not name the realistic shape of a beetle .

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Physical development

74. The quality of teaching and learning is unsatisfactory for the children’s physical development. As a result, children make slow progress and few achieve the targets in this area. Although there is a good range of large outdoor apparatus to balance and climb upon, and a satisfactory range of large wheeled play equipment, the children have very limited access to them, and this limits their physical development. The accommodation in the hall is spacious for their physical development lessons, but the activities are too directed by the teacher and the children cannot move freely on the apparatus. They are not developing a good understanding of the use of space and awareness of others. After moving quickly in different directions playing ‘jumping beans’ , they noticed that their hearts were beating faster.

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Physical development

75. Teachers provide the children with a satisfactory range of opportunities to develop their hand control through the use of mark-making tools, and providing a sound range of cutting and gluing activities. However, many have weak pencil control and most have difficulty forming their letters correctly. Most dress and undress themselves, but some need help with buttons and zips. Teachers give overlong instructions during physical education lessons, and this stops children learning for themselves. Too much time is wasted allowing only a very few children on the apparatus at a time, whilst the rest of the children have to stand and watch. Demonstrations by a small number of children are far too long, restricting the very little time the other children can spend on the apparatus.

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Creative development

76. The quality of teaching and learning is unsatisfactory for the children’s creative development. Children are below average in this area of learning, and progress is slow. There are weaknesses in the curricular provision, with too few opportunities for children to choose and initiate ideas of their own, to experiment and to explore creatively or imaginatively, for example, through role play. This holds back their creative development. Much of the artwork is influenced by an adult, with the children producing carefully managed outcomes with little freedom to explore and express their ideas. Other activities are over directed, such as when an adult tore newspapers into single sheets for the children to make into a body for a bee before they covered this with a piece of black crepe paper that the assistant had torn Watlington Primary School - 33 for them. Most of the children’s own paintings are immature for their age. Role-play activities are too

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Creative development

few, although, when given the opportunity, the children enjoy putting on the good range of dressing up clothes. The children enjoy their music lessons. They identify high sounds, but are less sure about low ones. They enjoy playing an instrument to guess whether it makes a high or low sound. In one lesson, while most were happy to wait patiently for their turn, one child snatched the beater, and several quietly complained when the lesson ended and they had not had a turn playing an instrument. They enjoy singing ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ and ‘Gnoris was a gnat’ and taking part in action songs, such as ‘I’m a little teapot’.

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ENGLISH

77. In English, standards are below average in Year 2 and average in Year 6. By the end of Year 6, pupils are making satisfactory progress from their previous attainment. In the previous inspection, attainment was judged to be average for pupils in Years 2 and 6. Whilst care should be taken when judging the achievement of the relatively small number of pupils in Year 6, this shows a good improvement from the 2001 national tests. In those tests, standards were found to be well below average in English in Year 6 and well below average in reading and very low in writing for pupils in Year 2. The school exceeded its target of fifty per cent of pupils expected to reach average standards in Year 6 in 2001. The school has set challenging targets for the current group of pupils in Year 6 to reach average standards, which they are on course to achieve. However, too few are achieving the higher levels of attainment.

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ENGLISH

78. The measures put in place by the school are helping to raise standards, particularly further down the school, where the number of pupils is larger than in the present Year 6. A significant number of pupils in Year 1, and a high proportion of pupils in Year 4 are already achieving above average standards. Over the past four years, there have been some fluctuations from year to year, which reflect the differences between year groups in a small school. The below average attainment of pupils in Year 2 reflects the change in attainment on entry to the school from that of pupils in the previous inspection. Previously, co-ordinators did not have time to manage their subject or monitor teaching and learning, and staff were largely unaware of how the school compared with others. Only in the last year have they been able to fulfil their role and provide appropriate leadership and support for teachers.

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ENGLISH

This is now reflected in the way that teachers are enabling pupils to progress towards higher standards.

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ENGLISH

79. Most pupils make satisfactory progress as they move through the school. Pupils with special educational needs achieve satisfactory standards compared with their previous attainment because they receive well planned and effective support in class, and their progress is regularly reviewed. The Early Literacy programme for younger pupils and the Additional Literacy programme for older pupils support their development well. Higher attaining pupils rarely achieve the standards of which they are capable in either reading or writing. When compared with boys, girls under perform, especially the older girls. A significant number of girls lack the concentration of the boys, especially in Year 6, and do not produce as much work.

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ENGLISH

80. In Years 2 and 6, standards in speaking and listening are average. Many pupils enter the school with below average levels of confidence and spoken language. They gradually develop confidence in speaking, but listening skills are weak in some classes throughout the school. In a good Year 1 lesson, pupils were keen to make suggestions for words beginning with the blends ‘sl’ and ‘st’ . Pupils were eager to answer, and the teacher’s good class management encouraged these pupils to increase their listening skills and to wait for their turn to answer. Watlington Primary School - 34 81. Standards in reading are below average for pupils in Year 2, and average for pupils in Year 6. Pupils enter the school with weak language and literacy skills and make steady progress to achieve these levels. Whilst standards are below that of the previous inspection, they show a significant improvement from the 2001 test results. However, too few pupils learn to skim and scan texts in order

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ENGLISH

to assimilate information quickly by Year 6. Younger pupils handle books confidently and take them home regularly. In Year 2, a few pupils read confidently, some with good expression, and are able to talk about the books they like and dislike. Most read simple texts accurately, but many struggle with new words because their strategies for building up sounds into words are weak. Although most know that an author writes books, pupils name characters, such as Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs, when trying to talk about an author and few are able to name a favourite author. In Year 6, pupils able evaluate what they read with increasing competence. Most talk about their books and comment on characters with varying degrees of detail, but few read a wide selection of challenging texts. They name their favourite authors, such as Lucy Daniels, Jacqueline Wilson and J.K. Rowling, and know some of their titles. Pupils with special educational needs read appropriate books effectively, but

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ENGLISH

quickly find themselves stuck on unfamiliar words. Year 6 pupils have sound research and referencing skills but, due to the limited range of books in the library, their knowledge of the Dewey or colour- coded classification systems are relatively weak.

