Joseph Cash Primary School

JOSEPH CASH PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 20 th – 23 rd January 2003

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JOSEPH CASH PRIMARY SCHOOL

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

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JOSEPH CASH 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. Joseph Cash Primary School - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The governing body

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Name of chair of governors: Mr P Jackson

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: 7 th March 2001 Joseph Cash Primary School - 4

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities 8710 Julie Moore Registered inspector Art and design Design and technology What sort of school is it? The school’s results and pupils’ achievements How well are pupils taught? How well is the school led and managed? What should the school do to improve further? 19697 Janice Moorhouse 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? 21816 Beryl Thomas Team inspector Geography History How good are the curricular and other opportunities offered to the pupils? 8358 Alan Blank Team inspector Science Information and communication technology 7593 John Collier Team inspector Educational inclusion Special educational needs English Music 19765 Arthur Evans Team inspector Mathematics Physical education 2063 Judith Hicks Team Inspector English as an additional language

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

22421 Val McGrath Team Inspector The Foundation Stage Religious education

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Schools Inspection Unit Birmingham University School of Education Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT

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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 Joseph Cash Primary School - 5

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 7

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

The school is situated in a suburb of Coventry and it serves two areas of deprivation within the city, as well as a nearby housing estate that is currently being upgraded. Pupils live in the surrounding area and there are significant numbers of refugee families as well as asylum seekers, mainly from Albania and Iraq. There are 169 boys and 139 girls on the school roll, and this makes Joseph Cash bigger than most primary schools. Pupils are aged between three and eleven and 34 of them attend part-time in the nursery. When the children start school in the nursery most of them achieve far less than most children of similar ages. A high percentage of pupils – 35% – are known to be eligible for free school meals, and this is above average. The percentage of pupils with special educational needs is above average, and their special needs encompass many wide-ranging difficulties. Forty-three per cent of pupils speak English as an additional language, which is well above average. The main languages

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

spoken by these pupils are Punjabi, Urdu, Gujerati and Kurdish; 12% of them are at an early stage in speaking English. A significant number of pupils continually move into and out of the school.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

Joseph Cash primary is a very effective school, and every pupil is fully included in all aspects of its day-to-day life. Standards have increased significantly due to improved teaching. The curriculum is rich and vibrant, and pupils want to learn. The headteacher provides outstanding leadership, and she is ably supported by the governors and her senior managers. The headteacher is focusing on things that matter, and is moving developments forward at a very good pace. Governors are fully involved and they know where the school’s strengths and weaknesses are. The team spirit is very strong, and everyone pulls together extremely effectively. The school provides good value for money.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

What the school does well  The headteacher provides excellent leadership.  Standards are improving significantly.  The provision for pupils with English as an additional language is very good.  Pupils with special educational needs achieve well.  Pupils’ personal development is very good, as is their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

What could be improved  Most pupils, including the eleven year olds, do not achieve high enough standards in speaking, writing, and in information and communication technology (ICT).  The activities that are planned in the nursery do not always have a strong focus on what the children are expected to learn. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

The school was last inspected in March 2001 when it came out of special measures 1 . Very good progress has been made since then. Standards, teaching and learning continue to improve. The headteacher and her senior managers make the best use of all the information that is available about the school. They use this information very effectively to pinpoint areas of weakness in the school’s performance. Pupils’ test results are carefully analysed, gaps in learning identified, and suitable support provided, so that the pupils do not slip back in their learning. The school’s capacity for further improvement is very good.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

1 Special measures means that a school is not providing an acceptable standard of education for its pupils. Joseph Cash Primary School - 7

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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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STANDARDS

Performance in: all schools similar schools Key

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STANDARDS

English E D D B well above average above average A B Mathematics E D C A average below average C D Science D C D B well below average E

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STANDARDS

Standards in the main subjects continue to rise year on year and Joseph Cash Primary School is progressing faster than other primary schools in the country. When the children start school in the nursery their standards are very low. Throughout the school most boys and girls make good or better progress over time, and this includes those with special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language. All the pupils have every opportunity to achieve highly to the best of their capabilities.

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STANDARDS

This means that pupils at the end of Year 6 attain average standards in their mathematics tests, and below average in English and science. Inspection findings generally match test results, except that eleven year olds are now reaching average standards in reading. When compared to similar schools 2 standards are much better. They are well above average in mathematics and above average in English and science. Pupils, at the end of Year 2, attain well below average standards in reading, writing and science, and below average standards in mathematics. Like the Year 6 pupils, this picture improves when compared to similar schools. In the rest of the subjects, the eleven year olds achieve above average standards in physical education, broadly average in religious education, music, art and design, design and technology, history, geography, and below average in ICT.

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STANDARDS

The school is much better than it was at setting targets so that the pupils can see how they are improving year on year. The school’s targets were challenging last year, and they were exceeded. The school is on course to achieve even more challenging targets this year.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Attitudes to the school Good. Lessons are interesting and this makes the pupils keen to learn.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Satisfactory. Most pupils behave well, both inside and outside school. A minority find this difficult to achieve, but the staff use a range of successful strategies to help pupils to behave well. Exclusions have all been for valid reasons.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Personal development and relationships Very good, and a strength of the school. Everyone gets on together very well, and pupils work hard at developing a positive self-image. They are well aware of each other’s needs and they do their best to help each other.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Attendance Poor. Despite the school’s best efforts some parents still find it hard to get their children to school on time and to ensure they attend regularly.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

2 Schools with a similar percentage of pupils known to be entitled to free school meals. Joseph Cash Primary School - 8

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

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

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

Quality of teaching Satisfactory 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. Teaching continues to improve and more pupils are attaining average standards year on year. Teaching was good or better in over half the lessons. It was satisfactory or better in just about every lesson. In the Foundation Stage 3 tasks are planned around the early learning goals 4 , but in the nursery it is not always clear what the children are expected to learn. When this happens, learning and teaching fall short of expectations. In the rest of the school there is some very good teaching in each year group. The strongest teaching is with the pupils in Years 3 and 6. In many lessons the planning is effective, enabling the tasks to be pitched at the right levels. No time is wasted and the teachers

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

enthusiastically expect the pupils to work hard and to do their best. Pupils rise to the challenges set, making good gains in their learning. Previously learnt skills are used in new and different situations so that learning moves forward and higher standards are attained, as in a physical education lesson in Year 5. The satisfactory teaching has strengths and weaknesses. Strengths include using specific questions to check pupils’ learning as well as drawing out the learning points at the end of each lesson. Weaknesses include not identifying pupils’ mistakes correctly, lessons slowing up when the teacher works with one group and another group needs help, and not enough use of ICT to support pupils’ learning.

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

English and mathematics are taught well. Pupils learn to read fluently and accurately, developing their own strategies to identify unknown words. Writing skills are improving, but pupils’ limited vocabulary holds them back when they try to write imaginatively. Basic number facts are taught well, as are all other elements of numeracy. Throughout the school, pupils successfully use and apply their literacy and numeracy skills in a range of subjects such as science, geography and religious education. Pupils with special educational needs get a great deal of support that enables them to make good progress. The provision for pupils with English as an additional language is very good. These pupils are making very good gains in developing their spoken English.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

The quality and range of the curriculum Good. The school has worked hard to make sure that its curriculum is rich and interesting, broad and balanced. It is successful.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils with special educational needs These pupils have a great deal of high quality support that enables them to do well.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils with English as an additional language Another strength of the school. Pupils do very well because the school provides the right kind of extensive support for them and their families.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural, development Very good. Pupils get on together very well and they help and support each other. Pupils are clear about right and wrong, and their rich and varied cultural diversity and beliefs are nurtured and valued.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

How well the school cares for its pupils Very good. Pupils are in a safe and secure environment. Their personal development, attainment and progress are securely tracked.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

3 The name given to nursery and reception classes. 4 Targets for nursery and reception children to achieve. Joseph Cash Primary School - 9 The school has worked very hard to draw all its parents into a positive working partnership. Everyone is welcomed into school, but, even so, some parents are not as involved in school life as others.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff Excellent. The headteacher provides inspirational leadership. She is the driving force behind the school’s success, and she is ably supported by all key staff. Everyone is working together very successfully as a member of the school’s high-flying team.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Good. Governors are clear about the school’s successes, strengths and weaknesses. They fulfil their duties well, but as many of them are new governors their understanding of the school’s procedures is not firmly embedded.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

The school’s evaluation of its performance Very good. The head and her team make the very best use of all the information about the school. They use this information to plan the way forward very well.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

The strategic use of resources Very good. Governors make sure that all the funds are used to improve the quality of education provided at Joseph Cash. They are very successful. Governors make sure that they always apply ‘best value’ principles when making spending decisions.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

Since being in special measures the school has had a considerable face-lift. The accommodation is now of high quality throughout, with individual classrooms, specialist areas for music tuition, a library, a nursery and reception area for the three to fives, spacious administrative areas and staff and headteacher’s rooms. Staffing levels are high, but results are improving all the time. Learning resources are good.

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PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved  The school expects children to work hard and to do their best.  Children like school.  The school is well led and managed.  Parents are happy about approaching the school with a question or a problem.  Children do not get enough homework.

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PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

Inspectors agree with parents’ positive comments. They judge that homework is suitable for the age and experience of the pupils, but that homework is irregular in Year 6. There are missed opportunities in this year group for homework to support class work. Joseph Cash Primary School - 10

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

1. Standards are improving significantly and very good progress has been made since the last inspection. Larger proportions of eleven year old boys and girls are achieving higher levels in the national tests and in their class work, and standards have reached an average level in mathematics. They are below average in English and science. However, when compared to similar schools, standards are much better. They are above average in English and science and well above average in mathematics. The school is pushing up its standards faster than other schools in the country. Its targets were exceeded last year. This year’s targets are challenging and the school is on course to achieve them.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

2. When children start school in the nursery their attainment is very low. Many of them are unable to talk or communicate in sentences – some have no spoken English at all – and they have little knowledge of early mathematical activities. Their co-ordination and their social skills are poor. Satisfactory progress is made in the nursery. Progress speeds up in the reception classes, and is good, but even so, many children have too much ground to cover to achieve their targets in the early learning goals by the end of the reception year.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

3. The seven year olds attain well below average standards in their reading and writing tests at the end of Year 2. Standards in mathematics are below average. When compared to similar schools standards are above average in mathematics, below average in reading and well below average in writing. Like the eleven year olds, significantly more pupils are achieving higher levels year on year and the outlook is positive. Secure teaching plays a key role in pushing up standards all round.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

4. A high percentage of pupils move into and out of the school every year. Many of these pupils are refugees or asylum seekers. Others have special educational needs and many of them speak English as an additional language. This movement of pupils can affect the school’s overall results because pupils do not have enough time in school to improve their learning skills and their attainment, before taking the end-of- year tests in Year 2 and Year 6.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

5. The school is much better than it was at targeting pupils of all capabilities to make sure that they do well and do not slip back in their learning. The national test results are analysed, as are the results of standardised tests at the end of Years 3, 4 and 5. The achievements of boys and girls and of pupils from different ethnic backgrounds are checked, weaknesses are identified and suitable support provided.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

6. Those pupils who have particular difficulties in learning and who are assessed as having a special educational need make good progress. Targets that can be measured are outlined on individual education plans and they are reviewed regularly so that progress can be checked. Teachers, teaching assistants and visiting specialists give good quality support to these pupils in class lessons and when they are withdrawn for one-to-one help or for small group work. This is why they progress well.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

7. Pupils having English as an additional language make good progress and frequently very good progress because they are well taught and their learning is effective. The Joseph Cash Primary School - 11 school does everything in its power to ensure that every pupil has the opportunity to achieve to the highest standard they are capable of achieving. No one is left out.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

8. The gains in attainment levels in the tests show that this strategy is working effectively in English, mathematics and science. In most of the other subjects – art and design, design and technology, geography, history, music, and religious education – attainment is broadly average for the eleven year olds. It is above average in physical education and below average in ICT. The seven year olds progress well but their attainment levels are low when they join Year 1. By the end of Year 2 standards are broadly average in geography, history, music and religious education. They are above average in physical education and below average in the remaining subjects.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

9. Year 2 pupils find it difficult to listen attentively and they do not find it easy to speak out. Standards of speaking and listening are below those normally found for pupils of this age. Pupils are making good progress with their reading. Higher attaining pupils are identified and they read challenging texts fluently. Lower attaining pupils struggle to read and many rely on adults to help them read a simple text. This group have limited ways to identify words they don’t know. Most pupils find writing in a lively and exciting way difficult because of their limited vocabulary, However, some more capable Year 2 pupils are beginning to join their letters correctly. The higher attaining pupils form their sentences accurately and they use some punctuation successfully.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

