Other · Ofsted report

Bishop Gilpin CofE Primary School

Inspected — · published 20 Oct 2003 · URN 102666

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Summary

No overall grade in this framework

Peter Thrussell (lead), Herringston Barn, SERCO QAA

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Inspectorssingle source
Herringston Barn, Peter Thrussell, Serco QAA
URN verified
102666

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Praisevery wellexcellentpositivesuccessfullyhigh expectationseffectivestrongeffectively

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What needs to improve2856w+27

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During one assembly seen during the inspection, for example, hymns such as ‘The Lord Your God Is With You’ and ‘As We Seek Your Face’ were sung in a very serious and moving way. p.13

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Pages: 19
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Full report text

BISHOP GILPIN CE PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 30 th June to 1 st July 2003

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BISHOP GILPIN CE PRIMARY SCHOOL

Short inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 Pre-Publication Report

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BISHOP GILPIN CE PRIMARY 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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BISHOP GILPIN CE PRIMARY SCHOOL

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Lake Road Wimbledon London

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The governing body

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: This is the school’s first inspection Pre-Publication Report

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Team members

10428 Tom Simpson Registered inspector 09391 Norma Ball Lay inspector 14997 Val Emery Team inspector 31029 Peter Thrussell Team inspector

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Team members

Herringston Barn Herringston Dorchester Dorset DT2 9PU

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Team members

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

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Team members

The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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Team members

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Pre-Publication Report

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 6

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Bishop Gilpin is a large, popular and over-subscribed Church of England primary school serving part of Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. It was previously a first school, but was re-designated as a primary school in July 2002 following local authority reorganisation. The pupils mostly live in owner- occupied accommodation. There are 456 pupils on roll including 141 who are in nursery or reception classes. This latter group is described as being in the Foundation Stage. There are slightly more girls than boys on roll. About 20 percent of the pupils are from ethnic minority groups. There are 70 pupils on roll for whom English is an additional language and four of these are at an early stage of English language acquisition. The percentage of pupils entitled to free school meals is below the national average. The percentage with special educational needs is below average but the percentage with a

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Statement of Special Educational Need is slightly above average. Attainment on entry is above the expected levels overall.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

This is an effective school. Most pupils attain high academic standards. The teaching is very good and this impacts very well on the achievement of the pupils. Provision for the pupils’ personal development is very good. The pupils have very positive attitudes and behave very well. Relationships at all levels are very good. The headteacher provides very strong leadership. The school provides good value for money.

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What the school does well

• Standards are well above average – particularly in English and mathematics. • Teaching is very good and this is having a very positive effect on the achievement of the pupils. • Provision for pupils’ personal development – including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development – is very good, and impacts very well on their attitudes, behaviour and relationships. • Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good, which means that they get a very good start to their schooling.

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What could be improved

• Despite recent improvements, standards in and provision for information and communication technology are still not good enough. 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 not been inspected before. Pre-Publication Report

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STANDARDS

The table shows the standards achieved by pupils at the end of Year 2 based on National Curriculum test results.

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Key

reading A A* A* A well above average above average A B writing A* A* A* A average below average C D mathematics A A A A well below average E

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Key

The asterisk indicates that the school’s performance in the National Curriculum assessments at the end of Year 2 in reading and writing is in the highest five percent nationally. For the past three years, the school has been given an ‘Achievement Award’ by the Department for Education and Skills because of its consistently high results in the tests. Teacher assessments in science in 2002 were also well above average overall. The school’s trend in improvement is broadly in line with the national trend – although this could be misleading as its results are constantly above the national ones. This is the first year that the school has had a Year 6 and as yet there are no published test results for this group. However, inspection findings and preliminary test results for this year indicate that standards are frequently well above average at the end of Year 6. This is particularly the case in English and mathematics. Standards

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Key

are also well above the expected levels in art and design. Most children in the Foundation Stage will significantly exceed the early learning goals in most areas of learning by the time they reach Year 1. However, despite recent improvements in the provision, standards in information and communication technology are still not high enough by the time the pupils reach the end of Year 6. Evidence from a scrutiny of pupils’ work, observation of lessons and an analysis of the school’s records indicates that pupils at all stages of education in the school achieve very well. The school has set appropriately challenging targets for further improving standards in literacy and numeracy. These are likely to be met in numeracy and exceeded in literacy.