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ENGLISH

82. Standards in writing are below average in Year 2, and average in Year 6. There is evidence that younger pupils in the infant and junior parts of the school are achieving higher standards. This is because these pupils are benefiting from the improvements in teaching at an earlier stage. The acceptance of early attempts at writing is helping pupils to write freely, and to produce imaginative stories. In Years 1 and 2, pupils are being taught the advanced skills of drafting and refining their work, which is enabling them to achieve higher standards of writing. After drafting and refining their work, a Year 1 pupil wrote:

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ENGLISH

I like yellow daffodils in the woods Sunflowers in my garden to make it pretty Candles in my house to light it up Stars when they twinkle at night.

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ENGLISH

83. A few higher attaining pupils in Year 2 have a good understanding of how to use conjunctions and alliteration to create interesting effects, such as ‘so’ and ‘after a few minutes’ and ‘splattered and spluttered’. However, most write simple sentences, and their use of capital letters and basic punctuation is inconsistent. Most of Year 2 pupils use joined writing and present their work neatly.

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ENGLISH

84. In Year 6, pupils write in an appropriate range of forms, including book reviews, poetry, formal and informal letter writing, imaginative stories and instructions. However, the more advanced writing skills that involve using a more formal range of structures and tone are not sufficiently represented in their work. In the best writing, there is a good range of vocabulary and a lively use of language to create deliberate effects. Pupils are beginning to use paragraphs appropriately and consistently in their writing by Year 6. However, an analysis of the pupils’ writing indicates that many make careless mistakes, and their use of punctuation lacks consistency. Too few pupils develop their ideas in sufficient depth or detail to attain higher levels, due to insufficient time for sustained writing within the curriculum. Pupils with special educational needs use mainly familiar vocabulary. Their own choice of

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ENGLISH

reading material does not contain a sufficiently wide range of imaginative and adventurous words to enrich their vocabulary. There is evidence of editing, particularly in the word-processed work, with systematic planning, drafting and refining their writing. Effective teaching of information and communication skills in Year 3 is enabling pupils to produce well-presented ‘alphabet books’ about topics of their own choice. They use different sized and coloured fonts well to make their books appealing to read. Watlington Primary School - 35 85. The school has identified the need to improve standards of pupils’ writing and reading. There are indications that standards of spelling are improving through the acceptance of pupils’ early attempts at writing, combined with an increased focus on the use of phonics and spelling patterns. The co- ordinator has identified the need for good quality literature to be read to pupils, so that they understand

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ENGLISH

how to write at length and to enhance their vocabulary.

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ENGLISH

86. Throughout the school, standards in literacy are average, and the development of literacy skills across the curriculum is satisfactory. Although there is evidence of some productive links in subjects, such as the history work on the Vikings and Aztecs, there are some missed opportunities to develop the depth and range of pupils’ writing and reading. This is particularly so, in the opportunities for older pupils to develop the skills of skimming and scanning in their reading and to write at length for a range of styles.

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ENGLISH

87. Throughout the school, the quality of teaching and learning in English is satisfactory with some good aspects. This is similar to the previous inspection. There are good relationships between pupils and adults, which create a positive atmosphere for learning. This gives pupils confidence to develop their skills and their understanding, under the guidance of teachers and support staff who know their pupils well. Teachers have satisfactory subject knowledge, which is evident in their management of the literacy hour. Most lessons have a brisk pace because lessons are well planned and pupils are given a clear understanding of what they are expected to learn. In the Year 4/5 class, pupils were able to choose and research a project based on a letter of the alphabet each fortnight for their homework and have produced some well-presented projects. They have used a range of resources well, such as the Internet and books for their research.

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ENGLISH

88. Strengths in the teaching and learning of English across the school were illustrated well in a good literacy lesson in Year 3-4. The teacher’s lively presentation engaged the pupils’ interest and helped them to sustain concentration. After reading an extract from The Peacock Garden , the teacher’s effective questioning helped pupils to develop their skill of prediction. Good teaching helped pupils to understand the strategies they might use to plan how a story may develop. There was a very good transition into group work, which was well planned and organised. There was also good co-operation between the teacher and the learning support assistant, who was productively involved throughout the lesson. They both constantly questioned pupils to ensure their understanding and praised them for their good work. Very good relationships, and high expectations of pupils’ behaviour, personal responsibility

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ENGLISH

and standards of work ensured that pupils made good gains in their learning.

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ENGLISH

89. There is a good focus on oral and listening skills throughout the school, and teachers use questions effectively to encourage all pupils to participate, and to extend and develop their responses. Reading is given good attention in the joint reading sessions. However, there are insufficient individual reading sessions between pupils and teachers in order to extend their individual skills. Also, teachers place insufficient emphasis on the quality and regularity of pupils’ reading at home, and this means that a good opportunity is missed to develop pupils’ skills further. Assessment procedures are satisfactory. However, teachers do not always use the results of assessment sufficiently well to plan the next stages in pupils’ learning, particularly when it comes to providing higher attaining pupils with more challenging work. The quality of marking is satisfactory. In the best practice, pupils are given good

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ENGLISH

recognition for their achievements combined with constructive and clear indications of how they can improve their work. This good practice is not consistently used in all classes.

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ENGLISH

90. The National Literacy Strategy has been satisfactorily implemented and is having a sound impact on pupils' learning. There is a good new policy for English, which supports teaching and learning well. The co-ordinator is relatively new to the school. He is enthusiastic, and has very good subject Watlington Primary School - 36 knowledge. He has a very good understanding of the need to raise pupils’ standards of attainment in the school. He has monitored teaching and is providing very good support for staff. He has worked with colleagues to set literacy targets linked to the National Curriculum levels for pupils to help raise their standard of attainment. The targets help pupils to be involved in taking responsibility for their own learning. He has worked very hard to devise a good detailed literacy development plan for 2002-2003, which encompasses planning, writing and assessment. Together with the literacy adviser from the local

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ENGLISH

education authority, teachers have analysed pupils’ written work against clear agreed criteria. Information and communication technology is used well to support teaching and learning in English. Resources in literacy are good, with some good recent purchases to resource the literacy hour.