10. By the time they are eleven, pupils speak with greater confidence and their listening skills have improved, but standards in English are still below average. Reading standards are average, reading is enjoyed and pupils readily quote their favourite authors such as Dick King-Smith, J.K. Rowling and Jacqueline Wilson. Higher attaining pupils read with confidence and fluency, and pupils of average reading ability also read expressively. Lower attaining pupils find it difficult to read fluently but they do read accurately. Throughout the school, understanding vocabulary is a problem and this limits pupils’ attainment. Most pupils find writing difficult, and their limited vocabulary holds them back. Most pupils find it hard to compose complex sentences although some manage to write extended sentences using words other than ‘and’, ‘but’ or ‘then’.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

11. In mathematics, standards are below average for the seven year olds and average for the eleven year olds. The Year 2 pupils have a satisfactory understanding of place value in two-digit numbers. The higher attaining pupils have a sound grasp of the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Many of the average and lower attaining pupils find it difficult to use their mathematical knowledge when solving word problems. Higher attaining pupils in Year 6 can use quick mental recall of number facts, but the average and lower attaining pupils are not so adept. Many Year 6 pupils lack confidence with multiplication tables. However, they can reduce a fraction to its simplest form, they can calculate areas and perimeters of shapes and they have a satisfactory knowledge of the language of angles, triangles and probability. The higher attaining pupils can explain how they solve word problems, but many of the others find this difficult if the

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

12. Pupils’ attitudes to school are good and their attitudes to learning are positive. Pupils are interested in what is being taught and enjoy coming to school. They rise to the challenge when teaching is demanding and enjoy practical tasks. This situation is an improvement since the time of the last inspection when pupils’ response to teaching was satisfactory. Year 1 pupils worked enthusiastically and confidently in an English Joseph Cash Primary School - 12 lesson on phonics and in a Year 5 and 6 personal, social and health education lesson on the theme ‘Glad to be me’. They are capable of working independently and concentrating on tasks. Inspectors saw notable examples of concentrated work by pupils in Year 4 working on the poem The Lamplighter and in Years 3 and 4 working on the addition of two-digit numbers in a mathematics lesson. Pupils were seen handling equipment and resources sensibly during a design and technology lesson

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

and confidently making decisions on the design specification for a slipper. A good example of boys and girls working together co-operatively and helping each other was seen during a physical education lesson in Year 2. The vast majority of parents responding to the questionnaire agree their child likes school and the inspection findings confirm their views.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

13. As at the time of the last inspection, inspectors saw satisfactory behaviour in classrooms, around the school and in the dining hall. A small minority of pupils exhibit challenging behaviour and this can sometimes have a detrimental effect on the progress of others in the class. The majority of parents responding to the questionnaire agree that behaviour in the school is good. Parents attending the pre- inspection meeting felt behaviour to be improving and the school is coping well with those who find it difficult to conform. Inspectors saw some deterioration in behaviour when work was too demanding or insufficiently challenging. Pupils sometimes cause lessons to slow down because of restlessness or inattention, but only on rare occasions is behaviour unacceptable. The number of exclusions has been reduced since the time of the previous inspection, even though the school caters for a number of pupils with severe behavioural difficulties.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

14. Pupils respond willingly to opportunities to be involved in the life of the school. The majority of pupils have responsibilities within their classrooms and for keeping shared areas tidy. All, including the youngest children, have an opportunity to be register monitor. Older pupils have duties and responsibilities around the school and pupils’ good sense of responsibility is carried through into the quality of their work. Responsibilities include preparing the hall and music for assemblies, tidying the hall afterwards and, for older pupils, arranging the borrowing of playground equipment during lunchtime. Pupils take these responsibilities seriously and they make a positive contribution to personal development. Pupils handle responsibility reliably, sensibly and efficiently. Inspectors found pupils friendly, helpful and polite.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

15. Relationships in the school are very good and a strength of the school. ‘Circle time’ provides pupils with a number of useful opportunities to share their opinions and show their respect for the feelings and values of others. Pupils demonstrated their willingness to observe the rules of circle time and to listen carefully to the views and opinions of classmates in Years 5 and 6. In the majority of classes, pupils are good at respecting the teacher and ignoring the behaviour of some of their emotionally disturbed peers so that lessons can proceed uninterrupted. In the main, the relationship between the pupil and teacher is of a consistently high quality and has a positive effect on pupils’ personal and academic development. The confidence of pupils in a Year 1 English lesson was encouraged and enhanced by the very good relationship between the pupils and the class teacher.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

16. Attendance at the school is well below average and has not improved since the previous inspection. There is a high level of unauthorised absence compared with other primary schools nationally. There are a number of pupils who are persistent absentees or who are late in arriving because their parents find it difficult to get them to school on time. The poor levels of attendance and timekeeping are having a negative effect on attainment and progress. Not all parents co-operate as well as they Joseph Cash Primary School - 13 might in helping the school improve the situation and some do not fulfil their responsibility for ensuring that pupils arrive promptly and attend regularly.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

17. A significant number of pupils have been assessed as having behavioural difficulties and are entered on the register of special educational needs. Various strategies are employed to help them through these difficulties and the school is able to call on outside agencies, such as the local education authority’s Learning and Behavioural Support Team, to give useful advice. Individual education plans outline the strategies to be implemented with each pupil and they are generally effective in dealing with most incidents.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

18. Teaching continues to improve and is stronger than it was at the last inspection. The key issue in the last report has been tackled well and standards are improving over time as a result of the stronger teaching. Teaching was good or better in over half the lessons. It was satisfactory or better in just about every lesson. There were examples of very good teaching in Years 1 to 6, and the strongest teaching was with pupils in Year 3 and Year 6. In the Foundation Stage, teaching is satisfactory overall, with good teaching in the reception year. In a very small minority of lessons, learning and teaching fell short of expectations. This was because too many tasks were planned for the children and it was not clear what they were expected to learn.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

19. The school is much better than it used to be at monitoring teaching and learning. The information gained is used to determine future priorities and to set targets. Additional training has made teachers much more secure about the subjects they are teaching, and this is helping the pupils to progress more rapidly.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

20. Children in the Foundation Stage progress soundly, with progress speeding up in the reception classes. Work is planned using the stepping stones for learning 5 , and children’s all-round development is soundly covered by this approach. What is missing, in the nursery, is a sharp focus on what the children are going to learn as a result of an activity. When too many tasks are planned, the children’s learning slows. In both nursery and reception the children’s progress is monitored carefully by all staff. The nursery nurse and learning support assistants work effectively with the children, using the information gained from assessments to guide their planning. There is an appropriate balance between teacher-directed and child-initiated activities, and this means that learning is productive. Parents are fully involved, benefiting everyone.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

21. In Years 1 to 6, literacy and numeracy skills are taught well so that pupils’ learning is effective. Teachers are adept at planning work at the right levels. Higher, average and lower attaining pupils are well catered for. Lessons get off to a brisk start so that no time is wasted and pupils’ attention is captured straight away, as in a Year 6 lesson on the organisational features of a non-fiction book on Wild Weather . The teacher used good opening questions that encouraged the pupils to think about features of the text, for example, “What is the purpose of this paragraph?”, before moving on to discussing the sub-headings and titles. At the end of the lesson all pupils were clear that non-fiction texts are arranged differently from fiction, and good progress was made.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

5 The name given to the various levels of the Foundation Stage curriculum. Joseph Cash Primary School - 14 22. Numeracy skills are equally well developed. Lessons are well organised and they move forward at a good pace. Teachers make good use of whiteboards to help organise pupils’ thinking and to identify the actual number operations in problems. This approach worked well in a Year 3 lesson with lower attaining pupils, who were working out addition problems using two-digit numbers. The teachers’ enthusiasm and lively approach kept the pupils’ interest, helping them to concentrate for lengthy periods of time and to complete their tasks well.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

23. Across the subjects there are many strengths in the teaching, and pupils’ learning is effective because of this. Gifted and talented pupils are well catered for, and they have a range of challenging tasks that extend their learning effectively. The school is involved in Coventry’s ‘Excellence Cluster’ project, and the impact of this work is really benefiting higher and lower attaining pupils. Teachers’ overall planning is effective because staff are good at assessing how much the pupils have learnt as a result of a lesson. Teachers and support staff know their children well and this helps them to make accurate assessments. They use this information to plan the next stages in learning successfully.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

24. Another strength is the high expectations that staff have for their pupils, who rise to the challenges set for them. In one example, in a physical education lesson with Year 1 pupils, the teacher expected, and got, high achievement from the pupils as they were using different parts of their bodies to move over apparatus. She used her voice well, giving clear instructions about what she expected the pupils to achieve. Pupils rose to the challenges set for them, following the teacher’s emphasis on starting and finishing positions and producing high standards.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

25. At the end of lessons teachers are good at structuring their questions for individual pupils, helping them to remember the main points of the lesson or to consolidate their understanding. Pupils with special educational needs benefit from this approach, as do those pupils who speak English as an additional language. In another example, with Year 6 pupils in a design and technology lesson, the teacher structured her questions to encourage the boys to respond more fully. This helped them to keep up with the other pupils (and the girls) successfully. All of the teaching at Joseph Cash is fully inclusive, and no one is left out.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

26. There are few weak features to the teaching. In a small minority of lessons teachers did not identify one or two of the pupils’ mistakes correctly. This was significant for the individuals concerned, but was picked up later so that learning was soon back on track. In other instances, learning slowed when the teachers and adults were working with a particular group and another group needed help. This did not happen frequently, and it was spotted quickly, but pupils lost interest whilst they waited for help and then noise levels increased and learning slowed. ICT is not always used to support learning effectively and more needs to be done to make better use of ICT to support learning across the board.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

27. Pupils with special educational needs are taught well. Teachers plan work in most lessons that is suitable for them, enabling them to achieve good progress in their learning. Support is targeted effectively to help them, whether it is the teachers themselves who work with groups during activity sessions or whether it is teaching assistants. In either case, support is very effective. Some pupils are withdrawn from lessons for small group work or for one-to-one activities. In these, pupils are encouraged to concentrate hard and focus on the tasks. In a session with a Year 6 pupil, the assistant helped her to understand a fable by practising the strategies for Joseph Cash Primary School - 15 reading unknown words and for identifying rhyming words. There was obvious enjoyment as the pupil achieved success.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

28. Pupils with English as an additional language get a great deal of high quality support that enables them to improve their spoken English very well. Teachers and learning support assistants make sure that every pupil is fully included in all day-to-day activities at Joseph Cash. The extensive use of interpreters helps the pupils to understand what is happening in each lesson. Key vocabulary is planned very well, and the adult working with the pupils makes regular reference to the vocabulary used so that learning is promoted as effectively as spoken English. Detailed assessments help staff to track pupils’ progress and development. All of this means that the pupils progress very well indeed.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

29. Parents were concerned about the range and quality of the homework given to the pupils. Inspectors found that homework is used well to support learning, but that homework in Year 6 is irregular, and the opportunity to use homework to support work undertaken in class is not taken.

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PUPILS?

30. The Foundation Stage curriculum offers children experiences in all areas of learning, and is most effective in promoting children’s personal, social and emotional development. However, in the nursery, planning for each term and week needs to have a sharper focus so that it is clear what the children are to learn as a result of a particular activity.

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PUPILS?

31. The school provides a rich, vibrant and relevant range of learning opportunities for its pupils that contributes well to the standards they are attaining. These opportunities are available to all pupils and reflect the multicultural society in which we live. Statutory requirements to teach the subjects of the National Curriculum and religious education are well met. The provision for ICT has improved considerably since the last inspection in 2001.

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PUPILS?

32. Since the last inspection, the curriculum has developed well. There are now very good arrangements in place to provide pupils with physical, personal, social, health and citizenship education and to develop good links between subjects. Well-structured guidance about sex education and the dangers of misusing drugs and the importance of exercise is also given. The school works very well to enable the pupils to make choices about their health and well-being. There is a broad range of additional activities such as a poetry day, a world book day, a language appreciation day and year of science activities, which broaden and enrich the curriculum.

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PUPILS?

33. There are good policies, which have been implemented for all subjects. The school has responded well to the National Literacy Strategy and extremely well to the National Numeracy Strategy. The National Literacy Strategy has led to considerable improvements in reading and listening but it has not yet led to pupils producing sufficiently well-presented and fluent writing nor a wider use of vocabulary for speaking. The National Numeracy Strategy has been very effective in raising standards, as shown in the results for mathematics. The schemes of work of all other subjects of the National Curriculum have been improved with the help of guidance provided by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. This has in turn resulted in better lesson planning with sharper objectives. The assessment of pupils’ progress towards the objectives within each scheme of work is currently under-developed. Joseph Cash Primary School - 16

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PUPILS?