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Very good – the pupils like coming to school and have very positive attitudes towards their work.

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Aspect Comment

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Very good in lessons and around the school.

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Aspect Comment

Personal development and relationships Very good – the pupils understand the difference between right and wrong. They respect one another’s opinions and values and are courteous towards adults and one another. Relationships are very good at all levels.

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Aspect Comment

Attendance This is very good and well above the national average. However, there is a lack of punctuality on the part of a minority of the pupils.

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Aspect Comment

All pupils have a clear understanding of how they are expected to behave around the school and meet these expectations well. They are polite and helpful and enjoy being in school. They are keen to share Pre-Publication Report

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Aspect Comment

Bishop Gilpin CE Primary - 8 responsibility for aspects of the school community. The small amount of poor punctuality involves a minority of families.

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Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

Quality of teaching Very good. Very good. Very 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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Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

Teaching overall is very good and is impacting very well on the achievement of the pupils and on the quality of their education. No unsatisfactory lessons were seen during the inspection. A particular strength of the teaching at the school is the high expectations that teachers and other staff have of pupils’ behaviour and the academic standards that they reach. Another is the very good pace of many lessons. This keeps the pupils motivated and impacts very well on their learning. Methods are usually varied and relevant. Where appropriate – such as in literacy and numeracy lessons – they are well structured. In other situations they can be very imaginative. Planning is usually very good and support staff generally contribute very well to pupils’ developing skills and knowledge. Occasionally there are weaknesses in the quality of the teacher’s planning and inefficiencies in the deployment of non-teaching

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Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

staff. There are also inconsistencies in the quality of marking. However, English – including literacy - and mathematics – including numeracy - are both taught very well and teaching overall meets the needs of all pupils very well.

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum Satisfactory – although the school provides a rich curriculum overall, statutory requirements in respect of information and communication technology are not fully met.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils with special educational needs Good – these pupils are well supported and make good progress.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils with English as an additional language Good – pupils with English as an additional language make good , and sometimes very good, progress in their English language acquisition.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Very good in all aspects of the provision.

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Aspect Comment

How well the school cares for its pupils The pupils are very well cared for. There are good procedures for assessing pupils’ progress in English, mathematics and science. Assessment procedures in the other subjects are under developed.

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Aspect Comment

The school works well in partnership with parents. Its procedures for child protection and ensuring pupils’ welfare are good. There is a strong recognition of multiculturalism across the whole curriculum and the school prepares the pupils well for life in an ethnically diverse society. Moral and social development are strongly supported by the high expectations of all adults in the school. High standards in art and design – which begin in the nursery – contribute very well to pupils’ cultural development. Although the Pre-Publication Report

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Aspect Comment

Bishop Gilpin CE Primary - 9 curriculum is enriched by a number of out of school visits and visitors to the school, its provision of extra-curricular clubs is low for a school of this size. Failure to deliver aspects of the National Curriculum for information and communication technology is related to a lack of specific items of hardware which are now on order. Overall, this is a very inclusive school. Pre-Publication Report

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and manage- ment by the headteacher and other key staff The headteacher provides very strong, clear and committed leadership. He is very effectively supported by the deputy head. Their influence has impacted very well on the quality of teaching.

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Aspect Comment

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities The governing body has a very good understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Governors are very supportive. They are aware of the school’s current failure to deliver the full information and communication technology curriculum and are in the process of rectifying this.

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Aspect Comment

The school’s evaluation of its performance There are effective systems in place for the school to monitor its performance and the development plan reflects the school’s needs and aspirations well. However, weaknesses in provision for information and communication technology have not been remedied quickly enough.

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Aspect Comment

The strategic use of resources Good overall – money is spent appropriately and resources are matched to the school’s needs.