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ENGLISH

91. There is an appropriate range and number of books in the classrooms. The library has recently been re-sited from a corridor into a room. Pupil have been appointed and trained as librarians. They take their responsibility very seriously and enjoy keeping the library in good order. However, the space is too small for groups or classes to use it to develop their research skills and, again, this holds back higher attaining pupils who get insufficient opportunities to work more independently and attain higher levels. The school is aware that the majority of books in the library need replacing, due to being out-of -date, or are in a poor state of repair. The school has made a good start to remedying this by purchasing a range of new books and plans to purchase more during the coming year.

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MATHEMATICS

92. In Year 2, standards in basic numeracy and in other areas of mathematics are below average. In Year 6, standards are average. This is a decline from the previous inspection by the end of Year 2, when standards were average, but reflects standards at that time by the end of Year 6. In the 2001 national tests for seven and 11 year olds, attainment was well below average compared with schools nationally and with similar schools. Standards in the national tests have fallen over the past three years. There has been no significant difference in attainment by gender by the end of Year 2, but boys have outperformed girls by the end of Year 6. There is currently no evidence of any significant difference in attainment between boys and girls. The school did not meet its target at the expected National Curriculum Level 4 or above for the 11 year olds. A very ambitious target has been set for this year.

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MATHEMATICS

93. The inspection’s findings confirm that standards are beginning to rise, and are much better than those in last year’s national tests. This results from good teaching, from the school’s sound implementation of the National Numeracy Strategy and from firmer co-ordination of the subject. Moreover, care needs to be taken in interpreting national test results for such a small group of pupils in 2001. Bearing in mind the fact that most pupils enter the school with well below average standards in mathematical development, they are making sound progress by the end of Year 2. Progress is good from Year 3 to Year 6. Pupils with special educational needs make steady progress towards their targets. Most of the pupils have positive attitudes towards work. They are keen to learn and to do their best, but there are a few pupils who find concentration difficult. This is particularly the case with some girls in Year 6 and some boys in Year 2.

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MATHEMATICS

94. In Year 2, pupils have a sound mental recall of addition and subtraction facts to ten and order numbers to 100. They recognise number sequences, including odd and even numbers, but they find it harder to recognise patterns involving shapes. A few higher attaining pupils are confident at recognising half or quarter of shapes and amounts. Few pupils find sums involving money easy to work out. They find it difficult to solve problems, particularly when the information is presented in a different way. Many are unsure of how to tell the time accurately. They recognise common two- dimensional shapes, but they are less confident with three-dimensional ones. The pupils make sound block graphs of data, such as their favourite sandwiches. Watlington Primary School - 37 95. The pupils make reasonable use of their mathematical skills in some other subjects. For example, pupils in Year 2 can use the computers to generate accurate bar charts of their favourite fruits. In

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MATHEMATICS

geography, they measure daily temperature and rainfall reasonably accurately. In science, pupils in Year 1 make a sound class pictogram of their eye colours and, in work about changing times in history, they make a sound pictogram to record their birthdays.

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MATHEMATICS

96. In Year 6, higher attaining pupils apply their mathematical skills well when solving real life problems involving money, but most others find this hard. A few pupils solve problems involving ratio and proportion, and they have a good understanding of equivalent fractions. Most use and interpret co- ordinates in all four quadrants. They add and subtract decimals to two places, but a significant number still struggle with their multiplication tables. They use protractors to measure angles to the nearest degree, but many find problems with the language of angles. They recognise lines of symmetry in two-dimensional shapes, and have a sound understanding of how to use and interpret data in graphical form.

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MATHEMATICS

97. The pupils make sound use of their mathematical skills in some other subjects. Pupils in Years 5 and 6, for example, use spreadsheets well to calculate the cost of an imaginary school trip. In a science lesson, they recorded the results of an investigation into forces by means of accurate line graphs. In geography, the pupils use co-ordinates correctly to locate features on maps. They use their knowledge of the world’s different time zones well to calculate time differences between some world cities.

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MATHEMATICS

98. The quality of teaching and learning is good throughout Years 1 to 6. The teachers ensure that all the pupils are fully included in learning. They set regular homework, in order to extend and consolidate learning. There is a strong focus on developing the pupils’ skills in mental calculations but, at times, these sessions move at too slow a pace. Teachers use resources imaginatively, and in a lesson for Year 3 pupils, the teacher used some large number cards effectively to help pupils to gain a fuller understanding of place value up to 1000. The teacher made a deliberate mistake on the board and this kept the pupils ‘on their toes’. The teachers ask the pupils to explain their strategies, and this helps the pupils to understand that there is often more than one way of solving a problem. This was the case in a lesson for Year 3/4 pupils, and this helped them in multiplying two digit numbers by a single digit.

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MATHEMATICS

The teacher encouraged the use of relevant vocabulary, such as ‘times’ and ‘product’, and this helped in their learning of multiplication.

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MATHEMATICS

99. The teachers organise their lessons efficiently, with a smooth transition from initial mental or oral sessions into the main activity. The teachers make sound use of questioning, in order to make the pupils think carefully. In a Year 3/4 lesson, the teacher asked, ‘How can we tell that this is a line of symmetry?’ and this helped the pupils as they worked at exercises on reflective symmetry. The teachers organise group work soundly although, sometimes, work is not matched accurately to differing needs. In one lesson, the work which a group of pupils with special educational needs was expected to do with a teaching assistant was no easier than that given to a group of higher attaining pupils. On the other hand, in a lesson for pupils in Year 6, the teacher provided very challenging tasks for the most able group as they worked on a practice national test paper, and they made good progress. There is a strong focus on developing the pupils’ problem solving skills, as this has been

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MATHEMATICS

recognised as an area of weakness in the past.

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MATHEMATICS

100. Usually, the teachers ensure that learning becomes progressively more challenging, and this leads to good progress. In a lesson for pupils in Year 1, for example, the teacher moved the pupils on from counting from nought to 30 and back, to counting on from different numbers, and this helped the pupils learn the order of numbers to 50. The teacher made learning fun as she had the pupils stand Watlington Primary School - 38 and sit at different times as they counted on. In a lesson for Year 2 pupils, the teacher made effective use of a ‘washing line’ to help the pupils learn addition of coins to 100p, rounding up or down to the nearest ten pence and the ordering of numbers to 100. She used questioning well in order to enhance learning of rounding up or down, saying, ‘Tell me something about the number 45’. The teacher introduced the pupils to a U-shaped number line, and this helped them to realise that

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MATHEMATICS

information can be given in different ways.