There are some elements of the National Curriculum for ICT that are not covered in sufficient depth. The ICT components of some subjects of the curriculum are under- emphasised.

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PUPILS?

34. Provision for pupils with special educational needs is good, as it was at the last inspection. The pupils with statements of their need have appropriate levels of support and arrangements to meet their need are well considered. A new policy has been drawn up that meets the requirements of the recently revised Code of Practice and the register of pupils with special educational needs clearly identifies the particular difficulty that each pupil has. It is well maintained. The arrangements for identifying and supporting these pupils are generally effective. Pupils are well integrated in the life of the school. Individual education plans are produced that have clear and measurable targets with suitable strategies to achieve them. These plans guide the support that is provided in classes and in withdrawal groups and this support is generally good.

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PUPILS?

35. The school works very hard to ensure that all pupils have equal access to the curriculum and to the enriching experiences that are provided outside lessons. Pupils from diverse backgrounds, including refugees and asylum seekers, are well integrated and the school strives hard to meet the different educational and emotional needs of all its pupils. It is generally very successful in achieving its aim of ‘valuing, supporting and encouraging everyone to reach their full potential’. Pupils with English as an additional language are very well supported and they make very good progress in developing their spoken English.

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PUPILS?

36. The school rightly has a high reputation for the quality and range of its extra-curricular provision. There are numerous after-school clubs and activities, which members of staff voluntarily organise in addition to their other duties. During inspection week, well- attended and very successful activities were seen in action. At the football club pupils trained avidly on the school field, playing in the rain until it was dark and practising their skills well. Boys and girls worked together to improve their skills in netball. The boys and girls attending the ‘Imagineering’ club were learning about electricity, wattage, voltage and a variable power supply. They discussed health and safety issues regarding the care to be observed when handling a soldering iron, and how to use a screwdriver and pincers safely. The hour-long ‘Crafty Children’ club for pupils in Years 1 and 2 filled two class rooms. This club was very effective in developing

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PUPILS?

personal and social development and furthering creative and physical skills. The science club was well attended and the Cheerleaders club, which had just replaced the Circus skills club, was extremely lively, enjoyable and appropriately noisy, developing concentration and physical skills well. There are many other such activities that make a very big difference to the education provided by the school. These include involvement in Sports for All and Mornings of Music. Pupils are taken on many educational visits and also have the benefit of working with visiting speakers within the school. Collectively all of these activities help pupils to broaden their experience, strengthen their self-confidence, encourage leadership and increase their maturity.

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PUPILS?

37. The school makes very good use of the local community to add depth and breadth to pupils’ learning through very good liaison with the local police, fire station, library, shops, businesses and churches. Pupils take part in the whole city ‘Lights and lanterns’ procession organised by community artists as well as the community gala day and carols sung on the green. The school has been able to improve the environment and create a good wildlife area in the grounds through help from Barclays Bank, Mutual Insurance and Groundwork. Excellence in Cities helps relationships with partner institutions. There are very good links with Sydney Stringer Joseph Cash Primary School - 17 and Barrs Hill, two local secondary schools; this helps to ensure that pupils transfer confidently. Three schools work together on family links, six schools support the mornings of music and the school’s Bhangra dancers from Year 2 perform in other

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PUPILS?

schools. The school also makes a good contribution to support students through the workplace scheme.

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PUPILS?

38. There is very good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral and cultural development and good provision for their social development. Personal development is promoted very well and pupils have many planned opportunities to carry out individual tasks and jobs around the school. Pupils are reliable, and they take their responsibilities seriously. Spiritual development is promoted very well. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on their personal experiences in a number of ways and to appreciate the wonders of the world around them. Assemblies make a very positive contribution to the pupils’ spiritual development. Music played as pupils arrive and leave, and a lighted candle at times of prayer, remind pupils that these are important occasions to be valued and respected. In daily corporate acts of worship the school gathers together to celebrate achievements, to reflect on relationships with others, and to value other cultures. The

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PUPILS?

weekly assembly in which children lead and perform is a joyous occasion when pupils have the opportunity to appreciate and congratulate their friends. Further examples of pupils expressing appreciation of creativity were observed when a teacher shared her own sketches with children and when a colourful prayer mat was unrolled.

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PUPILS?

39. Provision for moral development is also very good. The whole-school approach to behaviour management places emphasis on personal responsibility. Pupils are made aware of the effects of their behaviour on others, and are encouraged to decide how to amend their behaviour when necessary. Pupils are also reminded, during assemblies, through displays and in lessons, of the effects of bullying and the strategies the school has in place to minimise it. In religious education lessons pupils are encouraged to discuss moral issues in religious events and stories. For example, when studying a range of paintings depicting Jesus, they noticed the absence of a halo in Giampietrino’s Christ Carrying The Cross and concluded it was “because there was evil around”.

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PUPILS?

40. The social development of pupils is good. Children in the Foundation Stage are encouraged to take social responsibility as they collaborate in groups. There is potential for this to be developed further as pupils progress through the school, by encouraging them to use their own personal initiative and by ensuring they work co- operatively in groups in lessons. The school offers good opportunities for pupils to socialise in extra-curricular activities. Good social development is also promoted by the residential visit for older pupils.

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PUPILS?

41. Pupils’ cultural development is very good. They appreciate their own and other cultures. As part of their religious education pupils make visits to a wide range of places of worship, including a mosque, gurdwara and cathedral. They appreciate festivals such as Diwali, Christmas and Holi, and are aware of birth and wedding ceremonies in a wide range of cultures. The school Bhangra dancers regularly perform for their own and other schools, and their enthusiastic movement is warmly appreciated. Throughout the school emphasis is placed on the appreciation of other languages and illustrated through displays, and the value placed on diversity by teachers in lessons. For example, pupils perform rhymes in their mother tongue and greetings in a range of languages are regularly used. Pupils also appreciate the work of artists and musicians from other cultures, and in geography they study contrasting localities. Visitors, representing a wide range of other faiths and cultures, further

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PUPILS?

enrich the pupils’ experience of cultural diversity. Joseph Cash Primary School - 18

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

42. Joseph Cash Primary School takes very good care of its pupils. The school has a sufficient number of relevant and updated support, guidance and welfare policies to guide and underpin its actions. These policies are implemented consistently across the school. The school nurse assists the school in the sex education programme for older pupils.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

43. The procedures for child protection and ensuring pupil welfare are very good and all staff are aware of the named person and procedures. There is evidence of thorough and careful monitoring by the headteacher and the school has a sensitive concern and awareness of the needs of its pupils and their parents. All staff have had child protection training including the newly qualified teacher, the learning mentor and the teaching assistants. Policies are in line with local procedures and good relationships exist with personnel from outside agencies involved in pupil care. One member of staff is the named co-ordinator for children looked after. The school has three members of staff qualified in first aid and all staff have undertaken first aid training. All the necessary procedures are in place for dealing with minor accidents or incidents. Arrangements and procedures for the conduct of educational visits fully comply with

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

local authority guidelines. Secure systems are in place to ensure that pupils can use the Internet safely. There is a comprehensive health and safety policy and regular health and safety audits are carried out in the school. The school’s caretaker is a member of the governor’s health and safety committee. Health and safety is always an agenda item for governing body meetings. Governors are aware of the need to provide a safe environment for pupils and staff.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

44. Supervision at lunchtime is adequately organised through a rota of nine dining room assistants. Dining room assistants have received training in behaviour management and have useful opportunities to meet regularly with the headteacher to discuss problems or concerns. A number of dining room assistants work as teaching assistants and so are familiar with the school’s approaches to managing incidents of inappropriate behaviour. The senior dining room assistant manages an induction programme for newly appointed assistants. During lunchtime, older pupils organise the borrowing of skipping ropes, stilts and playground draughts that pupils are keen to use. Inspectors saw some inappropriate use of equipment and some incidences of misbehaviour, although the majority of pupils played sensibly and responsibly. In the main, pupils treat supervisors with politeness and courtesy.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

45. The school has excellent procedures for monitoring absence and promoting good attendance and has adopted a number of suitable and innovative strategies for encouraging those pupils who are persistently absent or late in arriving. However, improvements have had limited success, although there have been significant improvements in the attendance of a number of individuals. The excellent attendance procedures and systems in place are conscientiously maintained by a member of staff working on attendance issues. She is well supported by the learning mentor. An education welfare officer has been helping the school tackle the problem. Through regular reminders in the school’s weekly newsletters, the school effectively demonstrates to parents the importance of good attendance and punctuality for the smooth running of the school. The school has a number of alarm clocks available for families to borrow and has invited pupils with attendance and punctuality problems to

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

attend a breakfast club. Both initiatives have had a positive effect on individual attendance and punctuality. Pupils are appropriately rewarded for good attendance on an individual and class basis. Rewards include certificates, prizes and class treats. Joseph Cash Primary School - 19 Although the school follows up parents who fail to communicate reasons for their child’s absence, levels of unauthorised absence are above those of other primary schools nationally.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

46. The school has very good procedures for monitoring and promoting good behaviour. The school gives a very high priority to the expectation of good behaviour. Pupils and parents are aware of the standards of behaviour expected as set out in the school’s behaviour policy and the consequences of misconduct. The relevant and appropriately worded school Code of Conduct, drawn up with pupil involvement, is consistently displayed in classrooms. Inspectors saw good examples of the code being used to handle incidents of inappropriate attitudes and behaviour. Good behaviour is publicly recognised during ‘Praise Assembly’ on a weekly basis. Inspectors saw consistent good behaviour rewarded with praise, stars and points so that pupils were encouraged to work hard and succeed. The school has a specific policy on bullying that includes a clear statement on the school’s attitudes towards bullying. No incidents of unkind behaviour were seen. Inspectors judge pupils would

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

feel confident to report incidents of bullying and the school’s approach would be effective in eliminating it. Staff have a very thorough knowledge of their pupils and monitor their personal progress in an informal way. Pupils are constantly supported and, in turn, promote the caring and welcoming culture of the school.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

47. The school liaises very well with outside agencies to identify and support pupils with special educational needs. The Learning and Behavioural Support Team, for example, give constant and well-considered advice to teachers and this is much appreciated. A member of the team is available every week to discuss individual matters of concern with members of staff. This helps to ensure that there is positive personal support throughout the school for the pupils with special educational needs. The sensitive support for these pupils is demonstrated through the effective teamwork involving the co-ordinator for special needs, teaching staff and assistants. Procedures for identifying the needs of pupils are good and the progress that they make is regularly reviewed so that targets can be revised and re-written.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

48. The progress and attainment of pupils with English as an additional language are well tracked and monitored. Individual plans identify what needs to be done so that the pupils learn effectively.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

49. Secure systems are in place for assessing and recording the other pupils’ attainment and progress in all the main subjects. Gaps in pupils’ learning are speedily identified and appropriate support provided, making sure that learning does not slow down. In the other subjects, and in the Foundation Stage, systems are at different stages, ranging from just getting off the ground to being fully in place. Plans are in hand to move this forward.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

50. The school has a good partnership with parents. This includes parents of children in the Foundation Stage, and of pupils who speak English as an additional language, and parents who are refugees or who are asylum seekers. Parents’ opinions of the school are positive and there are no areas of significant dissatisfaction. The school works hard to promote an effective relationship with parents based on mutual respect. The majority of parents replying to the questionnaire agree the school works closely with them. Parents receive sufficient information that is presented in an informative and friendly style. The school brochure is attractively presented on colour-coded sheets in a wallet illustrated with photographs of pupils and staff at work and at play. Joseph Cash Primary School - 20 It contains detailed and essential information including information on homework and the timing and purpose of parents’ consultation evenings. Newsletters are sent home

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

on a weekly basis. They provide parents with information and invite them to events such as assemblies. The newsletter always includes details of the class with the highest attendance figure from the previous week. The very good links with parents of Foundation Stage children means that these parents are very willing and keen to work with the school.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

51. The contribution of parents to pupils’ learning is satisfactory both in school and in the work pupils do at home. The school is working towards a greater involvement of parents’ in their children’s education. Parents are invited to class assembly, praise assembly and to the leavers’ assembly for Year 6 pupils. A grandparent is one of the small but loyal group of parents who help in the school on a regular basis. They hear children read and make a useful contribution to practical activities by supporting children in art lessons. All parents have received a copy of the home-school agreement and the majority comply with the requirements it contains. The agreement has strengthened the relationship between parents and staff.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

52. The majority of parents responding to the questionnaire felt well informed about how their child is getting on at school. There are three formal parents meetings each year and attendance at these meetings is satisfactory. In addition, there are meetings during the spring term for parents whose children will be taking national tests later in the year. Parents receive details of the targets set for their children in preparation for their national tests and guidance on how to help their children at home with reading and mathematics. A sample of reports scrutinised by inspectors contained a thorough and systematic record of pupils’ progress and some information on personal and social development. In some instances, pupils have an opportunity to comment on their report and set themselves targets for the next year. Targets by pupils are written for both academic and personal development. The arrangements for the setting of