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Aspect Comment

As a result of the school’s recent re-organisation, the senior management team is still under developed and restricted to the head and deputy. There are plans in place to extend it further in the near future. Subject co-ordinators also have a relatively under-developed role in monitoring teaching and standards in their subjects. Overall, however, all staff work very hard to ensure that standards are high and that pupils have a good quality of education. The school has a good regard for the principles of best value.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• Their children like school. • Behaviour is good. • The school is helping their children become mature and responsible. • Their children are making good progress. • The school is well led and managed. • The school does not provide an interesting range of activities outside lessons. • Their children do not get the right amount of homework. • They are not kept well enough informed about how their children are getting on.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

The inspection team agreed with the strengths mentioned by the parents. It considered that extra- curricular provision was satisfactory overall, but that not enough clubs were provided for pupils. The provision of homework was judged to be satisfactory. Overall communication with parents is good, but there are weaknesses in the annual reports to parents as these do not always make it clear what their children have achieved in the different subjects of the curriculum. Pre-Publication Report

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

Standards are well above average – particularly in English and mathematics.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

1. In the 2002 National Curriculum tests for pupils at the end of Year 2, results were very high in reading and writing and well above the national average in mathematics. Results have been well above average or very high in all three subjects for several years. In comparison with similar schools, a measure related to the percentage of pupils entitled to free school meals, the results were still well above average. Preliminary results from this year’s tests indicate that these high standards have been maintained. A few years ago there was some parental uncertainty about local authority proposals for the re-organisation of schools in the area into primary and secondary, and for the abolition of the first/middle school system. At the time Bishop Gilpin was a first school. Many parents withdrew their children from the school to enter, for example, the private sector. This particularly affected the group which is now the school’s first ever Year 6 as records indicate that

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

most of the pupils who left would have been successful in their statutory National Curriculum tests (SATs). Significant proportions of the pupils who have entered the year group subsequently have English as an additional language – or have special educational needs. As a result of the quality of the teaching and provision, however, most of these pupils have achieved very well and current standards in English and mathematics are frequently well above average at the end of Year 6. Preliminary results of the recent SATs support this judgement. The results of non-statutory tests of the current Year 5 indicate that standards in this year group may well be even higher.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

2. The pupils have many opportunities to discuss and debate across the curriculum. As a result, they listen with courtesy and interest to their teachers and to one another. Most are keen to contribute their own ideas and do so in an articulate way. Although reading was not a specific focus of the inspection, test results and lesson observations indicate that pupils throughout the school are interested in books and read very well for their ages. They have a good knowledge of the work of different authors and are able to express their various preferences. Year 2 pupils, for example, have a very good appreciation of the work of Michael Foreman, while pupils in Year 6 who are studying the Second World War story of ‘Rose Blanche’ successfully predict what might happen next in the narrative and write this down clearly. The pupils’ love of books is very successfully promoted by the effective and enthusiastic way in which teachers regularly read stories to them.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

Pupils are given the opportunity to write for a wide range of purposes such as stories, poems, invitations and book reviews, and again reach well above average standards at the end of Year 2. In writing about the ‘Magic Snowman’, for example, most pupils have a good imaginative style. Their vocabulary is extensive and rich and they have a very good command of grammar and punctuation. From time to time, however, their presentation is not as good as it should be. In a Year 3 lesson, seen during the inspection, the pupils produced a good range of powerful adjectives to describe the feelings of the main character in the story ‘The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate’. By Year 6, most of the pupils successfully write in paragraphs and use punctuation within sentences. They effectively describe, for example, their perception of the emotions experienced by a young German girl when she sees, for the first time at close quarters, some of the horrors of war. Most

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

successfully write for an audience; for example writing a persuasive letter to their parents requesting them to take them on a treat to ‘Legoland’.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

3. Year 2 pupils successfully sort numbers according to two non-distinct criteria using a Venn diagram. They interpret tally and bar charts, appreciate lines of symmetry, know the properties of regular and irregular shapes, and successfully complete a wide range of problems involving money and numbers. In a Year 4 lesson seen during the inspection, the pupils were able to use a variety of different methods to successfully compute three-digit numbers and had a very good understanding of the angles represented by different hand positions on a clock. In a Year 5 lesson, a higher-attaining group of pupils used technical language with consummate ease when exploring reflective symmetry in regular polygons. Year 6 pupils can find fractions of numbers and shapes and many can order these with regard to numerator and denominator. They are aware of equivalence in fractions, understand negative numbers and can calculate the area and perimeter of