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MATHEMATICS

101. A clear policy meets National Curriculum requirements. Long term planning is soundly based on the National Numeracy strategy and a commercial scheme of work. The co-ordinator offers sound support to colleagues. She monitors teaching systematically, and this helps to ensure that planning meets practice, and that teachers share their good ideas. There are satisfactory procedures for assessing the pupils’ attainment and progress, but information gained from assessment is not being used sufficiently to inform future planning, especially for higher attaining pupils. The co-ordinator has developed a good action plan which seeks to address this and to raise standards. There are adequate resources to support teaching and learning overall, but there are to few to extend higher attaining pupils.

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SCIENCE

102. Year 6 pupils’ attainment in the 2001 national tests for science was below average, and the teachers’ assessments for Year 2 pupils showed that their standards were well below average. The inspection’s findings are that standards attained by Year 2 pupils have improved, but are still below average. Year 6 pupils’ attainment is now average. These improvements have come about because of better curricular planning and more emphasis on experimental work. These developments have enabled pupils of all ages to develop a deeper scientific understanding. In Years 1 and 2, boys and girls attain equally, but by Year 6, boys are out-performing girls because they concentrate better. In one lesson, for example, while boys were studying parts of plants carefully using magnifying glasses, girls were more interested in looking closely in each other’s hair. Overall, pupils achieve well, and develop sound scientific skills as they move through the school. Those with special educational needs

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SCIENCE

make sound progress, although some still struggle with scientific language by Year 6. 103. In Year 2, pupils have a sound understanding of basic scientific concepts, but the quality of their writing and recording is poor, and this lowers their attainment. They conduct simple experiments to, for example, measure the different rates at which chocolate, ice and butter melt. Most record the growth of beans systematically on simple charts, and name the parts of plants accurately. Pupils display an average knowledge of forces, and show by experimentation how different forces can be seen at work in the classroom. They have a basic understanding of electrical circuits and, in their best work, design and make switches with paper clips. Most have a reasonable knowledge of the main parts of the human body, and the effect that healthy and unhealthy foods have on our well-being. Their knowledge of materials is average, and most talk confidently about the characteristics of

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SCIENCE

common objects. 104. Year 6 pupils use the resources that they are given for experimental work with average skill, but few have the skills to devise their own experiments. Pupils have a good grasp of how to ensure a test is fair, and this makes their investigations reliable. This was illustrated when one pupil, who was testing how much mass was required to stretch a plastic bag, said, ‘If you used the same bag twice, it wouldn’t work because it would already be partly stretched’. In this lesson, pupils showed how much progress they have made in their recording, as they produced good line graphs to illustrate the relationship between the mass used, and the length in millimetres that the plastic stretched. Pupils describe the functions of important human organs with average skill, and complete accurate tables recording different food groups. Their best work, classifying animals by using ‘keys’, is of an above

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SCIENCE

average standard and well presented. Pupils use forcemeters well to measure the effect of gravity on Watlington Primary School - 39 objects, and record their findings clearly on a line graph. Their work on electrical circuits is of a good standard, and links well with design and technology as they build torches with a switch. 105. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory in Years 1 and 2, and good in Years 3 to 6. In Years 1 and 2, teachers provide lots of practical work, but do not always expect enough of pupils’ recording. The teachers plan well to ensure that pupils cover a wide range of scientific concepts, but sometimes this is undermined when the teacher gives the wrong information, such as, ‘The moon has no gravitational force, so if you threw something up, it would never come down’. In Years 3 to 6, teachers’ expectations are high, and pupils make good progress to attain average standards by Year 6.

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SCIENCE

The quality of experimental work is good, and provides pupils with many opportunities to find important information out for themselves. Teachers use resources well, and one of the best lessons involved pupils in collecting plant samples from the school’s wild life area and studying them back in the classroom using a microscope linked to a computer. This worked well, and was particularly effective with pupils with special educational needs who attained high standards in their observation and recording. Their management of pupils is generally good, and this makes good use of the time available.

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SCIENCE

106. The co-ordinator provides good support to teachers. Her good analysis of pupils’ strengths and weaknesses in the national tests has enabled the school to focus on specific areas, and has raised standards, particularly in experimental work. She has introduced a good curriculum that gives teachers rich sources of ideas for their planning. The co-ordinator has monitored the quality of teaching effectively, and has helped teachers with the constructive marking of pupils’ work. The resources are good, and are stored in trays to enable teachers and pupils to have easy access to them. The school makes effective use of the Internet to enable pupils to research their topics. The quality of assessment is good, and is used well to plan the next stages in pupils’ learning.

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ART AND DESIGN

107. During the inspection, it was possible to observe lessons in art and design only in Years 1 and 2, due to timetabling arrangements. Judgements are based on the observed lessons, an analysis of pupils’ work and teachers’ planning throughout the school. These show that standards are average by Year 2 and Year 6. This judgement is similar to the standards reported in the school’s previous inspection. Pupils who have special educational needs achieve well in art and design due to the good support that they have in lessons.

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ART AND DESIGN

108. Throughout the school, the quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory, and promotes steady progress. Teachers are confident in their knowledge of art and design, which enables pupils to learn the basic skills of drawing, designing, painting and modelling with clay well. In the observed lessons, good features included clear explanations by the teachers, so that pupils knew exactly what was expected of them, and skilful questioning, which challenged pupils to find ways of improving their work. In Year 1, pupils used information and communication technology well to create colourful pictures of houses, flowers and animals. They enjoyed making seaside inspired clay tiles for their artwork related to their work in history and geography about the seaside. They use charcoal to create patterns with different lines. Pupils use boxes, card, glue and sticky tape to create three-dimensional abstract sculptures. Information and communication technology was used well to review Year 2

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ART AND DESIGN

pupils’ earlier work on making masks. Digital photographs of the different stages of the work were displayed on the interactive board, which enabled pupils to remember the process and to evaluate their work. During the observed lesson, the teacher encouraged pupils to work creatively with clay. They pushed and pulled balls of clay into interesting shapes, such as a ‘pig’s face’, a ‘snail’, a ‘starfish’ a ‘swan’ . They used tools well to create texture on the shapes . They were engrossed in their artwork and pleased with their final clay creations. Watlington Primary School - 40 109. Pupils refine their skills satisfactorily as they progress through the school, and show increasing confidence in using various media and techniques. Pupils develop their skills well in observational drawing, such as in Year 3, where they studied photographs of Henry Moore’s sculptures. They created a three dimensional effect by using shading well in their very effective drawings of the