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

homework and the types of tasks pupils may be expected to do at home are usefully included in the school’s brochure. Inspectors saw some good examples of homework being set in line with the school’s policy.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

53. Most parents with children who have special educational needs appreciate the help that is provided. The Coventry Parent Partnership Service provides an informative booklet about the provision for these pupils. A few parents feel that they could be more closely involved, especially when the school first identifies a need. However, parents are properly informed and a special point is made of discussing issues at the termly parents’ meeting. They are also invited to review meetings. The individual education plans correctly identify the help that parents can provide at home.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

54. The headteacher has been at Joseph Cash for around three years and the school has improved exceptionally well since then. The new headteacher was appointed after the school was placed in special measures, and she has been the driving force in leading the school forward since that time. The headteacher’s leadership is inspirational in that she has the ability to motivate and challenge staff, pupils, parents and governors, so that everyone has a shared vision of what it will take to improve the school even further.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

55. The issues in the last report have been tackled very well; standards continue to rise, teaching has improved and there was only a very small percentage of unsatisfactory teaching this time around. The best use is made of test results, as well as all the data Joseph Cash Primary School - 21 about the school. This information guides governors and senior managers when they are making long-term plans for the way ahead, ensuring that the decisions taken are the right ones. Every pupil, and his or her family, are respected and valued. Parents and children like this and it helps them to be positive about developing home-school links. The school is determined to do its very best for the school community that it serves, as well as ensuring that all pupils will achieve the highest standards they are capable of achieving in every aspect of school life. It is successful in achieving these aims.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

56. The school team works effectively together, and this is a key factor in its success. The team is well managed, roles and responsibilities are clearly understood, and teaching, learning and standards are monitored effectively. Gaps are speedily identified and dealt with so that progress does not falter. Individual, class and group targets are in place for the pupils, and all the adults and governors have targets to meet as well. The result of all this is that everyone has a clear understanding about what has to be done next so that success continues to be assured.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

57. The entire school is managed outstandingly and everything runs smoothly and according to plan. The School Improvement Plan is an excellent working document that clearly guides the school forward. Tasks are identified so that everyone knows what has to be done, by when and by whom, and how much it will cost. Criteria for meeting targets are known, understood and achieved. Administrative staff support the headteacher very well so that she can get on with the business of running the school. All the staff are well trained in their roles and this greatly assists the school to function as an orderly place.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

58. Governors are an essential part of the team, and all statutory duties are fulfilled. The chairman is a very experienced governor and less experienced colleagues benefit greatly from his expertise and knowledge. Many governors are new to their role, and are not yet fully conversant with the school’s procedures. However, they are learning about them speedily and are able to use their new knowledge successfully in their committees. Governors are involved in the day-to-day life of the school. They monitor what is happening in their specific area so that their information is accurate and up to date when they are planning the way forward.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

59. It costs a significant amount of money to educate a pupil at Joseph Cash. The head, governors and the finance team are adept at managing their funds efficiently so that they get the best value for the school. One example of this is the appointment of additional classroom assistants to support specific groups of pupils such as those that are gifted and talented or those that need extra help with reading and writing. This policy is paying dividends as standards are continuing to improve over time. Funds are managed very effectively, and earmarked funds are going towards the cost of the early years garden and equipment. Governors make sure that Joseph Cash always gets the best return on its expenditure. The school successfully taps into many additional funds such as ‘seed challenge’, which is being used to improve the outdoor environment.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

60. The school is involved in Coventry’s ‘Excellence Cluster’ Project initiative. This includes a small number of schools in the city with higher than average levels of disadvantage. Work is undertaken in two strands:

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

 Learning mentor and learning support  Gifted and talented Joseph Cash Primary School - 22 The third strand is:  Managing transitions

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

This project is having a strong impact on attendance, learning and standards at Joseph Cash. Funds have been sharply focused, the incidence of exclusions has dropped and targets have been achieved.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

61. The co-ordinator for special educational needs manages the provision very well. The funding for these pupils has recently been devolved to the school and it is effectively targeted. There is a nominated governor who regularly visits the school and ensures that she is well informed. The co-ordinator writes and regularly reviews all individual education plans in consultation with staff and with outside agencies, with whom he has very good relationships.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

62. Additional funds, to support pupils with English as an additional language, are used very effectively. Teachers, translators and learning support assistants work together effectively as a team, and they are ably managed by the English as an additional language co-ordinator. Appropriate support is provided, and this enables the pupils to understand what is happening in lessons as well assisting them to make their own contributions. Adults are adept at structuring their questions so that pupils have to draw on their own knowledge of English to respond. This is why the pupils make significant progress in their spoken English.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

63. The school is generously staffed. There is an above average number of teachers that results in comparatively small classes and a low pupil/teacher ratio. Teachers are well supported by a generous number of learning support assistants and learning mentors. These assistants are well trained and they make a very important contribution to pupils’ learning. They are particularly effective in supporting pupils who have special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

64. The accommodation is good. The alterations that allow teachers to work in specific areas, rather than in an open-plan arrangement, have been very significant in improving the education provided by the school and the standards that pupils achieve. The school has a well-equipped library and two halls. As yet there is no computer room, but good use is made of a corridor to house a bank of computers that can be used by whole classes.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

65. The school has used an above average proportion of its budget in recent years to improve its stock of educational resources. The result of this investment is a school that is well resourced in almost every subject and phase. Joseph Cash Primary School - 23

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

66. Joseph Cash Primary School has made very good progress since the last inspection. To continue these improvements the governors, headteacher and staff must:

p.23

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(1) Improve standards in speaking, writing and ICT by:-

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

 Ensuring that all pupils have many different opportunities to gain confidence in speaking and to extend their vocabulary. Teachers need to plan specific opportunities for their pupils to speak at length, to respond to questions and to share their ideas and thoughts.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Paragraphs 9, 10, 81, 84, 88, 128, 148, 149, 150

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

 Planning and providing more opportunities for pupils to practise different forms of writing, giving due attention to punctuation, spelling and presentation.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

 Devising more formal links with other subjects.  Putting in place more detailed records of pupils’ attainment and progress as well as setting specific targets for pupils to improve their ICT capability.  Acquiring extra support for the co-ordinator to guide and support the management of ICT throughout the school.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Paragraphs 8, 26, 106, 112, 117, 132 – 137, 141, 151

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(2) Sharpen up the planning in the nursery so that it is clear what the children are expected to learn as a result of their activities. Make sure that plans and learning opportunities are clearly focused on moving the children forward.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Paragraphs 18, 20, 30, 77, 79, 82, 84, 86

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

67. This report includes a less significant issue that governors should include in their action plan.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(1) Systems for assessing and recording pupils’ progress and attainment need completing in a minority of subjects.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Paragraphs 49, 77, 117, 131, 141, 146 Joseph Cash Primary School - 24

p.23

ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

68. Provision for the large numbers of pupils who speak English as an additional language (EAL) is very good. Pupils from established minority ethnic groups and those who are the children of refugees or asylum seekers are catered for with equal success. Every effort is made to meet the social and personal needs of these pupils and to support their learning. As a result they quickly acquire a working knowledge of English and are included as fully as possible in all lessons. Pupils who start with very little grasp of English make progress that is at least as good as others in their class and often better, especially in mathematics.

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ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

69. In managing its EAL provision, the school is effectively overcoming a number of challenges. The pupils speak a diverse mix of European, Asian and Middle Eastern languages, including Russian, Kurdish, Farsi and Tamil. Whilst there are significant numbers who speak community languages such as Punjabi, many other languages are spoken by only a handful of pupils in different age groups, making it complicated to organise support. Pupils from asylum-seeking families usually arrive with little or no English; some have experienced unsettling times in the immediate past. These families tend to be highly mobile and some pupils move on to a different neighbourhood and school in a matter of weeks.

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ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

70. Recent initiatives, including a ‘language awareness day’ and in-service training for staff, have helped to ensure that the teaching of EAL pupils has a high profile at Joseph Cash. It is an advantage in this respect that some teachers and classroom assistants on the permanent staff are themselves drawn from the minority ethnic communities, and provide very good role models for the pupils.

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ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

71. EAL provision is effectively and thoughtfully managed by an experienced co-ordinator. Although some work is undertaken with groups withdrawn from class, resources are mainly focused on the classroom, with learning support available at all times. With well-organised backing from the local education authority, imaginative use is made of ‘multilingual assistants’ from the community, who are employed on a casual basis as the need arises. These are adults who speak the home language of the pupils and have a secure grasp of English. Having received a short training course, they give invaluable practical help in interpreting for pupils who are at an early stage of learning English, as well as providing reassurance. When it can be arranged, children in nursery and reception have opportunities to hear stories in their mother tongue on a regular basis.

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ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

72. Teachers manage their classes well to make the most of the assistance available. Adults are fully briefed and in almost all lessons there is a clear focus on the key vocabulary needed. In a Year 1 mathematics lesson, for example, terms such as ‘partitioning’ were translated for the EAL pupils. The supporting adults actively encouraged the pupils to rehearse their answers so that they could respond confidently to the teacher’s questioning, joining in with the rest of the class. In another infant class, a pupil gave the answer to a mathematical problem in Russian and the multilingual assistant translated. There is good attention to detail; for example, staff have considered exactly how assistants should position themselves during whole- class sessions so that they can translate or support unobtrusively.

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ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

73. Throughout the school, teachers take great care to include all the pupils in oral work and classroom activities. As a result EAL pupils are fully engaged in each lesson, and are often keen and highly motivated to learn. For example, in a session held in the hall for all pupils in Years 5 and 6, pupils from refugee and asylum-seeking families Joseph Cash Primary School - 25 were notable for their involvement and enthusiastic contributions. In a Year 2 circle time, the session was so structured that each pupil in turn was confident to contribute a personal statement about things that made them feel happy or sad. The climate in the school is such that individual differences are respected and valued, and the pupils do a good deal to support one another.

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ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

74. Overall the provision for EAL pupils at Joseph Cash is a significant strength of the school. Joseph Cash Primary School - 26

p.25

Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 34

p.26

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very Poor

p.26

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Percentage 0 12 42 45 1 0 0 The table gives the number and percentage of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about teaching. Care should be taken when interpreting these percentages as each lesson represents more than one percentage point.

p.26

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils on the school’s roll Nursery YR – Y6

p.26

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 17 276

p.26

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals N/A 104 FTE means full-time equivalent.

p.26

Information about the school’s pupils

Special educational needs Nursery YR – Y6

p.26

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 0 2

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 4 184

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Information about the school’s pupils

English as an additional language No of pupils

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 133

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 74

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 68

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Attendance

National comparative data 5.4 National comparative data 0.5 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Joseph Cash Primary School - 27

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

Year Boys Girls Total Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 1 for the latest reporting year 2002 23 14 37

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

National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics

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

Boys 17 17 21 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 10 10 10

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

Percentage of pupils School 73 (55) 73 (59) 84 (92) at NC level 2 or above National 84 (84) 86 (86) 90 (91)

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

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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

Boys 17 20 20 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 10 11 10

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

Percentage of pupils School 73 (51) 84 (78) 81 (67) at NC level 2 or above National 85 (85) 89 (89) 89 (89)

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

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

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

Year Boys Girls Total Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 2 for the latest reporting year 2002 24 22 46

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

National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science

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

Boys 14 18 21 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 16 14 20

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

Percentage of pupils School 65 (53) 70 (60) 89 (90) at NC level 4 or above National 75 (75) 73 (71) 86 (87)

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

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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

Boys 17 18 21 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 17 16 18

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

Percentage of pupils School 72 (51) 72 (60) 83 (70) at NC level 4 or above National 73 (72) 74 (74) 82 (82) Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year. Joseph Cash Primary School - 28

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Categories used in the Annual School Census No of pupils on roll Number of fixed period exclusions Number of permanent exclusions

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

White – any other White background 12 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Mixed – any other mixed background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British - Pakistani 27 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 7 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British – any other Asian background 18 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black or Black British – Caribbean 1 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black or Black British – any other Black background 1 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 21 Financial year 2001/2002

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 20

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Education support staff: YR – Y6 Total income 954741

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 16 Total expenditure 988235

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 458 Expenditure per pupil 3069

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Qualified teachers and support staff: nursery Balance brought forward from previous year 104589

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 1 Balance carried forward to next year 71095

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 17

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 6

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 32.5

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per FTE adult 7 FTE means full-time equivalent. Joseph Cash Primary School - 29

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 5

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 5

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Recruitment of teachers

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 2.2

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) 0 FTE means full-time equivalent.

