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103969
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Strengths
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- This was the case in a lesson about making books, where the teacher had a clear vision of what she wanted to teach, and used her excellent knowledge of the children to target questions at the level of each child’s ability and understanding. p.36
- The warm, friendly and supportive approach of the adults creates a positive response from the children, over time, and they try hard to please. p.37
- 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 p.6
- Parents feel that their children enjoy school and make good progress. p.11
- The good progress made by pupils who speak English as an additional language is due in the main to the positive climate for learning that the school generates for all its pupils, rather than to the specific provision made for this group. p.29
Concerns
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- In the Nursery and Reception classes the resources are inadequate and this is seriously affecting teaching and learning. p.26
- Teaching is seriously hampered by the lack of equipment such as magnifying glasses, computerised toys and digging tools, and there are insufficient opportunities for children to explore, make predictions and discover things for themselves, using the classroom and the outside environment. p.38
- The last inspection identified weaknesses in art, such as low standards, the lack of a coordinated approach to developing pupils’ skills, and a narrow experience in art and design for the pupils. p.46
- One weakness in the teaching is that pupils’ appreciation of the passage of time is insufficiently developed. p.49
- This is due to a serious lack of suitable software. p.50
Next steps
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- Since the school was last inspected in 2000 it has made good improvement and no longer has serious weaknesses. p.7
- Standards in both Year 2 and Year 6 have risen and the national test results of Year 6 pupils have improved overall. p.7
- In recognition of the school’s much higher performance in 2001, it received a DfES achievement award. p.7
- The quality of teaching in Years 1, 2 and 3 is stronger and pupils in these classes are learning more. p.7
- The school is much better led and a more effective system of school management has been established. p.7
- Senior staff have clearer roles, are better informed and much more involved in decision making. p.7
- Developments have taken place to the curriculum and to methods of assessing pupils’ progress which are having a positive effect on teaching and learning, although more needs to be done to certain aspects of assessment. p.7
- Levels of attendance have increased although they are still lower than they should be. p.7
What the report dwells on
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Progress & outcomes181
“Parents feel that their children enjoy school and make good progress.” p.11
Anatomy of the report
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- Pages
- 53
- Words of findings
- 23,906
- longer than usual (typical 1049)
- Reading level
- Hard
- Flesch 49, typical 45
- Average sentence
- 20 words
- Next steps
- 8
- typical 5
- Hedged sentences
- 11%
- “some”, “not always”, “most”…
Where the words go
Full report text
LODGE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dates of inspection: 16 – 19 September 2002
p.1
LODGE 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.
p.1
LODGE 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. Lodge Primary School - 3 - September 2002
p.2
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
School address: Oak Lane West Bromwich West Midlands
p.3
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Appropriate authority: The governing body
p.3
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Name of chair of governors: Mr N C Banyard
p.3
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Date of previous inspection: 6 June 2000 Lodge Primary School - 4 - September 2002
p.3
INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM
Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities 11807 Keith Bardon Registered inspector Science Design and technology What sort of school is it? How high are standards? How well is the school led and managed? What should the school do to improve further? 9883 Brian Sylvester 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? 23698 Jane Schaffer Team inspector English Music Religious education Education inclusion How well are pupils taught?