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ART AND DESIGN

sculptures. Pupils used their drawings to make their own abstract sculptures. They use their art skills well for their drawings of Viking ships in their history project. Year 4/5 pupils make exciting clay masks, reflecting designs of the Aztec culture as part of their history topic. Year 6 pupils use sketchbooks methodically to develop ideas, and to record observational drawings of flowers and artefacts from Latin America. They have made attractive brass rubbings of a medieval knight and his lady. There are some good imaginative drawings of cartoon characters. Pupils have a sound understanding of the styles of various artists, such as Gaudi and Mondrian, which helps them to improve their own work. Throughout the school, pupils are given appropriate opportunities to explore and choose materials.

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ART AND DESIGN

110. The co-ordinator for art has made a positive contribution to the improvement of art since the previous inspection. She has attended a two-year art course to improve her own expertise, which is enabling her to provide good support for other teachers. She has introduced a published scheme of work, that is proving effective in ensuring the progression of skills through the school. The co-ordinator gives informal advice to colleagues and monitors displays. Plans are in place for her to monitor classroom practice later this year. Teachers create relevant links with other subjects, for example, the Aztec figures in history and drawings of honeybees in science. Resources are satisfactory, including a kiln for clay work. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 worked with a ceramic artist for two days last year, which is good, as this extended their knowledge and skills. The artist provided training for all staff, including

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ART AND DESIGN

the use of the kiln, which has extended their expertise well. Throughout the school, colourful displays are used effectively to enliven classrooms and enhance communal areas.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

111. Pupils’ work in design and technology is average in Years 2 and 6, and of a higher standard than that that reported in the last inspection. This improvement reflects the confidence that better curricular guidance has given teachers. Pupils make satisfactory progress, and enjoy their design and technology. Pupils with special educational needs make good progress, and often produce work of a high standard. Higher attaining pupils make steady gains in their understanding, but the lack of open- ended challenges means that they do not attain the high standards of which they are capable.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

112. Years 1 and 2 pupils make a sound start in their model-making and get an early feel for how to join box-models and use construction kits. Their glove puppets worked well because they tested different ways of joining the pieces, and this process taught them much about how to search for alternative ways to tackle a problem. They handle simple tools confidently, and make sound improvements as they work.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

113. In Year 6, pupils work well to gather information about a project, and generate a sound number of ideas. Their models of Ancient Greek temples are sturdy, and well finished. Pupils are reasonably confident with different media, and produce good clay pots. They disassemble objects systematically to see how they work, and this has enabled them to make good musical instruments. Their evaluations are sound, and provide interesting commentaries on the progress of their work. One pupil wrote about his musical instrument, for example, ‘The strings would not vibrate because they did not have rubber cushioning’. Pupils’ designs are of an average standard, and are usually carefully labelled. Few, however, produce step-by-step pictures to show how their project will develop. Watlington Primary School - 41 114. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Teachers’ planning is sound, and gives

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

appropriate attention to the development of pupils’ skills. Their expectations are reasonable, but when all pupils are given a similar task, higher attaining pupils are held back. Teachers make good links with other subjects, such as art, history, geography and music. In one of the best projects, Year 4 pupils designed and built a torch that had to be comfortable to hold, have a wide beam, have an enclosed bulb, a switch and be safe. This linked very well with pupils’ work in science, and taught them much about circuits in an enjoyable and practical way. The oldest pupils’ attainment is boosted at the end of each year when the school joins 12 others in the area for a ‘design and technology day’ when pupils produce very good models of, for example, land yachts.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

115. A good scheme of work provides teachers with useful guidance, and states clearly how pupils’ skills should progress through the school. The new co-ordinator for design and technology is keen to support teachers and has made a start at monitoring pupils’ work. The supply of resources is satisfactory. Assessment procedures are sound, and give a clear picture of how well pupils’ skills are progressing.

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GEOGRAPHY

116. During the inspection, the teaching of geography was observed in Years 3 to 6. Judgements based on these observations, the analysis of pupils’ work throughout the school, teachers’ planning and discussions with pupils show that pupils achieve average standards and that their progress is satisfactory in Years 2 and 6. This is a good improvement from the previous inspection, when progress in Years 3 to 6 was unsatisfactory. To improve pupils’ standards in geography, the school has introduced a new scheme of work for geography based on national guidelines, and this is helping teachers provide an appropriate range of geographical experiences.

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GEOGRAPHY

117. The evidence indicates that the quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Teachers use the school’s surroundings well to extend pupils’ understanding of geographical features. Year 2 pupils have a satisfactory understanding of the natural features in their local area. They make a sound comparison of the main features of countries such as Norfolk and Finland, and their study of local weather conditions and the recording of their findings is of a good standard. In the best work, Year 2 pupils used a homemade anemometer to measure the speed and direction of the wind. They measured and recorded the rainfall and temperature, and compared their findings kept over a period of time. They have a satisfactory understanding of different weather conditions in their own locality. Year 1 pupils have visited Hunstanton and compared it with their local area. They have developed a sound knowledge of different parts of the world by the adventures of Barnaby and Barbara Bear. This

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GEOGRAPHY

works well, and involves adults and pupils taking the bears on holiday with them and sending back cards from the bears about the places they are visiting.

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GEOGRAPHY

118. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 use a satisfactory range of geographical skills to help them to investigate a variety of places and environments. They show a sound understanding of the functions of a key when using an atlas, are aware of the major differences between varied climatic regions and have a sound knowledge of the effects that weather has on the environment. Year 6 pupils undertake good research projects, and make effective use of the Internet to download information on different rivers in the world, including the rivers Douro, Ganges, Congo Missouri and the Avon. They have a reasonable understanding of river systems, and how rivers erode land. They made good progress in a lesson on river pollution through the teacher’s effective questioning techniques. She helped them to think carefully about their own experiences of litter, and to relate this to the pollution of rivers through litter,

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GEOGRAPHY

Watlington Primary School - 42 sewage and chemicals. Year 3 pupils use a tourist map of their local area well to learn about symbols, and use these effectively to find information on a map. They draw their own simple maps with a key to show features, such as roads, parks and a church. Pupils make good use of computers in geography to explore symbols on a map, use a key, find the directions for north, south, east and west and calculate the times in different parts of the world.