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

Percentage of responses in each category

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

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

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

My child is making good progress in school. 44 44 7 2 3

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

Behaviour in the school is good. 43 40 7 4 6

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 32 34 17 9 9

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 42 41 8 7 3

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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. 52 36 3 3 6

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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. 64 32 1 1 2

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school works closely with parents. 37 43 9 4 7

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school is well led and managed. 53 30 5 3 9

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 47 42 5 2 4

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 45 30 7 3 14 Joseph Cash Primary School - 30

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

75. The Foundation Stage currently provides 40 full-time places in reception and 34 part- time nursery education places. The nursery staff are building links with ‘Sure Start’ 6 , and have well-established links with ‘Communities That Care’ 7 . A nursery nurse enthusiastically supports a weekly drop-in centre for parents, and offers individual support to parents of children with special educational needs. The gradual induction of children to the nursery sessions, combined with home visits and opportunities for parents to stay and play with their children, is very effective in supporting children’s emotional development. This is a strength of the nursery. The transition to reception is also managed well.

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

76. When the children start school in the nursery their skills are very poor in most areas of learning. Many of them find it difficult to speak in sentences and some do not speak at all. Personal, social and emotional skills are especially weak for many children and they have no understanding of early number activities. Physical skills are well below average, as are creative skills and most children have little awareness of knowledge and understanding of the world. Satisfactory progress is made in the nursery and good progress in reception, but this is not enough for many children to achieve their targets at the end of the reception year.

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

77. In the nursery, teaching is satisfactory overall, providing a firm basis for improvement. The assessment of children with special needs is regular and thorough. There are procedures in place for assessing all children, but these are not used effectively to identify the next steps in children’s learning. The learning outcomes for activities need to be more clearly identified, ensuring the purposeful delivery of activities. When this does not happen the teaching and learning tend to fall short of expectations. Teaching is good in the reception year. Daily planning identifies key questions, discussion points and key vocabulary to be used. The planned activities are well matched to the learning purposes, and assessments are regularly recorded for mathematics and communication, language and literacy. However, there is further scope for improvement in planning what children will do each term to ensure all

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

children progress in all areas of learning.

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

78. Children with English as an additional language are well supported by staff, who use the children’s mother tongue and English as they converse with them during play and adult-led activities. Provision for children with special educational needs is good, enabling access to the full range of activities. The nursery curriculum is totally inclusive for children who attend throughout the year. The morning sessions, of 2 hours and 50 minutes, are longer than the afternoon sessions, of 2 hours and 10 minutes. Over the year children access an equal number of morning and afternoon sessions. However, children who attend for less than a year may not have access to their minimum entitlement of five sessions of two and a half hours per week. This offers unequal access to families who move more frequently. The shared use of resources in both rooms ensures efficient use of a wide range of high quality resources, including three computers and the outdoor area.

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

6 An initiative to improve links with parents of young children. 7 A similar initiative to the previous one. Joseph Cash Primary School - 31

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Personal, social and emotional development

79. All children make good progress in their social and emotional development. Staff are warm and welcoming. The good teaching in this area of learning promotes good social interaction as children engage in large block play, use climbing frames and wheeled toys, play in water and sand, and join in role-play. The well-managed procedures for moving from home to school enable children to establish secure relationships with each other and staff. Children display increasing confidence as they move through the Foundation Stage. The consistent approach taken by adults to manage behaviour ensures that children behave well. However, the co-ordinator has identified the daily routine in the nursery as an aspect of planning to be developed in order to promote further personal development. This is necessary in order to ensure children have sufficient time to work independently and pursue their own ideas in both

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Personal, social and emotional development

morning and afternoon sessions. Children in reception show increasing independence as they access structured equipment, although their initiative needs to be promoted further in creative and investigative activities.

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Communication, language and literacy

80. The teaching of reading, speaking and listening in the reception year is good, and children make good progress. The involvement of parents in children’s learning is promoted well through regular homework. Good links have been established with ‘Footsteps’, a Children’s and Families Service initiative, which promotes parental involvement in reading. Reading diaries enable staff and parents to comment on children’s efforts when reading books, which are well matched to their level of ability. When teachers share large books with groups they effectively encourage children to predict what might happen next, talk about the motives of characters and recognise the names of characters. The systematic teaching of the letter/sound relationship enables more able children to identify some sounds in words as they read. However, children do not make such good progress in writing. Progress in writing is satisfactory.

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Communication, language and literacy

There was little evidence of children using their understanding of letter sounds in writing. Children enjoy receiving messages from their teachers, but they lack access to an attractive writing area, with displayed letters and frequently used words. This constrains their opportunities to write simple replies, letters, cards, names and captions. During the week of the inspection there was insufficient teaching of word and sentence building in play and adult-led activities.

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Communication, language and literacy

81. The nursery children enjoy listening to stories, joining in rhymes and songs, and recognising their own names. Teaching and progress are satisfactory in the nursery in communication, language and literacy. Children’s talk is not well promoted, however, due to insufficient opportunities for children to talk about meaningful events in their own lives or exciting experiences in school. During the inspection there were few observed examples of children listening to or making sounds in words.

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Mathematical development

82. The satisfactory teaching observed in the nursery offers children opportunities to count together for the register, to sing number rhymes and to use resources for sorting, ordering and handling shapes in child-initiated play. The planning does not ensure teaching and learning for mathematical development are a regular feature of each week.

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Mathematical development

83. In the reception year good teaching offers daily opportunities to count and recognise numbers and to develop mathematical vocabulary. In these aspects of mathematics Joseph Cash Primary School - 32 progress is good. For example, the children printed wallpaper, talked about the shapes used in their patterns and identified which were short and long lengths. Children count confidently to 20, and a minority count beyond. Most can read numerals to 10, but few children are able to add or subtract or create repeating patterns. Although the majority of children are attaining below expectations for their age at this point in the reception year, they make good progress.

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

84. Teaching in this area is satisfactory overall and this provides a sound basis for improvement. The good outdoor learning environment enables children to observe plants and insects. During the inspection the children enjoyed exploring what happens to water when it is poured into pipes at different gradients. As they used a range of jugs, funnels and gutters, children collaborated and talked about their work. The outdoor covered space was effectively used to enable children to work on a larger scale and to spill water safely. However, staff did not encourage children to raise questions about why things happen and how things work. Children were also given the opportunity to observe still and moving water when stirring, whisking or making lines in the water tray. This activity also offered insufficient opportunities for exploration. Consequently, the level of children’s engagement and talk was low.

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

Children are becoming familiar with ICT as they use a large ‘ball’ mouse to move and match pictures on the computer. They also use Paintbox to draw and make their own marks. On visits beyond the classroom they enjoy observing features of the countryside and coast, and they develop an awareness of contrasting environments. Photographs of the visit to the countryside were well used to encourage children to make individual statements about their visit. There are aspects of knowledge and understanding of the world of which staff should have a greater knowledge in order to plan, provide, assess and evaluate more challenging activities for children

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Physical development

85. Teaching in this area is satisfactory overall, and the children make sound progress. In the outdoor area children enjoy balancing, climbing, jumping, running, sliding and using wheeled toys. They also use the hall for 30 minutes each week for developing ball skills and they use low level apparatus to develop whole body control. However, in learning how to manipulate things with their hands, children make good progress because they have been taught to use small pieces of equipment and tools. For example, they cut dough into tiny pieces and are able to thread beads and mix powder paint using small spoons and brushes. Children are encouraged to dress independently and to hold pencils with the correct grip. Staff provide good opportunities to learn about personal hygiene, and the right foods needed to keep healthy.

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Creative development

86. Overall, teaching and the children’s progress in this area are satisfactory, providing scope for further improvement. Children are taught to use materials such as dough, paint, pencils and scissors. However, they do not always have sufficient opportunities to select from a wider range of materials. For example children were given a collection of blue fabric pieces to stick onto blue paper. The children had little awareness of what they were making or why, and the materials were selected for them. When using powder paint, children were given blue and white paint to mix to different shades and paint on to a circle. From the children’s perspective there was no purpose to the painting opportunity, and a narrow range of materials was made Joseph Cash Primary School - 33 available to them. There are good resources in role-play and construction areas, and small world play and art materials. There are insufficient activities, however, to fire the

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Creative development

children’s imaginations to be creative in their role-play, dance, art and model making.

p.33

ENGLISH

87. Overall standards in Year 2 and in Year 6 are currently below the national average. This broadly reflects the results achieved in the national tests in 2002, although there has been a slight improvement in writing standards amongst the seven year olds due to the concerted efforts made by the school to address this weakness. Since the last inspection, standards have risen, particularly for the eleven year olds.

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ENGLISH

88. In Year 2, many pupils have difficulty in listening for sustained periods of time and they do not find it easy to express ideas and feelings. Standards of speaking and listening are therefore below those normally found in schools. By eleven, listening skills have improved and most pupils attend to what is being said, although the concentration span of a few is still limited. Speaking skills have also improved though they are still below average chiefly because many lack confidence when speaking and most have a limited vocabulary when putting forward a point of view. However, progress across the school is good because pupils enter Year 1 with well below average skills in speaking and listening. The school places very great importance on developing these skills and work is planned, not just in English lessons but also in others, to exploit every opportunity. Arising out of geographical work studying erosion,

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ENGLISH

a ‘press conference’ was held for all pupils in Years 5 and 6 at which information was presented about a cliff rescue. This gave an opportunity for pupils to ask questions and practise the skills of framing queries such as, “In this situation, did you think you could make it?” and speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear. In such a large gathering, only a few could ask questions but, in class lessons, teachers try to involve as many as possible in speaking activities. In more than one lesson, ‘hot seating’ was observed where a pupil took on the role of a character and was questioned by others. In Year 2, this was particularly effective with a group of pupils whose first language was not English. This enabled them to understand the story of The Snowlambs and promoted good learning. Pupils who need help in learning English are well supported throughout the school and make good progress so that they can participate in

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ENGLISH

89. Standards of reading are below average at seven but average at eleven. Because pupils enter Year 1 with well below average skills, progress is good through the infants and accelerates further through the juniors. Time is allocated outside the literacy hour for pupils to read in a group to teachers and other adults so that difficulties can be diagnosed and help given to overcome them. The ‘reading attack’ programme also benefits a number of pupils who need one-to-one contact with an adult. The books that are taken home are colour-coded to indicate the degree of difficulty, but a discussion at the parents’ meeting suggested that pupils sometimes cannot cope with their home-reading book. No systematic check is made on the suitability of these books by adults in school and, because there is no reading diary in which parents can record observations after hearing their child read, there are limited opportunities for resolving the dilemma. The school’s decision, however, to widen

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ENGLISH

pupils’ reading experiences and vocabulary beyond the basic reading scheme is well thought out. Books from the library also go home and pupils have an opportunity each week to change their books. The library is a colourful and attractive place. It is well stocked with fiction and non-fiction books and is fully catalogued. Pupils in Year 6 know how to use the classification system to find an information book and can explain Joseph Cash Primary School - 34 the purpose of the contents and index pages in these books. A few know what a glossary is.

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ENGLISH

90. Within each class, there is a very wide range of ability. In Year 2, for example, a boy has been identified as gifted in reading and he is given challenging texts that allow him to make good progress. Other higher attaining pupils read accurately and fluently though they lack expression. Lower attaining pupils, however, struggle to read and many rely on adult help to understand simple texts. One pupil, for example, was confused by words that begin with ‘wh’ and did not have the sight vocabulary to instantly distinguish them. Proper attention is given to phonic work in the infants and most Year 2 pupils are confident in their knowledge of individual letter sounds. Most know the strategies for coping with unknown words and many employ this knowledge to help them. One pupil, for example, deciphered the word ‘hunt’ by sounding out each letter and blending them together. Most pupils throughout the school enjoy

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ENGLISH

reading and they readily quote favourite authors and books. In Year 6, these include R.L.Stein, Jacqueline Wilson, J.K.Rowling and Dick King-Smith. An above average boy said he was currently reading The Hobbit at home because he had been inspired by the films. He read his school book expressively and even adopted an appropriate accent for a piece of dialogue. Pupils of average reading ability also read expressively, taking notice of a question mark and raising the voice appropriately. As in other year groups, there is a wide range of ability and the lower attaining pupils find it difficult to read fluently, though they are usually accurate, because they have to look closely at words to read them. When a word like ‘carry’ has to be worked out phonetically, this interrupts the flow. Throughout the school, understanding vocabulary is a problem. For example, although a Year 2 pupil could read ‘cobbled’

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ENGLISH

and ‘bugle’ he did not know what they meant. A Year 6 pupil did not immediately understand ‘lurked’ but, after reading the rest of the sentence, she surmised the meaning correctly.