p.4
INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM
15474 John Fairclough Team inspector Mathematics Information and communication technology Physical education Special educational needs How good are the curricular and other opportunities offered to pupils? Lodge Primary School - 5 - September 2002 27301 Cynthia Messom Team inspector The Foundation Stage Art and design Geography History English as an additional language
p.4
INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM
Strathblane House Ashfield Road Cheadle Stockport SK8 1BB
p.5
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:
p.5
INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM
The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division
p.5
INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM
Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Lodge Primary School - 6 - September 2002
p.5
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
p.6
HOW HIGH ARE STANDARDS? 12
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
p.6
AREAS OF THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES 36
Lodge Primary School - 7 - September 2002
p.7
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Lodge Primary is an average sized junior and infant school with an attached Nursery situated in the Greets Green district of West Bromwich. This part of the borough of Sandwell has a significant level of social deprivation and has been allocated regeneration funding under the government’s New Deal for Communities scheme. Most pupils live close to the school, in accommodation consisting predominantly of high-density terraced housing. There are 247 full-time pupils on roll and a further 60 attend the Nursery part-time. Ninety-five pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is an above average proportion. Ninety-five full-time and five part-time pupils have special educational needs, mainly for learning difficulties. This figure is above average for a school of this size. Six pupils have a statement of special needs, which is broadly average. Eighty-three per cent of pupils speak English
p.7
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
as an additional language. These pupils are principally of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage. Almost four in ten of all the pupils in the school are at an early stage in the learning of English. The area has a high transient population, some of which consists of refugee families who stay only a short time. The proportion of pupils joining or leaving the school part way through their primary education is much higher than in most schools. There have been a large number of staff changes since the last inspection. The school has appointed seven new teachers, including a new headteacher and deputy headteacher. Most children start school with a very limited range of basic skills and attainment on entry is often very low.
p.7
HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS
Lodge Primary provides its pupils with a satisfactory standard of education in an atmosphere which encourages them to try hard, have pride in their work and to participate fully in the life of the school. Standards are below the national average but rising and pupils are achieving well. Good leadership and sound management has helped to generate a momentum that are taking the school forward. Pupils receive an acceptable standard of teaching and are willing learners. Although the cost of educating each pupil is a little above the national average, the school provides satisfactory value for money.
p.7
HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS
What the school does well Pupils achieve well in almost all subjects. The school is led well and this is improving the quality of pupils’ education. Provides a caring environment and a climate in which pupils can learn in harmony with others. Pupils acquire positive attitudes to school, have an enjoyment of learning and develop well as individuals. Provides pupils with good opportunities for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development .
p.7
HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS
What could be improved Standards in English, mathematics and science. The quality of teaching and pupils’ learning in some lessons. Parental involvement in children’s learning. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.
p.7
HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION
Since the school was last inspected in 2000 it has made good improvement and no longer has serious weaknesses. Standards in both Year 2 and Year 6 have risen and the national test results of Year 6 pupils have improved overall. In recognition of the school’s much higher performance in 2001, it received a DfES achievement award. The quality of teaching in Years 1, 2 and 3 is stronger and pupils in these classes are learning more. The school is much better led and a more effective system of school management has been established. Senior staff have clearer roles, are better informed and much more involved in decision making. Developments have taken place to the curriculum and to methods of assessing pupils’ progress which are having a positive effect on teaching and learning, although more needs to be done to certain aspects of assessment. Levels of attendance have increased although they are still lower than they should be. The improvements that have been made
p.7
HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION
have raised the confidence of staff and pupils and the tone of the school is much more positive. This Lodge Primary School - 8 - September 2002 bodes well for the school’s future and, provided that there is a period of stability, it is well placed to continue to improve.
p.7
STANDARDS
The table shows the standards achieved by 11 year olds based on average point scores in National Curriculum tests.
p.8
STANDARDS
Performance in: all schools similar schools Key
p.8
STANDARDS
English E* E* E E well above average above average A B mathematics E E E C average below average C D science E* E* E C well below average E
p.8
STANDARDS
Although in 2001 the test results of Year 6 pupils’ were well below the national average, they were much better than in previous years. Early indications are that the results in the 2002 tests have slipped a little in English and mathematics and remained much the same in science. However, pupils who have been in school since they were infants have made solid progress and achieved well in comparison with what they knew and could do when they first came to Lodge Primary. The school exceeded its English and mathematics performance targets by a considerable margin in 2001 and will achieve or be very close to them this year.