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GEOGRAPHY

119. A Year 3/4 lesson illustrates how well pupils can learn when teaching is very good. Pupils made very good progress in the third lesson on litter, noise and what could be improved in the school environment. They had previously used sensors to measure noise levels in the school and collected and weighed litter around the school, using their computer skills very well to record their findings. They made a block graph to show the decibels of noise pollution in the school, and a pie-chart with a key to show the amounts of litter collected on one day by each class. In the observed lesson, the teacher and pupils walked around the school grounds to look for an area in need of improvement. They decided that a pathway just outside the school grounds was overgrown, untidy and slightly dangerous for people to walk along as cars also use it, although it is narrow and close to a dyke. They recorded their

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GEOGRAPHY

findings with a digital camera and made sketches of the area as evidence. On returning to class, they discussed how the area might be improved and who was responsible for it. A very good, effective question and answer session followed and the pupils felt that there was a shared responsibility by everyone who used the pathway to care for the environment. The lesson made a good contribution to help pupils in their understanding of citizenship. Homework was set for pupils to draft their ideas for a letter to someone in authority about the condition of the area and why it was in need of improvement. The lesson also made a good contribution to extending the pupils’ literacy skills.

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GEOGRAPHY

120. The co-ordinator has reviewed and helped to write a good, new draft policy for geography. She has started to monitor teaching and has looked at teachers’ planning. The school is developing sound assessment procedures, using the scheme of work based on national guidelines as a basis. Resources are inadequate, with too few new maps or globes to raise standards further. The subject makes a good contribution to the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through the study of the environment and other cultures.

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HISTORY

121. In Year 2 and Year 6, standards are average, which is an improvement from the previous inspection. This improvement reflects the extra work the school provides for pupils to develop historical research skills and look more closely at sources of evidence. Most pupils, including those with special educational needs, are making sound progress. Boys and girls attain equally. Teachers make lessons interesting, and pupils enjoy their lessons. They work hard and are keen to learn. Many willingly bring artefacts from home to form part of stimulating classroom displays.

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HISTORY

122. In Year 2, pupils have a sound knowledge of aspects of domestic life in Victorian times. They make useful visits to the Town House Museum, and gain a good understanding of washing, cooking and bath time a hundred years ago. They have a reasonable grasp of how toys and forms of transport have changed over time, and a basic knowledge of famous people in British history, such as Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale and Guy Fawkes.

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HISTORY

123. In Year 6, the pupils have a sound understanding of the importance of primary and secondary sources of evidence in finding out about the past. They speak knowledgeably about life in wartime Britain and about air raids on Kings Lynn. Higher attaining pupils use their literacy skills soundly to write letters home as soldiers in the wartime trenches of France, but many pupils find this difficult as their literacy skills are weak. The illustrations produced by some pupils are poor. The pupils know much about how everyday life in Britain has changed since the Second World War. They conduct Watlington Primary School - 43 good research to gain information from books, CD ROM and the Internet in order to find out about aspects of life in Ancient Greece and about Aztec civilisation. Here again, much work is poorly written and illustrated. The pupils participate enthusiastically in a school ‘Greek Day’, and act out

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HISTORY

aspects of life in those times. Pupils in Years 3 and 4 have an average knowledge of the reasons for the Roman and Viking invasions of Britain. They have a sound understanding of religion, homes and schools in Roman times and of why Roman soldiers were so efficient.

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HISTORY

124. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. The teachers maintain a sound balance between direct teaching and allowing the pupils to find out information for themselves from books, the Internet and a CD ROM. The teachers use questioning skilfully, in order to make the pupils think carefully. In a Year 6 lesson, the teacher asked, ‘What does a sacrifice mean? Is there proof that the Aztecs killed so many people?’ This helped the pupils learn about the importance of using evidence about the past and about distinguishing between fact and opinion. She made useful links with literacy, as the pupils wrote an eye-witness account of a sacrifice. In a lesson for pupils in Years 4 and 5, the teacher asked, ‘What do we need to find out?’ and this helped the pupils to make good use of book indexes to find out about aspects of Aztec civilisation. In lessons for pupils in Years 1 and 2, the

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HISTORY

teachers made good use of short videos and old photographs and prints, which enabled the pupils to compare schools and seaside holidays today with those in Victorian times.

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HISTORY

125. A clear policy meets the requirements of the National Curriculum. Planning is soundly based on national guidelines. There are satisfactory procedures to assess the pupils’ attainment, but information gained from assessment is not used well enough to plan the next steps in learning to meet the pupils’ widely differing needs. The co-ordinator manages the subject soundly. She has monitored samples of pupils’ work, in order to gain an overview of standards, but has not had the opportunity to observe other teachers’ lessons to raise standards of teaching. There are adequate resources to support teaching and learning and the teachers make good use of the schools’ library service. The curriculum is enriched by worthwhile visits to Lynn Museum, Hunstanton and Kentwell.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

126. Standards are average in Year 2, and below average by Year 6. Recent measures to improve teachers’ skills and provide more opportunities for pupils to use computers in other subjects have had a significant impact on standards. However, they have come too late to enable those in Year 6 to catch up the ground they have lost. These pupils have suffered most from the shortage of computers and lack of teachers’ expertise in recent years, and their progress has been slow. Year 2 pupils are making satisfactory progress. Pupils with special educational make satisfactory progress, and use information and communication technology well to improve their language and literacy skills. Compared with the previous inspection, Year 2 pupils’ attainment has improved, and that of Year 6 pupils has remained below national expectations.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

127. In Year 2, nearly all pupils use computers with reasonable confidence to organise, reorganise and edit text to ensure that their writing is clear, well presented and free of errors. They type in text methodically, but a few find the process slow because they lack regular practice. Most use the Spacebar appropriately to create spaces, the shift key to create capitals and the backspace key to make corrections. They have a sound awareness of how to use a graphics program to create designs, and produce good pictures in the style of Mondrian.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