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

simple and compound shapes. They are able to construct and interpret graphs and pie charts. Pre-Publication Report

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

Bishop Gilpin CE Primary - 12 They successfully order decimals, calculate means and solve a range of complex mathematical problems.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

Teaching is very good and this is having a positive effect on the achievement of the pupils.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

4. Teaching was good or better in approximately nine out of ten lessons seen during the inspection. It was very good or better in half. One lesson was judged to be excellent. No unsatisfactory teaching was seen. There were examples of very good teaching at all stages of education in the school. A particular strength of the teaching at the school is the high expectations the teachers and other staff have of the pupils. This is one of the major reasons for the very good achievement made by the pupils. One example of this was a very good Year 5 mathematics lesson where, despite the fact that the pupils were already grouped according to attainment, the work given was very challenging and finely matched to the needs and aptitudes of different groups of pupils within the group. Another was a Year 2 science lesson where well-focused questioning drew the meaning of prediction and ‘fair testing’ from pupils. The methods employed by teachers are usually very

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

effective. They are varied and ensure a very good pace of learning. There is a very good balance between whole class and group activities. Paired brain storming - involving, for example, ‘talking partners’ - is used to good effect. The effective use of ‘whiteboards’ to quickly show individual answers in mental mathematics sessions is another example. The National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies are implemented well and enhanced effectively by the teachers’ own skills and enthusiasm. In several English lessons seen during the inspection, stories were read very charismatically which impacted very well on the interest of the pupils. On one occasion, the teacher introduced a book to her Year 6 class with the comment ‘if you are not in tears by tomorrow I will eat my hat!’ One particularly imaginative and effective strategy was in a Year 6 French lesson where the classroom was re-designated as an airliner and the pupils role played

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

ground and cabin crew and passengers and ‘flew’ on holiday to Martinique – interacting with one another entirely in French. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience, which gave them the opportunity to practise their French in a near practical situation. Throughout the school pupils with special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language are supported well and encouraged to contribute to discussions and other elements of lessons. This impacts effectively on the good and often very good progress that these pupils make.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

5. The pupils are consistently well managed and this results in very good attitudes, behaviour and relationships at all levels. Discipline is positive and often good humoured. The views of the pupils are respected, which encourages them to express these readily. Where appropriate, the teachers use a good range of behaviour management strategies to keep the pupils focussed on their work. The positive approach of the teachers and other staff to discipline means that the pupils want to learn and to please them. Most lessons proceed at a very good pace. Examples of this include the introductory elements of literacy and numeracy hours – mental mathematics, for example, often being delivered at high speed and keeping the pupils very alert. However, in an occasional lesson a discussion is allowed to go on too long and a few pupils lose concentration. Most teachers plan thoroughly and this effectively informs the delivery of information and the development of pupils’

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

skills. On-going assessment is used well to inform the direction of lessons. In a Year 6 mathematics lesson, for example, the teacher had amended the content as a result of an evaluation of what the pupils had achieved previously. Support staff are generally employed efficiently and contribute well to pupils’ quality of learning and their achievement – for example when providing support for pupils with English as an additional language. Occasionally, however, some are under occupied during, for instance, the whole class introduction to numeracy lessons. Occasionally planning is too brief. There is also some inconsistency in the quality of marking, some being focused well on guiding pupils’ future learning and some being restricted to a few words of praise.

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cultural development – is very good, and impacts very well on their attitudes, behaviour and

6. All aspects of the provision for pupils’ personal development are very good. There are strong moral codes in the school that are well reflected in a behaviour policy that is consistently enforced by all Pre-Publication Report

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cultural development – is very good, and impacts very well on their attitudes, behaviour and

Bishop Gilpin CE Primary - 13 staff. As a result the pupils behave very well, show care and respect for one another and have a very clear understanding of right and wrong. The pupils are courteous, kind and helpful to one another and to adults. They listen attentively when they are spoken to and are quick to respond to questions, showing a real eagerness to be involved in class discussions and share their ideas. Pupils in all year groups show very positive attitudes to learning. They like school and enjoy the work that they are provided with. They are keen to succeed and to please their teachers. Pupils of all ages are encouraged to carry out tasks to assist in class and around the school. Older pupils have a range of monitorial duties – such as helping during assemblies - and there are good links with younger pupils in paired reading between Years 3 and 6. The school council is a very active and positive feature that allows pupils of all ages a clear role in reviewing and shaping their own

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cultural development – is very good, and impacts very well on their attitudes, behaviour and

school community. It was instrumental, for example, in the recent formation of a house system which pupils have become very committed to.