p.8
STANDARDS
There are definite indications that standards are beginning to rise and more pupils are working at or above the expected level for their age than in the past. The pupils currently in Years 2 and 6 are on track to attain standards in English, mathematics and science that are below the national average. When their low attainment on entry to the school is taken into account, this represents a good level of achievement. Standards of literacy and numeracy are also below average and pupils’ ability to speak and listen effectively is often well below. In most other subjects the majority of Year 2 and Year 6 pupils attain standards that are broadly those expected for their age, although in art and design standards are below expectations.
p.8
STANDARDS
Children make satisfactory progress in the Nursery and Reception classes in the key areas of communication and language, and mathematics, but a lack of basic skills slows their learning. By the time they join the Year 1 class, children’s attainment has risen but most are still well below where five year olds are expected to be in almost all the areas of learning. The one exception is in their personal, social and emotional development, which progresses well but is still a little below expectations by the age of five. Children’s progress in gaining knowledge of the world around them and in their physical and creative development is slower than in other aspects of their learning.
p.8
STANDARDS
Pupils with special educational needs make good progress in relation to the targets set for their learning. The progress made by lower attaining and higher attaining pupils tends to be satisfactory rather than good because their learning needs are not always fully catered for in lessons. Pupils who have little English and are at a very early stage in learning the language are supported well and make good progress.
p.8
PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES
Attitudes to the school Good. Pupils are enthusiastic about learning and show good levels of interest in lessons. Lodge Primary School - 9 - September 2002 Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Good. Although some pupils are noisy at times this is often due to the excitement of learning. The majority of pupils are well behaved and pleasant to each other and to adults.
p.8
PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES
Personal development and relationships Good. Pupils of all ages get on well together. They respect the opinions of others and readily work together for the benefit of all. The harmony that exists within the school is a pleasure to experience.
p.9
PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES
Attendance Unsatisfactory. Below the national average but improving steadily.
p.9
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Teaching of pupils: Nursery and Reception Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6
p.9
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Quality of teaching Satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory 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.
p.9
TEACHING AND LEARNING
The quality of teaching in classes throughout the school is currently satisfactory. Under normal circumstances it could be expected that, with the pupils achieving as well as they are, the teaching would be found to be of a better standard. However, it is very early in the school year. Teachers are still getting to know their new classes and some are new to the school or to the age group they are teaching. Pupils’ workbooks from last year provide a very positive picture of both teaching and learning. This illustrates clearly why pupils are achieving well and is an encouraging sign for their future learning. Teachers are planning activities which pupils find interesting and most pupils are making an effort to achieve the targets teachers set them. Much of the work challenges pupils to concentrate and think hard, which most are willing to do.
p.9
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Teachers make effective use of the national guidance when teaching English and mathematics and encourage pupils to use what they have learned when working in other subjects. Overall the teaching of both literacy and numeracy is satisfactory. Pupils with special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language receive constructive support for their learning from both teachers and classroom assistants. Some classroom assistants have a much clearer understanding of their support role than others and this has a positive influence on the effectiveness of their work. Although teachers take care to ensure that all pupils have the same opportunities to learn, in some lessons all pupils are given an identical task. When this happens some pupils find the work too hard and struggle to keep up while other find it too easy and could achieve more.
p.9
TEACHING AND LEARNING
The teaching in Nursery and Reception classes promotes children’s personal, social and emotional development well and provides satisfactorily for their language and mathematical development. However, the teaching in other areas of children’s early education is seriously hampered by a lack of suitable resources.
p.9
OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL
The quality and range of the curriculum Satisfactory. The school makes use of national and local guidance to ensure that all aspects of the National Curriculum and religious education are covered. Pupils’ learning is extended by a good range of activities outside of lessons.
p.9
OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL
Provision for pupils with special educational needs Satisfactory. What these pupils are to learn is clearly identified in their individual education plans, although the targets these contain are not always reflected in the activities teachers give them to do. Lodge Primary School - 10 - September 2002 Provision for pupils with English as an additional language Satisfactory. There are, however, variations in quality and effectiveness of provision because of a lack of cohesive management. A teacher with responsibility for this area of the school’s work area has now been appointed.