128. Many Year 6 pupils work slowly on the keyboard, and still find difficulty with locating keys. Their use of the mouse is often erratic, and this leads to basic mistakes. They have a sound understanding of spreadsheets, and most use them reliably to calculate columns of figures. A strength of pupils’ attainment is the way they use sensors to plot the changing temperature of melting ice over Watlington Primary School - 44 the period of a day, and represent the data accurately on a line graph. They combine text and graphics effectively to create columns of different food groups in science, and use basic word-processing skills to combine text and graphics when producing arguments for the building of leisure facilities in Watlington. Pupils have an average knowledge of the computer language ‘LOGO’, and use it to change the orientation of a shape on the screen. They make effective use of the Internet to research

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

their topics, and have a basic understanding of how information and communication technology is used in everyday life, in speed cameras, for example, and mobile telephones.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

129. The quality of teaching is satisfactory throughout the school, but pupils’ learning is sometimes held back because they have to share computers with up to five others. Teachers’ planning of lessons is good, and ensures that all groups of pupils have work that is suited to their ability. Teachers’ subject knowledge is sound, and has benefited from good training that has given them the skills and confidence to teach all aspects of information and communication technology. Teachers use information and communication technology well in other subjects, and this gives pupils much-needed extra practice. In a Year 4/5 science lesson, for example, the teacher purposely gave pupils data with errors, so that they learned how inaccurate information yielded confusing outcomes. In Year 6, pupils have used CD ROM programs to find out more about Aztec sacrifices, and spreadsheets to calculate columns of

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

figures. Very good use of information and communication technology was observed in a Year 4/5 lesson when pupils examined samples of grasses using a microscope linked to a computer.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

130. The co-ordinator provides good leadership through her knowledge and enthusiasm. She provides clear direction for the development of information and communication technology, and monitors pupils’ standards and the curricular provision well. Importantly, the co-ordinator sets a good example by her own teaching. She is well qualified for her role, and has done much to improve teachers’ expertise. The co-ordinator has monitored other teachers’ lessons and planning, and has given useful feedback to them. The school has ordered extra computers to bring the ratio of computers to pupils closer to the national average. The school has a new projector, which works well, and enables teachers to teach whole classes more effectively.

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MUSIC

131. In music, in Year 2 and 6, pupils attain standards which are average for their ages. This is a good improvement from the previous inspection, and reflects the improvement in the quality of teaching. Pupils who have special educational needs do well in music, and benefit from good support in lessons.

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MUSIC

132. There is a wide range of attainment but, in Year 2, pupils sing songs from memory and in two parts reasonably well. They clap different rhythms accurately. They show a good recognition of stringed instruments when listening to a selection of six different pieces of music containing strings, an organ and a brass band. After listening to music such as Haydn’s Trio from String Quartet OP.76 no 6, pupils have difficulty distinguishing between melodies going up and going down. Pupils listen attentively to jazz music from the 1940’s quietly playing while they walk into an assembly. However, the opportunity was missed to extend pupils’ learning of different styles of music, as they were not told what it was or from which era.

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MUSIC

133. In Year 6, pupils make sound comparisons between two concertos: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 4 with Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. They compare which instruments are being played and the melodies and express their thoughts well on how the music makes them feel. Most Year 3 pupils count three beats in a bar, and recognise repeated phrases within The Shadow Song. They quickly learn a new song and sing tunefully. Information and communication technology was used well in a Year 3/4 lesson, to help pupils evaluate and refine their own compositions in a pentatonic scale. Watlington Primary School - 45 134. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory in Years 1 and 2 and good in Years 3 to 6. Good progress was seen in a Year 3-4 lesson. The teacher shared the aims of the lesson with the pupils, so they were aware of what they were expected to learn. The teacher had good subject knowledge, which he used well to extend the pupils’ learning on how to refine and improve their own

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MUSIC

compositions. Pupils listened attentively when the teacher played back their previously recorded compositions. His helpful comments on the importance of beat and clipped words enabled them to use these suggestions and to improve their work. The teacher used the recordings very productively to teach musical points. The teacher’s effective questioning helped pupils to make appropriate suggestions on how they thought they could improve their compositions, such as ‘sing a bit louder’,’ needs to keep the beat’, and ‘start faster’. They were keen to give their opinions. They respected other pupils’ suggestions and worked well in their groups. The teacher’s good teaching enabled pupils to evaluate their own and others’ work. They improved and refined their own compositions well during the lesson. By the end of the lesson, they were able to sing a pentatonic scale in unison well.

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MUSIC

135. The quality of learning is often enhanced because pupils are interested and enjoy their music making. They are enthusiastic and eager to be chosen to take on responsibility. Younger ones particularly enjoy singing and joining in with class activities. Older ones show that they can use their initiative when working in groups. They take turns, help each other and listen attentively to the teachers. They applaud the skills of others and recognise the efforts made by those who are not so musical. When teachers allow pupils to evaluate what they see and hear, pupils’ speaking skills and their musical vocabularies are improved. This is particularly helpful to those who have special educational needs.

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MUSIC

136. Visiting musicians enrich the music curriculum very well. Year 6 pupils enjoyed listening to an accomplished musician playing and explaining a range of multicultural instruments, such as a sitar, a Turkish drum, a Spanish guitar and a mandolin. Pupils’ understanding of the differences between Indian and Western music was greatly increased by the musician’s explanations and expert playing of the sitar.

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MUSIC

137. The co-ordinator provides good support for staff. She has audited resources and has organised a new scheme of work for the school which is helping to raise standards, especially for the older pupils. She has monitored the teaching of the music and is aware of the need for some staff development training. Resources are adequate, but are showing their age. There is no whole school format to track the development of individual skills. Assessment procedures are sound: they are informal for younger pupils, and give a basic picture of pupils’ progress, and more detailed for older pupils based on national guidelines.