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ENGLISH

91. Reading tests are regularly administered so that the progress of individual pupils can be monitored. Assessment systems in English are good overall and the results of national tests and of standardised tests at the end of Years 3, 4 and 5 are analysed to check on the achievements of boys and girls and of pupils from different ethnic backgrounds. Weaknesses are also identified and, in particular, the difficulties that pupils have with writing. Standards are below average throughout the school and strategies are in place to rectify this. The school is wisely allowing an hour a week in the juniors for writing practice and group targets enable pupils to understand what they need to do to improve. Those in Year 6 complete their own evaluations of their successes against a series of statements.

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ENGLISH

92. As with reading, there is a very wide range of ability within each class. Most pupils find it difficult to write in a lively and exciting way because of their limited vocabulary. This is preventing some of the more able pupils from achieving the higher level test results 8 at seven and eleven. In addition, most Year 6 pupils find it difficult to compose complex sentences incorporating clauses, though some manage to write extended sentences using words other than ‘and’, ‘but’ or ‘then’. A few employ adverbs and adjectives to enhance their work. The standard of handwriting is improving across the school. It is practised regularly in classes and all Year 6 pupils write with a pen. The majority produce legible, neat work with letters that are joined correctly. Some Year 2 pupils are beginning to join letters correctly though the least able are still forming individual letters wrongly and not spacing words out. The above

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ENGLISH

average pupils in Year 2 form sentences accurately and other forms of punctuation,

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ENGLISH

8 Level 3 in the national tests for seven year olds and Level 5 for eleven year olds Joseph Cash Primary School - 35 such as speech marks, are attempted with some success. The conventions of writing a story are understood and in re-telling The Billy Goats Gruff they begin “There once lived” and end with “They lived happily ever after”. Pupils of average ability often find spelling difficult and basic words such as ‘went’ (‘whent’) and ‘they (‘thay’) are troublesome. The below average pupils struggle to write in sentences and some of their writing is difficult to interpret. However, progress for the majority of pupils in the infants is good because they enter Year 1 with well below average skills.

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ENGLISH

93. Progress is good overall in the juniors but is more noticeable in some year groups than others. It accelerates in Years 3 and 6 mainly because pupils complete a greater volume of work. Nevertheless, the below average eleven year olds are still struggling with spelling and a few produce several lines of writing without a full stop. Average pupils use punctuation more accurately including correct use of the apostrophe, as in ‘I’m’ and ‘don’t’, but spelling remains problematical. Pupils have spellings to learn each week but, in Year 6, other English homework is irregular and the opportunity to use it to support work in school is not taken. Work in other subjects effectively supports the development of literacy skills. In Year 6, for example, pupils produced a portfolio about John Lennon as part of their work in history about Britain in the 1960s. Stories, too, are often planned, written and re-drafted with the final version being

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ENGLISH

attractively presented using a word-processor. ICT is being used appropriately to support English. In Year 2, pupils practised writing sentences using a word-processor and were able to load the program, decide on a suitable size of print and use the ‘caps lock’ key.

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ENGLISH

94. Pupils with special educational needs are well supported and they make good progress overall. Teachers are careful to plan different work for the various ability groups within the class during literacy lessons. They themselves often work with the pupils who have special educational needs during activity sessions or their assistants are briefed to do so. In both cases, support is properly targeted and is effective. Some pupils are withdrawn in groups for additional literacy support and this is beneficial too. A few are withdrawn for one-to-one work. A Year 6 pupil, for example, was helped to understand a fable, to practise word-building skills and to identify rhyming words in a concentrated 15-minute session. Self-esteem was raised because success was achieved.

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ENGLISH

95. Teaching in the school is good overall. The National Literacy Strategy is being used well to plan work and promote progress. However, some teachers are not flexible enough in adapting their teaching methods to meet the particular needs of their pupils. In the better lessons, teachers employ a variety of methods to break up the lesson. They appreciate that the concentration span of many pupils is limited and they therefore talk for a short time, looking at the text for the day, and then instigate an activity before beginning work on grammar or phonics. In a very good lesson in Year 3, for example, the teacher spent a short time reading the beginning of a story about an alien invasion and then instigated a writing activity where pupils were shown how to plan a story using headings on a worksheet. This teacher had pitched the work at the right level for the pupils. This does not happen in all classes and some teachers

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ENGLISH

are adhering too rigidly to what the literacy strategy says is appropriate for their particular age group. In some cases, pupils need to be experiencing work that is designated for younger groups. In a Year 2 lesson, for example, the phonic work was too difficult for the pupils. They could not spell words with a variety of middle phonemes 9 (bird, keep, chain) but needed to consolidate their understanding of each phoneme, such as ‘ai’, by practising families of words containing it. Similarly for older

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ENGLISH

9 A unit of sound in a word represented by one, two, three or four letters, e.g. cat, shoe, through Joseph Cash Primary School - 36 pupils, a study of ‘idiom’ was not appropriate, particularly for those whose first language is not English.

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ENGLISH

96. The strengths of teaching outweigh the weaknesses. Teachers generally have good questioning skills when checking pupils’ understanding or prompting them to think. They teach basic skills well. In a Year 1 lesson, for example, the teacher encouraged pupils to answer in sentences rather than one-word answers. Despite some challenging behaviour from a few pupils, teachers manage their classes adequately and sustain the positive attitudes that most pupils have towards the subject. Some teachers keep lessons moving at a brisk pace. In a very good Year 1 lesson the opening was particularly lively as pupils sat in a circle to spot the wrong phonemes in words as they were displayed. Teachers try to include all pupils in the activities and meet their individual needs. In their marking, they are generally supportive and many write comments that help pupils to understand what they ought to do to improve.

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ENGLISH

97. The subject is well led by two experienced teachers. Planning is scrutinised regularly and lessons are observed, although the system for doing this is relatively new. General observations have been carried out so far rather than the co-ordinators having a particular focus. Resources are good and many books have been purchased recently. They are good quality.

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MATHEMATICS

98. Standards in Year 2 are below average. In the previous inspection, standards were close to the national average, but the current Year 2 has a very high proportion of pupils on the special educational needs register and pupils for whom English is an additional language. In the 2002 national tests for seven year olds, standards were below the national average, but they were above average compared with similar schools.

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MATHEMATICS

99. Standards in Year 6 are broadly average, which is an improvement since the previous inspection. In the 2002 national tests for eleven year olds, standards were in line with the national average and they were well above average compared with similar schools.

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MATHEMATICS

100. In both year groups, boys outperformed girls, although there is currently no significant difference in attainment by gender. The overall picture is one of improvement throughout the school, with standards rising above the national trend over the past four years. This is a result of good teaching and of the school’s very effective use of the National Numeracy Strategy. Bearing in mind the fact that the pupils enter the school with well below average standards in mathematical development, they are achieving well by Year 2 and very well by Year 6. Pupils with special educational needs, and those with English as an additional language, are making good progress. Higher attaining pupils are making particularly good progress in Year 6.

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MATHEMATICS

101. Pupils in Year 2 have a satisfactory understanding of place value in two-digit numbers and they investigate number patterns to 100, including odd and even numbers. Higher attaining pupils have a sound grasp of the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Most of the pupils can use coins to total various amounts and high attaining pupils can calculate change from 20p and 50p. The pupils understand the idea of ‘half‘, but not that of ‘quarter‘. Many pupils find it difficult to use their mathematical knowledge in solving word problems. They sometimes use addition, when the process should involve subtraction, or vice-versa. Most of the pupils can tell basic time on an analogue clock and higher attaining pupils work out the length of simple journey times. The pupils Joseph Cash Primary School - 37 measure the length of classroom objects in metres and centimetres. They recognise and name common two-dimensional shapes, but they are less confident with three-

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MATHEMATICS

dimensional ones. The pupils record data by means of satisfactory pictograms and bar charts. They make good use of their mathematical skills in other subjects. In science, for example, the pupils record the width of hand spans and the distance travelled by toy cars down a ramp by means of accurate bar charts and they make effective use of diagrams to classify animals and their habitats.

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MATHEMATICS

102. Higher attaining pupils in Year 6 can use quick mental recall of number facts, but others lack this ability. Similarly, many pupils in Year 6 lack confidence with multiplication tables. Most of the pupils use the standard written method of short multiplication and they divide two-digit numbers by a single-digit number, including remainders. They reduce a faction to its simplest form and high attaining pupils have a sound understanding of improper fractions and mixed numbers and they calculate simple percentages of given numbers. Whilst high attaining pupils can explain how they solve word problems, others find it much harder to apply their mathematical skills in this way, particularly if the problem involves more than one step. The pupils investigate the properties of more complex two-dimensional shapes and those of three-dimensional ones and they investigate symmetrical patterns. They calculate the

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MATHEMATICS

areas and perimeters of shapes. They have a satisfactory knowledge of the language of angles, triangles and probability. The pupils record data graphically. They make sound use of these skills in science, where, for example, they record their pulse rates before and after exercise by means of accurate bar charts and line graphs.

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MATHEMATICS

103. Teaching is generally good. The teachers plan their lessons well and they ensure that the pupils are aware of what it is they are expected to have learnt by the end of the lesson. There is a strong emphasis on developing the pupils’ mental calculations and their ability to solve real-life problems, two aspects of mathematics which assessment has shown to be areas of relative weakness. In a lesson for low attaining pupils in Years 3/4, the teacher allowed the pupils to select at random some word problem cards and this really excited the pupils and motivated them to learn. “Which are the most important words in the problem?” she asked, and this helped the pupils to focus on key information. In another lesson for pupils in Years 3/4, a brisk opening session of mental mathematics helped the pupils in counting on and back from any given two- digit number. It also consolidated their understanding of how to add and subtract 9,

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MATHEMATICS

19 and 29 to and from different numbers by adding or subtracting to the nearest 10 and then adjusting. If anything, the pace of this part of the lesson was almost too brisk, with the result that the teacher missed some wrong answers, so that these pupils did not really learn from their mistakes. This was spotted later. In a lesson for pupils in Years 5/6, the teacher began by asking the pupils to note the key words in a problem about length. This helped to focus their attention on what information was being provided and what exactly they were being asked to find out. It also helped the pupils to see that there was more than one step to be taken in solving the problem. Here, too, however, the teacher failed to spot that a few pupils were making mistakes later in the lesson, for example in rounding 1.2 to the nearest whole number, but writing the answer as 12. This was dealt with. In a lesson for low attaining pupils in

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MATHEMATICS

Years 5/6, the teacher made effective use of a ‘table bingo‘ game. The pupils enjoyed this and it helped them to make some progress in developing their quick mental recall of multiplication tables.

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MATHEMATICS

104. The teachers organise their lessons well and they ensure that tasks are matched appropriately to the pupils’ differing needs. Practical apparatus is available to aid the learning of low attaining pupils, as, for example, in a Years 3/4 lesson, where the pupils were learning which operations to use in solving problems. The teachers Joseph Cash Primary School - 38 ensure that all the pupils are fully involved in learning. In another Years 3/4 lesson, the teacher placed a strong emphasis on correct pronunciation, such as fifteen and fifty and this really helped the high numbers of pupils with English as an additional language in this class. The teachers make effective use of classroom assistants. This was the case in a Year 2 lesson, where the teacher and two assistants helped the pupils in solving problems concerning money. The teachers often focus their attention on one group, encouraging other pupils to work independently. They help to develop

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MATHEMATICS

the pupils’ confidence in using mathematics. This was apparent in a lesson for Year 6 pupils. The teacher clearly explained how addition and multiplication are the inverse of subtraction and division. She explained how questions are set out in the national test papers and this made the pupils more confident in dealing with them. The teachers emphasise correct mathematical vocabulary and they display the lesson’s key words clearly.

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MATHEMATICS

105. The teachers set regular homework, in order to consolidate and extend classroom learning. They mark the pupils’ work regularly and positively and they often write comments which help the pupils to improve: “Some questions needed more than one answer; look more carefully next time” (Year 2); “Your numbers are not in place value order, so the mistakes come” (Year 6).

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MATHEMATICS

106. The teachers make insufficient use of ICT to enhance learning. In only one lesson observed was ICT used. This was in a Year 2 class, where selected pupils used a computer program to help them in using coins to pay for items in a shop. Most of the pupils take a pride in the presentation of their written work. However, there are many, including those who are higher attainers in mathematics, who present challenging behaviour. The teachers work very hard to improve the listening skills and concentration of these pupils. Nevertheless, inappropriate behaviour does disrupt the learning of others in some lessons.