p.9
OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL
Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Good. The school works well to support the personal development of its pupils. Throughout the school, staff make carefully considered provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
p.10
OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL
How well the school cares for its pupils Satisfactory. Appropriate procedures for ensuring pupils’ safety and general welfare are in place. However, only the headteacher has had recent training on child protection issues. There is regular monitoring of pupils’ academic and personal development. How well the school works in partnership with parents Unsatisfactory. The partnership between school and home is not strong enough and this has a detrimental effect on children’s learning. The school has been unable to persuade many parents to get fully involved in their children’s education.
p.10
HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED
Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff Good. The headteacher supported by the deputy headteacher provide the school with strong leadership and a clear sense of purpose. Management is satisfactory. Some senior staff are still getting used to the responsibilities they have been given.
p.10
HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED
How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Satisfactory. Governors fulfill their responsibilities conscientiously but need to gather more information for themselves when evaluating the work of the school.
p.10
HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED
The school’s evaluation of its performance Good. The headteacher and senior staff have a clear picture of how well the school is performing and what is in need of further development. Teaching and learning are systematically monitored.
p.10
HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED
The strategic use of resources Satisfactory. Funding is used appropriately to support pupils’ learning. Senior staff and governors are aware of the importance of obtaining best value for the money they spend and are becoming more aware of how this should be achieved.
p.10
HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED
Adequacy of staffing, accommodation and learning resources Satisfactory number of appropriately qualified and experienced staff. Spacious accommodation but games and other activities restricted by the lack of a grassed playing area. Resources unsatisfactory due to a lack of equipment, mainly in the Nursery, Reception and Year 1 classes. Lodge Primary School - 11 - September 2002
p.10
PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL
What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved Parents feel that their children enjoy school and make good progress. The school has high expectations of its pupils and of what they can achieve. Parents feel comfortable raising issues or discussing any problems. Discipline in the school is good and pupils behave well. Some parents feel that the school does not work closely enough with them and they would like more information about their children’s progress. A significant proportion of parents have concerns about the amount of homework the school sets. Many parents would like better provision for extra-curricular activities.
p.11
PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL
Inspectors share many of the positive views that parents have of the school. The school acknowledges that there have been problems with the amount of homework pupils were given and has started to address this issue. The provision for extra-curricular activities has improved in recent times and is good. The school is trying hard to build its links with parents but this is taking some time and there is still some way to go before the partnership between home and school is fully effective. Lodge Primary School - 12 - September 2002
p.11
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
1. By the end of Year 6 standards are below the national average in most subjects, including English, mathematics and science. Children’s attainment on entry to the school is very low in all aspects of early learning and many have little or no English when they start in the Nursery. A relatively large number of pupils of all ages join or leave the school throughout the year. In many cases these pupils are from countries outside of the United Kingdom and have little knowledge of the English language. From this very low baseline pupils’ achieve well in the time they spend at Lodge Primary. Standards are significantly better that they were at the time of the last inspection.
p.12
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
2. Although children’s achievements are satisfactory in the Nursery and Reception classes, when they enter Year 1 the attainment of the majority falls well short of the learning targets for this age group in almost all areas of learning. The exception is in the area of personal, social and emotional development. Here the many opportunities for development provided by the teachers enable children to make good progress, bringing their attainment much closer to the national target.