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cultural development – is very good, and impacts very well on their attitudes, behaviour and

7. The very good relationships that exist at every level in the school, and the very caring attitudes of all members of the school community have a deep and important effect on the spiritual development of the pupils, who are encouraged to grow and mature in a warm and supportive environment. At the end of a Year 5 mathematics lesson, for example, when the pupils launched into a lively and very enjoyable mathematics game based on multiplication tables, there was a real buzz of joy and excitement at participating in such lively fun together. The spiritual development of the pupils is greatly enhanced by good quality school assemblies and acts of corporate worship. During one assembly seen during the inspection, for example, hymns such as ‘The Lord Your God Is With You’ and ‘As We Seek Your Face’ were sung in a very serious and moving way. Within the theme of ‘seeing is believing’ – related to the New Testament story of ‘Doubting Thomas’ – the

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cultural development – is very good, and impacts very well on their attitudes, behaviour and

pupils were asked to consider whether there was someone in the room who ‘could keep things in the air.’ The local curate then proceeded to juggle! Prayers – accompanied by gentle piano music – further enhanced a very spiritual atmosphere.

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cultural development – is very good, and impacts very well on their attitudes, behaviour and

8. Provision for cultural development is also very good. This is a very inclusive school and the various ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the pupils are respected and valued. For example, parents and their children helped to write a range of signs, greetings and instructions in their home languages that are displayed around the school. The values and faiths of different societies are explored and celebrated through music, art and design and religious education. Provision for art and design, in particular, contributes very well to pupils’ cultural development and much of what is produced is of an above average standard. Year 1 pupils produce abstract pictures inspired by the work of Paul Klee and computer images in an aboriginal style. Year 2 pupils use a range of different techniques, including painting on wet paper, to construct pictures in an African vein. Year 4 pupils create still- life work after the style of Cezanne, Rangoli patterns, Paisley patterns inspired by mango leaves

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cultural development – is very good, and impacts very well on their attitudes, behaviour and

and a range of two and three-dimensional work – including fabric prints – based on traditional African designs. Work produced by Year 6 pupils includes well-executed paintings inspired by Claude Monet’s ‘Venetian Dusk’ and Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Blossoming Apple Tree’.

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Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good, which means that they get a very

9. The school has a large Foundation Stage – with two nursery and two reception classes. Most of the children have four or five terms in the nursery before entering the reception classes – although as the school is oversubscribed not all manage to do so. The provision is very well co-ordinated; it is well organised and the children are taught very well. As a result most achieve very well. Good induction procedures include new parents’ evenings and open mornings – as well as home visits if these are deemed necessary. Planning is effective. It has full regard for the recommended Foundation Stage curriculum and involves both teachers and non-teaching staff such as nursery nurses and learning support assistants. As the children near the end of the reception year, methods become appropriately more formal to prepare them for the National Curriculum and, in particular, the literacy and numeracy hours. Assessment procedures are thorough. They include

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Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good, which means that they get a very

half termly targets and close tracking of progress.