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MATHEMATICS

107. The co-ordinators manage the subject well. A clear policy meets the requirements of the National Curriculum and there is some very useful guidance on teaching numeracy. Planning is soundly based on the National Numeracy Strategy. The teachers plan carefully for the work which the pupils will do each term and each week. Teachers in each year group plan closely together, so that the pupils in the parallel classes cover the same work. There are good procedures for assessing and tracking the pupils’ progress. The teachers make effective use of this information and of a very careful analysis of national test results, in order to plan the next steps in learning and to set the pupils targets for further improvement. In Years 3/4 and 5/6, work is matched more closely to the pupils’ differing needs by grouping them into three ability sets. One of the co-ordinators checks the quality of mathematics teaching through

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MATHEMATICS

lesson observations and by analysing samples of pupils’ work. There is a clear action plan, which seeks to maintain the recent improvement in standards. There is a good range of resources to support teaching and learning. All of this has helped to push up standards successfully.

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SCIENCE

108. Standards in Years 1 and 2 are below average. In Years 3 to 6 standards remain below average compared to schools nationally, but above the average for schools that have a similar intake of pupils. These standards match the school’s results in assessments carried out in 2002. From low standards of attainment on entry to Year 1, pupils make satisfactory progress in all aspects of science throughout the school. Standards are higher than they were at the last inspection. Joseph Cash Primary School - 39 109. In Years 1 and 2 pupils look at how plants and animals are classified. They learn to identify different groups by looking at external features, such as the number of legs creatures have. Work is linked well to mathematics, as pupils draw graphs and place groups of animals into sets. Pupils carry out investigations into the relationship between their classmates’ height and size of feet. The work on ‘Ourselves’ helps to

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SCIENCE

develop pupils’ measuring skills and encourages them to consider their findings and results carefully. In another topic pupils investigated how well toy cars moved over different surfaces and the effect of friction; their results were recorded in a graph. The topic was well conceived to provide a good balance between developing pupils’ knowledge and their practical skills. Pupils’ language and mathematical skills have an impact on their progress in science, which is satisfactory overall, including pupils who have special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language.

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SCIENCE

110. In Years 3 and 4 a practical approach is taken to the study of magnetism. Pupils consider polarity and carry out tests that compare the relative strength of magnets. Other work looks at how far springs stretch as different weights are hung on them. In Years 5 and 6 the complexity of pupils’ work increases. They are involved in planning their own investigations more and they use a wider range of equipment. It was clear from looking at pupils’ work that there was a greater emphasis on experimental and practical work in Year 6 than in Year 5. The school’s monitoring procedures had identified this pattern and the need to improve the experimental and investigational aspects of work in Year 5. In Year 6 a successful approach to revision of topics is used that involves pupils in practical work, whilst preparing them for national tests taken at the end of the year.

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SCIENCE

111. Teaching in science is satisfactory overall, though there is some good teaching in most year groups, especially where teachers have specialist knowledge, as in Year 6. In Year 2 some good teaching was observed as pupils investigated the conditions necessary for seeds to germinate. The teacher divided the class into small groups. One group looked at the importance of water, another light, and a third group, soil. In this lesson very good use was made of classroom support assistants, who helped the different groups very skilfully. This successful involvement of support staff is a feature of the school. They are particularly effective in supporting pupils who have special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language. In another lesson in Year 6 pupils using instruments to measure force were encouraged to be accurate and look at the shape of the line graph that was produced when they plotted

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SCIENCE

their results. In this lesson the behaviour of several pupils was challenging. Teachers and support staff managed this potentially disruptive behaviour very sensitively, so that pupils’ learning did not deteriorate.

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SCIENCE

112. Science is well managed throughout the school. Systems for the assessment of pupils’ progress and attainment are effective. Tests are delivered at the end of topics that provide teachers with information on how to improve features of their lessons and which parts of topics are understood well by pupils, and those that are not. Regular marking of pupils’ work is carried out and some of this helps pupils to understand how they can improve. The co-ordinator for science looks at pupils’ work throughout the school and visits other classes to monitor teaching on a regular basis. Resources for science are good, though the use of computers and ICT generally, is an area for development. Joseph Cash Primary School - 40

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ART AND DESIGN

113. Pupils’ art and design work is displayed very well throughout the entire school. The standard of displays is excellent, as it was at the last inspection. Pupils’ work is valued, and this successfully promotes their self-esteem at every age.

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ART AND DESIGN

114. Attainment at the end of Year 6 is average overall, and there is much strength in the subject. The seven year olds, at the end of Year 2, attain standards that are less than expected for their age. That said, they have many creative experiences that enable them to try out the techniques they have been taught, such as how to produce darker tones when using a pencil or mixing paint. Progress is good, both in lessons and over longer periods of time. Teaching is at least good, and in the only lesson seen the teaching was very good.

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ART AND DESIGN

115. Early on in their time in school the pupils have plenty of opportunities to experiment, using paint, pencils, pastels, fabric, clay and paper of different sizes, shapes and textures. Colours and tones are developed well as the pupils learn how to mix colours to achieve the tone they want for their painting. Work on display at the lower end of the school, in Years 1 and 2, clearly demonstrates the pupils’ positive attitudes to art and design. In one example the pupils had experimented with printing on different fabrics, achieving a range of effects created by the textures and colours that they used. This work was very successfully extended by a group of Year 2 pupils, using the tie/dye technique. Other work was not at the same high standard as that outlined above; nevertheless, pupils are creating individual work which is interesting and exciting in its own right.

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ART AND DESIGN

116. Teachers effectively extend pupils’ skills and techniques as they move through the school. In a Year 4 lesson on drawing a chair, the teacher’s strong focus on observation and attention to detail improved pupils’ drawing techniques very well. By demonstrating how to develop shade and tone using different implements, alongside excellent examples from her own sketchbook, the teacher gave clear pointers towards the standard she expected the pupils to achieve. They rose to the challenge, achieving well and making very good progress. Pupils with special educational needs had extra help from the teacher, which enhanced their ability to draw accurately using greater detail. Pupils with English as an additional language had good support from specialist staff. Clear explanations and demonstrations enabled them to achieve a range of different tones in their drawing of a chair.

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ART AND DESIGN

117. The subject is managed well, with additional support from the headteacher who has a great love of the subject. High quality resources support the development of the subject effectively. The next stage is to develop greater use of ICT in all year groups and to develop a whole-school system for assessing and recording pupils’ attainment and progress in the subject.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

118. Pupils make good progress in design and technology across the whole school. When they start at Joseph Cash many of them have very limited experience of using tools and equipment correctly. These skills are taught well by the teachers and classroom assistants, but even so, by the end of Year 2, pupils’ attainment falls short of expectations for their age. In Years 3 to 6 teaching is good, as is pupils’ progress, so that by the end of Year 6 standards are broadly average. A number of pupils who joined the school during the junior years have not had enough time in school to get to grips with all aspects of the subject, and this lowers their overall attainment. One Joseph Cash Primary School - 41 example of this is a sizeable majority of older pupils who find it difficult to use scissors effectively because they have not had enough opportunities to practise.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

119. Planning is effective in moving the subject forward. Teachers use a ‘map’ of the design and technology curriculum to plan pupils’ work effectively. The skills pupils need to design, plan, make and evaluate an object are taught year on year so that they have plenty of opportunities use and apply their earlier learning. What adults are especially good at is encouraging the pupils to talk about their work and to ask questions – “Who is going to wear the slipper? Why do they wear slippers? What are they going to do when they are wearing their slippers?” Language skills are being constantly reinforced and extended in design and technology, and this helps the pupils to do well when using spoken English.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

120. During their time in school the pupils work at a wide range of topics. Tasks are always pitched at the right levels because teachers ask questions to check out learning, and they observe how pupils tackle their task. In one example the Year 6 pupils were making a prototype slipper using materials of their choice. They were able to explain why they had chosen a specific material for a particular slipper, for example, “The sole has to be rough or the baby will slip.” In this lesson the pupils with English as an additional language had extra support and this helped them to understand the design process. In another lesson the pupils with special educational needs also had extra help to understand that manufacturers waste as little as possible as waste costs them money. All the pupils have a go at evaluating the success or otherwise of their finished product. Again, teachers are good at asking the right questions so that the

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

pupils are developing their analytical skills as they are successfully guided towards producing a quality product. Standards are improving all the time, and are higher than they were at the last inspection.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

121. The subject is led and managed very well. The co-ordinator is fairly new to her post but she has a very clear idea about the way forward. She is well ahead in her thinking about the subject, which has a high profile in the school and is a successful vehicle for extending pupils’ vocabulary and their language skills.

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

122. A very limited number of lessons were observed. Evidence was collected from teachers’ plans, examining books and displays of pupils’ work around the school, and discussions with teachers and pupils. On this basis, by the end of Year 2 and Year 6 achievement in history and geography is broadly average. Across the school in each year group, there is a wide range of ability. Pupils whose home language is not English and pupils with special educational needs are well supported to access text being used. All pupils, particularly those in Year 1 and those who struggle with writing, are supported well.

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

123. The school has reviewed the curriculum, developed new policies to inform teachers’ planning, and adapted the recent national guidance, using reference to recommended Coventry schemes. Both subjects provide very effective learning opportunities for all pupils. Teachers are well aware of the nature of their pupils and they plan and use many strategies to aid pupils’ learning successfully. A wide variety of good resources is in use, including video, visits, visitors and very good cross-curricular links with other subjects. All of this helps the pupils to become effective young historians and geographers. The curriculum map for both subjects makes very good links to all areas covered within the topics to the six main strands of the personal, social, health education programme. Joseph Cash Primary School - 42 124. Pupils learn a great deal about ‘community environment’, whether it is in the local area or in areas around the world today. Understanding of and caring for their local

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

environment is important to the school and displays and assemblies contribute well to this aim. Health and personal safety is enhanced, for instance, through understanding more about the changes in transport, investigating rivers, life at the seaside, visiting sites, or studying past and present people’s lives in other areas of the world. This was covered well in Year 2. Pupils were studying why Mary Seacole was a very special person. They considered her feelings, whether she was scared, why the general said, “You can't go in the war”, and how she helped the soldiers recover. Pupils were beginning to understand the differences between nursing today and nursing 100 years ago.

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

125. All pupils are included and can participate safely in the fieldwork and residential opportunities, which develop learning well. The school places great emphasis on responsibilities and relationships and evidence shows how well these are integrated. Younger pupils care for Barnaby Bear, and learn from him as he has adventures around the world and with different people every week. Visits to Monks Kirby, the contrasting locality, the outdoor adventure at Dovedale, and Cheylesmore, and the study of the Victorians, all help pupils to gain first-hand understanding of what it is like to take on responsibility and work together. Making choices begins at an early age. Pupils decide which toy to choose in Year 1, where to locate a road in Year 3, or a church or village in Year 4. This work is successfully extended in Years 5 and 6 when pupils decide whether the High Street should be closed or an airport be situated in the

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

area. Good links with history are encouraged when the pupils attempt to understand the harrowing choices that people had to make in World War II.

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

126. The links between history and geography are good. Atlases, maps, aerial photographs and globes are used well to locate the countries and places of the topic to be studied, for example, locating the River Nile in Egypt. Good use is made of local maps following the Coventry canal from the Coventry basin to Hawkesbury Junction. Pupils are able to share first-hand information about life in other areas of the world. One boy told the inspector he knew lots of facts about village life in India: for example, how much a toothbrush cost and how charcoal is used by poorer families to clean teeth.

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

127. Music workshops contribute well to the pupils’ learning. In some good examples, Orpheus and Eurydice, while studying legends in the topic on Ancient Greece, and the song We'll meet again successfully help the pupils to empathise with peoples’ feelings during the war. ‘The swinging 60s’ topic enables pupils to understand why this music is still popular today as they study the composer John Lennon. Using percussion instruments and finding out what they are made from and where they come from gives pupils a secure insight into the lifestyles of people from different cultures. A musical composition based on The River reinforces learning successfully, as it meanders and flows, flowing quickly then slowly and peacefully.

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

128. There are good links with English. Teachers are aware of the difficulties of understanding the technical vocabulary involved for many of the pupils and in as many ways as they can they help by identifying and using the appropriate language. In the geographical topic ‘Investigating Coastal Erosion’, pupils were helped to write a newspaper article after watching teachers take part in a press conference reporting an incident that had happened in Cornwall. Previous work on the effects of weather and humans on rocks, the effect waves can have on land and the crumbly nature of the cliffs using a description of the Beachy Head collapse, was discussed and Joseph Cash Primary School - 43 explored as part of the erosion topic. This aided pupils’ understanding well. Relevant terms like ‘waves’, ‘beaches’, ‘erosion’, ‘outcrop’, ‘deposition’, ‘stack’ and ‘headland’, as well as using photographs to illustrate these terms, helped the pupils in Years 5

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

129. Using dictionaries and knowing what invade and settle mean are essential to understanding about how British society was shaped. The history curriculum is rich, broad and balanced, contributing effectively to pupils’ interest and understanding.