p.12
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
3. In 2001 only four in ten Year 2 pupils attained the expected level in the national reading and writing tests. These results were well below the national average and below those of schools in a similar context. In mathematics a little less than half of pupils attained the expected level which was very low and put the school in the bottom five per cent of schools nationally. The result in mathematics was well below that of similar schools. Early indications from the 2002 tests are that results have not improved, much to the disappointment of the school. However, there are clear indications from the quality of work these pupils produced last year and are continuing to do now that they are in Year 3, shows that the test results do not present a totally accurate picture. While pupils’ attainment was not particularly strong it was better than the results indicate. It is clear that, because many still are
p.12
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
having difficulties with basic English, they were unable to show all that they knew and could do in a formal test situation. This is particularly true of a small but marked proportion of pupils from the local community who enter school never having attended Nursery or Reception. Test results in 2002 were adversely affected because one of the Year 2 classes was unsettled by frequent changes of teacher.
p.12
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
4. The quality of teaching in the Year 1 and Year 2 classes has improved since the last inspection in 2000 but it is only now that the benefits are beginning to show through. Year 2 pupils are attaining better than they have in the past and standards are rising. It will be some time yet before the full effect of better teaching and more effective learning are felt fully, but standards in English, mathematics and science are below expectations rather than well below as they were not too long ago. Reading is the strongest element of pupils’ English, closely followed by writing but with speaking and listening some way behind. The difficulties pupils have with speaking and listening affect their attainment in all subjects. The lack of a systematic whole-school approach to the teaching of speaking and listening is slowing the progress of pupils of all ages. Pupils’ attainment in the number and measurement elements of
p.12
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
mathematics is below expectations. Their ability to use their mathematics in everyday contexts is well below average because they do not get enough opportunities to apply what they have learned. Year 2 pupils’ literacy and numeracy Lodge Primary School - 13 - September 2002 skills are below expectations but clear and sustained progress is made during their time in the infant classes.
p.12
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
5. In the national tests in 2001, half of Year 6 pupils attained the expected level in English, two-thirds attained it in mathematics and three quarters in science. Although these results were well below the national average, they were a significant improvement on previous years and the best the school had achieved since the tests began. Almost a quarter of pupils attained at an above average level in science, but in English and mathematics the proportion who reached this higher level was much smaller. In mathematics and science the schools’ performance was similar to that achieved by pupils in similar schools to Lodge, but in English the results were well below those of similar schools. Results from the 2002 tests, which have still to be validated, indicate that there has been a drop in the proportion of pupils reaching the expected level in English and mathematics, whereas the proportion reaching it in
p.13
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
science has remained much the same. There has, however, been a notable increase in the proportion of pupils attaining the higher level in both English and mathematics. Historically girls have performed better than boys in the English tests. However there was some reversal of this trend in 2002 and observations of the current Year 6 pupils indicate a much better balance is being achieved.
p.13
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
6. Up to and including 2000 the test results of Year 6 pupils in English and science had shown little improvement. In 2001 there was a pronounced rise in performance with far more pupils attaining the level expected of the age group. In mathematics there has been steady and sustained year-on-year improvement. It is unlikely that, when the 2002 results are fully validated, they will show a further improvement and it is more likely that they will have lost a little ground against the national averages. However this was anticipated from a cohort of pupils which contained a high proportion of lower attainers, many of whom have special educational needs. In effect all the pupils who, on the basis of their test results as seven year olds, were expected to attain the national average in mathematics reached or exceeded it and almost all those expected reached it in English. In addition a significant proportion
p.13
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
who were not expected to reach the national standard successfully did so.
p.13
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
7. Although it is very early in the new school year, it is clear from talking to pupils currently in Year 6, watching them work in the classroom and examining the work they did last year in Year 5 that at this age standards are rising. Pupils’ attainment in English follows a similar pattern to that of Year 2 pupils, with reading and writing below average and speaking and listening well below. In mathematics pupils’ attainment is below expectations in number, measuring and using and applying, but well below in handling data because they do not get enough opportunities to present and interpret numerical information. In science pupils’ enquiry skills are a little behind their knowledge of scientific facts, but some improvements have been made and the gap is closing.