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Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good, which means that they get a very

10. In the nursery, there is a very well resourced and organised environment. Activities are highly practical, but also very purposeful and very well resourced. All adults provide a significant input to Pre-Publication Report

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Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good, which means that they get a very

Bishop Gilpin CE Primary - 14 the children’s learning and take equal responsibility for different areas of learning. Provision is also very good in the reception classes and covers all the areas of learning well. The classrooms are well resourced and provide attractive learning environments. Creative play areas are used imaginatively and stimulate the children’s learning well. Teaching ranges from good to excellent and is very good overall. The teachers and other staff have a very good understanding of the needs of these young children. They have high expectations of both behaviour and standards. From an early age the children are encouraged to be independent, which has a very positive impact on their personal, social and emotional development. Tasks provided are regularly matched to the needs of different children in the class, particularly in reception class mathematical development sessions. Planning is very well thought out and has due regard for children with special educational needs

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Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good, which means that they get a very

and those for whom English is an additional language. During one lesson seen during the inspection, for example, a child with very little English was given the opportunity to share artefacts from her own culture with the rest of the class – fully supported by her teacher who celebrated her contribution effectively.

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Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good, which means that they get a very

11. Most children enter the school with above average attainment. They achieve very well and by the time they reach Year 1, most significantly exceed the early learning goals in most areas. Children in the nursery, for example, recognise different initial letter sounds and have generally well developed language skills. In the reception classes, higher attaining children are already completing written work normally associated with older pupils, while average attaining children complete sequential writing using phonetically correct spelling. Nursery children have a good understanding of two-dimensional shapes. Children in the reception classes can count forwards and backwards, add and subtract within 20 and can operate simple information and communication technology hardware. They have a good knowledge and understanding of science, realising, for example, that tigers eat meat and have stripes as a means of camouflage.

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Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good, which means that they get a very

Throughout the Foundation Stage, the quality of the art work is of a particularly high standard.

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Despite recent improvements, standards in and provision for information and communication

12. The co-ordinator for information and communication technology has held this post for just over a year. In that time he has had a major impact on the school’s provision for the subject. He has observed some lessons and given verbal feedback to the teachers concerned. He has visited other schools to observe computer facilities and was deeply involved in the planning and equipping of Bishop Gilpin’s own computer suite. Teachers have all had appropriate training in information and communication technology – but not all are yet confident in applying aspects of this and the monitoring of standards and teaching is still under developed overall.

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Despite recent improvements, standards in and provision for information and communication

13. The national guidelines for information and communication technology are the basis of the school’s provision, with a commercial scheme being used to support planning in Years 3 to 6 and various approaches being employed in Years 1 and 2. The co-ordinator recognises the need for a consistent whole school approach. The pupils access the full National Curriculum – except for Year 6 where the pupils are not able to complete the control and modelling strand, as the school has not yet acquired the relevant equipment. This is due to arrive in time for the start of the new school year. Formal assessment procedures are limited to pupils’ ‘ICT Log Books’ that contain samples of their work. This is insufficient. Information and communication technology is used successfully to support learning in some other subjects – including art and design, literacy and numeracy – but there is scope for this to be developed further.

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Despite recent improvements, standards in and provision for information and communication

14. Lessons seen during the inspection indicate that standards in information and communication technology are above average in Years 1 and 2. Year 1 pupils, for example, are able to key in instructions to make a programmable image move in different directions. Year 2 pupils understand why it is a good idea to use a data file to store information and create their own data files in a class book. They have well-developed mouse and keyboard skills – although some still need adult support to save their work and log off. Standards at the end of Year 6 are in line with the national average in those areas of the subject that they have access to. However, this is not high enough Pre-Publication Report

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Despite recent improvements, standards in and provision for information and communication

Bishop Gilpin CE Primary - 15 for pupils with their potential. They can use spreadsheets, communicate information and interrogate data – but can not yet construct full multi-media presentations. Pupils’ attitudes were good in one of the two lessons seen in Years 1 and 2, and excellent in the other. They enjoy the work and are sometimes very enthusiastic about it. Behaviour and relationships are both very good. Teaching was good in one of the lessons and very good in the other.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

In the context of the school’s many strengths, the governors, headteacher and staff should carry out the following action in order to raise standards and improve provision still further:

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Continue to improve standards in and provision for information and communication technology by: a) increasing teachers’ confidence in delivering the subject; b) ensuring that statutory requirements are fully met; c) establishing whole-school assessment procedures to inform planning for information and communication technology; d) establishing a rigorous system for monitoring teaching and standards in the subject. (paragraphs 12 to 14)

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

The school has already identified further improvements in its provision for information and communication technology as a developmental priority. Pre-Publication Report

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