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MUSIC

138. There are good opportunities over the year for pupils to learn to play the recorder. There are good chances for pupils to improve their musical skills. They have taken part in the project ‘Young people sing the world’ and professional musicians led two days of workshops combining singing and dancing from many different cultures, when pupils enjoyed singing songs in different languages. Year 2 pupils sing at an annual music morning with nine other schools and the school choir sing at the Christmas fair and to older people in the village. Music plays an important part in the celebration of various cultures and festivals. It makes a good contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

139. In both Year 2 and Year 6, standards are average. This judgement is based upon observation of lessons in games and athletics. During the inspection, no gymnastics or dance was taking place. Watlington Primary School - 46 Standards in Year 2 are similar to those in the previous inspection, but in Year 6, standards have fallen. Many of the pupils, particularly in Years 2 and 6, do not apply themselves sufficiently to learn the necessary skills. They lack self-discipline in the greater freedom which is available in physical education lessons. There is evidence that the pupils make good progress in swimming from Year 3 to Year 6 and standards here are above average. In Year 6, almost all the pupils can swim at least 25 metres unaided and with sound technique. Boys and girls attain equally.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

140. In Year 2, a few pupils throw and catch a ball well, but many have limited skills. In Year 6, the pupils find it difficult to use a small tennis racket with any degree of control. They hold the racket correctly, but their co-ordination is weak. They cannot bounce the ball with the racket for any length of time, nor hit the ball accurately to a partner. Most of the pupils have sound rounders skills. They throw, bat and field competently, and put their skills into practice in small team games. They perform reasonable long jumps, high jumps and triple jumps.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

141. The quality of teaching and learning is unsatisfactory. As a result, many pupils, including those with special educational needs, are not making the progress they should. Whilst the teachers do place an appropriate emphasis on safety, some girls wear ear-rings that are not taped over, and some pupils wear unsuitable kit. The subject knowledge of some teachers is insecure, with the result that the pupils sometimes learn the wrong techniques. Too many warm-up sessions bear little relationship to the lesson’s main activities. Teachers’ class control is weak, in some instances, and some pupils do not listen or respond well enough to instructions. Interruptions caused by inappropriate behaviour slow down the pace of lessons. Some teachers give the pupils insufficient opportunities to observe and evaluate the performance of others, with a view to improving their own skills. In one lesson observed,

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

the teacher failed to give a word of praise to any pupil, and it was not surprising that pupils had little motivation. The teachers often fail to give the pupils sufficient time to cool down at the end of lessons, and lessons end very abruptly.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

142. There are, however, more positive elements in some teaching. In a lesson for pupils in Year 3, the teacher ensured that the pupils carried mats correctly and she did give time for the pupils to watch others perform. She asked, ‘How could she make the jump even higher?’ This helped the pupils to improve their jumping skills. The teacher demonstrated techniques herself and this helped the pupils to use their arms more effectively in getting more lift into their high jumps.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

143. A clear policy meets the requirements of the National Curriculum. Long term planning is soundly based on a commercial scheme of work, but there are no whole school procedures for assessing the pupils’ attainment, nor for using information from assessment to inform future planning. The co-ordinator manages the subject soundly. She has monitored some teaching, with a view to sharing good practice and to gain an overview of standards. There is a good range of fixed and moveable apparatus to support learning. Smaller equipment is very neatly arranged in a storeroom for easy access. The hall is barely adequate to enable some of the larger classes to undertake physical education. Outside, however, there are adequate hard surface areas and a very large field, currently marked out for football, rounders and athletics. Some lessons observed were too short in length and the school devotes less time to physical education than is usually found. Nevertheless, the curriculum

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

is enriched by clubs for football, netball, jump rope, cricket and cross-country running. Some pupils performed a sponsored skipping session last year in aid of the British Heart Foundation. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 have the opportunity to participate in outdoor and adventurous activities, such as potholing, wall climbing and abseiling during a residential visit to Kingswood.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Watlington Primary School - 47 144. In both Year 2 and Year 6, standards meet the expectations of the locally Agreed Syllabus, which reflects the findings of the previous inspection. Pupils, including those with special educational needs, are making satisfactory progress. Boys and girls attain equally. Most pupils have good attitudes to work. They listen carefully and they are keen to offer ideas and to join in discussions.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

145. In Year 2, pupils have a reasonable knowledge of some Bible stories, such as Noah’s Ark, Jesus and Zacchaeus and the story of Joseph. They talk about belonging and they write simple illustrated accounts about organisations outside school, to which they belong. They learn confidently about Christians belonging to the family of God. The pupils have a sound understanding of the significance of a Christening. They make useful visits to the village church, where the Vicar conducted a mock christening of a doll, with the pupils acting out the roles of parents and godparents. The pupils know that Easter is a special time for Christians, whilst Ramadan is significant for Muslims. They have a good understanding of how the Qur’an is a special book for Muslims, and that they worship in a mosque.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

146. In Year 6, the pupils have a sound knowledge of the Christian version of the Creation. They know about some of the stories of Jesus, such as his temptations, and some of the symbols of Christianity. Pupils use their information and communication technology skills well to visit a ‘virtual’ church website. They have an average understanding of some features of the world’s major religions. Pupils speak informedly about the Five Precepts of Buddhism and the story of Prince Siddartha. They know that Jews worship in a synagogue and that the Torah is their special book. They have a clear understanding of the Five Pillars of Islam, and a good awareness of how the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

147. Throughout the school, the quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. In a lesson for pupils in Year 2, the teacher used a video effectively to enhance learning about aspects of Islam. The pupils watched intently and learnt a lot about mosques in Britain and abroad, and about why and how Muslims pray. The teacher showed the pupils some prayers mats, which helped them to understand that Muslims face towards Mecca when praying. She then showed them some photographs, which helped the pupils learn more about the features of a mosque. In a lesson for pupils in Years 3 and 4, the teacher gave the pupils good opportunities to reflect on the church as a special place for Christians. An analysis of the pupils’ work indicates that a major weakness in teaching is the lack of opportunities given to the pupils to write at length. Too much of the pupils’ work is recorded briefly on worksheets.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

148. A clear policy meets the requirements of the locally agreed syllabus. Short term planning is soundly based on simplified lesson plans provided by the Ely diocese. The local Vicar teaches some aspects of Christianity. The co-ordinator has made a sound start to managing the subject. She has monitored teaching in one class, with a view to ensuring that practice meets planning. There are no whole school procedures for assessing the pupils’ attainment, nor for using information from assessment to plan subsequent work. Resources for teaching and learning are limited and the co- ordinator intends to increase these. The teachers make effective use of resources loaned by the Ely diocese and by the Vicar. In encouraging respect for diverse faiths and cultures, the subject is making a good contribution to the pupils’ personal development.

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