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

130. A very good feature is the school’s own Mini-Museum in the corridor, which changes its display every half term with further displays of relevant books and artefacts in the library. Pupils enjoy looking at these and are aware that these give clues and can be used to analyse the way of life of people in the past.

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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

131. The co-ordinators have worked hard and are very supportive of colleagues. They provide secure leadership and are keen. Both are aware that ICT is not used enough to support learning and that assessment and recording are in the early stages of development. There has been good improvement since the previous inspection. Resources for the subject are good and are complemented with a wide selection of topic packs and books on loan from the local library service.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

132. Standards in ICT are below average throughout the school. Whilst pupils are familiar with computers and related equipment, their skills and knowledge generally are not as developed as those of pupils of the same age in most other schools. The school has worked hard and spent considerable sums of money in an attempt to raise standards. There is clear evidence that standards are rising and that opportunities for pupils have improved dramatically in the last year. Good progress has been made since the last inspection. The recent addition of a bank of computers for use by whole classes has provided much needed resources to develop pupils’ specific ICT skills. The introduction of two or three new computers into each classroom has provided teachers with opportunities to develop links with other subjects and areas of the curriculum.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

133. In Years 1 and 2 pupils use computers to write sentences and paragraphs and to draw simple graphs. In one Year 2 class pupils looked at pictures on the class computer and then moved to the bank of computers in the corridor to write sentences about them. The teaching in this session was good. The teacher gave clear instructions that identified a definite skill, like using the ‘caps lock’ key and how to enlarge the text. Lower attaining pupils were provided with extra support to get them started and pupils’ literacy skills were developed simultaneously with their ICT capability. In another parallel class, lower attaining pupils were not given this extra help and some took too long to get started and did not have sufficient time to finish and edit their sentences. In this class the teaching was satisfactory, but did not have the pace or precision of lessons where the teaching was good. In Year 5, pupils

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

complete sentences and poems linked with their topic work and the more able pupils create new verses to extend the poem. Writing using computers is common to all year groups, but the more advanced skills of merging text with pictures and sound to create multi-media presentations are not yet as developed as they should be. Pupils are familiar with computer as sources of information. They use encyclopaedias and the Internet to find out about a range of topics including their own school and the city of Coventry. Joseph Cash Primary School - 44 134. In Years 3 to 6 pupils do not yet have sufficient opportunities to use computers to store, retrieve and present information and data. Similarly they have not had enough experience of using ICT equipment to control events by programming equipment with series of instructions or measuring quantities such temperature, light or sound.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

135. Pupils in Year 1 and 2 have had some experiences of all the different aspects of ICT, but opportunities in Year 3 to 6 have been hampered by a lack of suitable resources. The school has made very good progress in improving the resources, and is in a strong position to improve the opportunities available to pupils and hence their attainment.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

136. Some good links are forged with literacy, but links with other subjects like mathematics and science are underdeveloped. A more formal approach is needed to make sure that ICT supports work in numeracy more effectively.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

137. The co-ordinator for ICT is relatively new and very keen to raise standards in the subject. More detailed systems for recording pupils’ attainment and progress need to be devised. Opportunities for the co-ordinator to explore help from outside agencies, to monitor what goes on in other classes and to work with colleagues are needed to accelerate the improvement in provision and to continue the recent progress that has been made.

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MUSIC

138. Since no lessons were scheduled for Years 2 and 6 while inspectors were in school, it is not possible to judge standards confidently. However, through discussion with pupils aged seven and eleven, it is clear that they are experiencing all the required elements of music in their lessons. Good progress, at least, has been made since the last inspection. Pupils were able to name the titles of some songs they had been learning and they related how they chose appropriate instruments to either accompany their singing or create simple compositions. Year 6 pupils told how they created a sound picture of a running river. Both age groups named a suitable number of percussion instruments. The younger ones could distinguish between a loud and quiet sound but had difficulty with high and a low. The older pupils explained ‘rhythm’, ‘pulse’ and ‘texture’ and also recalled listening to music from Swan Lake and

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MUSIC

expressing how it made them feel. Taking this evidence with that from lessons seen in Years 1, 3 and 4, where standards were similar to those seen in other schools, it is likely that standards throughout the school are average. Singing however is good, especially in assemblies where pupils join in with enthusiasm and produce a pleasant, tuneful sound that is suited to the mood of the songs, taking care to make the words clear for the listener.

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MUSIC

139. Teaching in the three lessons seen was satisfactory, as was learning. Pupils were interested in the activities but, occasionally, a few became restless so that the teacher had to intervene and time was lost. Teachers coped adequately, however, and, in each of the lessons, the planned work was completed. In the Year 1 lesson, there was particularly good teaching of basic skills, in that the names of the instruments were taught and pupils practised the correct ways of playing them. They then made sensible suggestions about the best instruments to use for making wintry sounds. Pupils in Years 3 and 4 used instruments to recreate a rhythm pattern that they interpreted from musical notes on a card. The teacher gave clear instructions for this activity and subsequently used praise productively to boost pupils’ self-esteem when they performed competently. Joseph Cash Primary School - 45 140. The headteacher is co-ordinating the subject temporarily. Despite not having a

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MUSIC

‘musician’ on the staff, there is a good musical atmosphere in the school and assemblies are enriched by the musical contributions from instrumentalists. The recorder group, though small, produces a very pleasant sound playing tunes in two parts and benefiting from adult players, one of whom plays the tenor instrument that gives ‘body’ to the sound. This group meets every Monday at lunchtime to practise. The guitarists are also competent players with one in particular preparing to take a Grade 1 examination. They are taught in school time along with a small number of pupils just starting to learn the violin. Music is well promoted in the school through events such as: ‘Mornings of Music’ when several local schools meet to perform together; ‘Carol singing on the Green’; performances in school at Christmas; various traditions of dance; and the annual visit of an autoharp player when all pupils experience a workshop.

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MUSIC

141. The school does not have a keyboard that can be linked up to a computer and there are no programs to support composing activities. However, the Internet has been explored by the older pupils to find information about the Beatles as part of a history topic looking at Britain during the 1960s. The school benefits from having a separate music room where lessons take place. The instrumental resources are good; there is a wide range, including instruments from different parts of the world, and they are of very good quality. There is no formal system for assessing the standards and progress that individual pupils achieve. However, some have been identified as gifted in music and the needs of these pupils are met during special events, such as attendance at a ‘Sing-along-a-Joseph’ event.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

142. Standards throughout the school are above average. There was no judgement on physical education in the previous inspection, but very good progress has been made during recent years. Pupils with special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language are making good progress. There is no significant difference in attainment between boys and girls.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

143. By Year 2, the pupils warm up for lessons by performing good quality aerobic exercises. They travel around the hall at different speeds and in different directions and they generally have a good awareness of space. They hold their balances firmly, whilst maintaining good body shapes, both individually and in partner work. The pupils put together a range of high quality movement sequences on apparatus, incorporating jumps and rolls. In dance, they interpret the movement of mini-beasts well, matching the slow movements of caterpillars and the marching of ants to music.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

144. In Year 6, the pupils develop good movement sequences on the theme of flight, incorporating running, jumping and rolling. They successfully transfer these skills from floor to apparatus. Higher attaining pupils display very good starting and finishing positions to their movements and very good control and balance. The pupils can pass and catch a netball quite accurately, using chest and bounce passes, and they apply these skills well in small team situations. In dance work linked to history, the pupils interpret the movements of Vikings landing in Britain, hiding and exploring. They show a good appreciation of the different moods of the music. Standards in swimming are satisfactory. Currently, about a third of the pupils in Years 5 and 6 can swim at least 25 metres unaided and with satisfactory technique. Many of the pupils have little experience of swimming outside school time, so they are making sound progress.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Joseph Cash Primary School - 46 145. The quality of teaching is generally good and sometimes very good. The teachers manage changing sessions well and they pay due attention to safety, ensuring that the pupils remove any jewellery or watches before going to the halls. They ensure that the pupils are wearing appropriate physical education kit. Lessons begin with worthwhile warm-up sessions and the pupils are aware of the reasons for these. Class control is generally good. Those pupils who do misbehave or who do not listen sufficiently are given ‘time-out‘ periods and the teachers try to ensure that these interruptions do not disrupt the pace of the lessons. There is good teaching of specific physical education skills. For example, in a Year 6 lesson, the teacher encouraged the pupils to spread their fingers wide when bouncing a netball and this improved their ability to control the netball and to catch it more cleanly. In a lesson for pupils in Years

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

5 and 6, the teacher emphasised the need for good starting and finishing positions in sequence work and this improved the performance of all the pupils, particularly the high attainers. “How can we improve our jumping?” she asked and this helped the pupils to understand that they needed to jump higher and stay in the air longer, if they were to interpret the theme of ‘flight‘ better. Whilst the teachers give the pupils the opportunity to observe the performance of others, so as to generate ideas for improvement, they tend to identify what makes the performance effective or not, rather than asking the pupils to make the evaluation themselves. The teachers emphasise the correct handling of apparatus. This was very apparent in a Year 1 lesson, where the teacher ensured that the pupils put apparatus out and away very much on their own, with discreet supervision. She encouraged the development of good social skills by ensuring that the pupils worked well together in groups.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

146. A clear policy meets the requirements of the National Curriculum. Swimming has a full part in the physical education curriculum, and standards are improving steadily. Planning is soundly based on a local authority scheme of work for gymnastics and games and on some commercial schemes for dance. There are, as yet, no formal, whole-school procedures for assessing the pupils’ progress in developing their physical education skills, but a start has been made in giving the pupils the opportunity to evaluate their own progress. The co-ordinator offers sound management and there is a clear action plan for the future development of the subject. However, the co-ordinator has not yet had the opportunity to check the quality of physical education teaching. The curriculum is enriched by football, netball and gymnastics clubs for the older pupils. During the inspection, about 30 enthusiastic pupils participated in the pouring rain during an after-school football club! There are

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

opportunities for pupils in Years 5 and 6 to participate in outdoor and adventurous activities during a residential visit to Dol-y-Moch in Wales. Facilities for both indoor and outdoor physical education are good and there is a wide range of very good quality apparatus and equipment to support learning.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

147. During the inspection four lessons in religious education were observed. Additional evidence was gained through discussions with the co-ordinator and pupils, and scrutiny of planning and pupils’ work. The majority of pupils aged seven and eleven are working at standards expected for their age and the curriculum meets the requirements of the Coventry Agreed Syllabus. Good progress has been made since the last inspection.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

148. In Years 1 and 2 the pupils know about places of worship for different religions, and they appreciate diversity in a range of naming ceremonies. They express belief through prayer and singing. The development of personal understanding was less evident due to the lack of opportunities offered for pupils to respond with their Joseph Cash Primary School - 47 personal experiences. Pupils respond creatively to work on the features of a mosque. Pupils show respect for a range of religious practices, for example when they discussed the codes of behaviour expected on their pending visit to a mosque and when they studied photographs of the building.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

149. In Years 3 to 6 the pupils develop an understanding of religious symbols, ceremonies and celebrations. They learn about a range of creation stories and the history of Hinduism and Sikhism. In Year 4 pupils were able to respond to a range of paintings of Christ, and were able to identify significant life story events illustrated in the art. They were able to discuss why Jesus had been illustrated with different physical features. However, few examples were observed of reflective speaking or writing, drawing on pupils’ own personal views and beliefs.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

150. The quality of teaching is good overall. The best lessons made very good use of visiting speakers, religious artefacts and the work of artists, giving pupils a real insight into the features of religious practices and events. Where teaching was satisfactory the lessons relied too heavily on teacher exposition, and questioning was only used to elicit facts. In these lessons resources were used less effectively and insufficient time was given to develop the pupils’ responses.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

151. There are good relationships between staff and children, and pupils generally respond enthusiastically to questions. Lessons were totally inclusive of all pupils, regardless of ability, culture or language. Pupils with English as an addition language were well supported by translators and were more actively involved when visual stimuli were used, such as paintings, artefacts and books. When pupils were required to record, different tasks were set for lower attaining pupils, promoting their engagement. No examples of pupils using ICT were observed in religious education lessons.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

152. There are collections of religious artefacts, resources and books for teaching about Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Sikhism, which are effectively managed. Two aspects of learning resources which could be improved are the provision of videos and access to relevant ICT programs. The co-ordinator has developed very good subject knowledge and has provided a range of resources and schemes to support teachers’ planning. She leads and manages the subject well. However, the co-ordinator has identified the need to review the long-term plans for religious education in order to ensure the learning builds on previous work. The plans also need to ensure key learning objectives are identified for each unit of work. Clearer links between the topics for religious education and the learning to be addressed in the agreed syllabus could help teachers develop their expertise in delivering all aspects of the syllabus.

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