p.13
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
8. The school exceeded both its English and mathematics targets for Year 6 pupils’ test performance by a considerable margin in 2001. The targets for 2002 were set at 45 per cent of pupils attaining the expected level in English and 58 per cent in mathematics. Although these were lower than the results pupils attained in 2001, they represent an appropriate level of challenge level based on the ability of the cohort. Early indications are that the mathematics target has been met but results have fallen a little short of the English target. The overall results were adversely affected by a small number of lower attaining pupils joining Year 6 just before the tests. The relatively large number of pupils who join the school at various stages in their primary education makes the setting of accurate targets very difficult and it is to Lodge Primary School - 14 - September 2002 the school’s credit that it often achieves them. The school is aware that standards
p.13
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
are rising and has set its targets for 2003 at a much higher level in both English and mathematics.
p.14
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
9. Standards are below expectations in art and design in both key stages. In the junior classes pupils’ achievements are unsatisfactory because they get insufficient opportunity to work with different media. In geography and information and communication technology, pupils’ attainment is below expectations at the end of Year 2, rising to meet expectations by the end of Year 6. In history, design and technology, physical education and religious education, pupils’ attainment meets expectations at the end of Year 2 and Year 6, and pupils’ achievements are at least satisfactory and often good. There was insufficient evidence to evaluate pupils’ attainment in music.
p.14
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
10. The progress made by higher, average and lower attaining groups in some lessons varies considerably because of weaknesses in the way the lesson has been planned. On occasions one activity with little variation is given to all pupils and there are those in the class who find the activity either too easy or too difficult. When this occurs the progress of the higher and lower attaining pupils is adversely affected because they have not learned enough or have not been able to keep up. This issue was raised by a visiting team of inspectors in 2001 and, whilst there has been some improvement, lower and higher attaining pupils often make satisfactory progress rather than the good progress made by the majority.
p.14
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
11. The provision made for pupils with special educational needs enables them to receive the regular help they often need. As a result pupils who have difficulties in learning achieve well in relation to the targets set for their development, and maintain a good rate of progress. The school’s improved assessment procedures would enable it to identify pupils who may be gifted or have particular talents. At present there are no pupils who fall into either of these categories.
p.14
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
12. The progress made by pupils who are at an early stage in learning English is good because they receive much of the support the school has available. From having little language of any sort, these pupils learn to communicate effectively. Overall the large proportion of pupils in the school who speak English as an additional language achieve well and by the time they leave at the end of Year 6 most are reasonably fluent in English. However, the school’s provision for this large group of pupils is not as cohesive as it could be and some opportunities to extend pupils’ learning and raise standards further are missed.
p.14
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
13. Pupils are keen to attend the school and play a full part in its life, including its good range of extra-curricular activities. A high proportion of pupils have a good attitudes to their work but in lessons attitudes can vary between very good and poor. Where attitudes are good the pupils are enthusiastic learners. They settle well, without fuss and get on with the task given. Pupils are keen to participate in the lesson and respond readily to questions. They take a pride in their work, some of which is displayed, around the school. The minority of pupils who at times have unsatisfactory attitudes take time to settle at the beginning of a lesson, do not try hard enough and achieve too little.
p.14
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
14. When they start in the Nursery the majority of children have poor language and have had little experience outside their own homes. They are often perplexed by the busy Lodge Primary School - 15 - September 2002 new world they are encountering. Consequently many are shy, unresponsive and reluctant to join in activities or to interact with others. Teachers work hard to overcome children’s reluctance to participate and, by the time they are in Reception, a good proportion of children are willing to listen and respond to the teacher, play co- operatively together, share and take turns. However, many Reception children have difficulty concentrating on a task for any length of time.
p.14
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
15. The behaviour of a large majority of pupils, in class and around the school, is good. Most pupils obey instructions, listen carefully to their teacher, follow class rules and are considerate to others in the class. However, a minority are inclined to misbehave if they are not fully absorbed in the lesson. Overall, pupils’ behaviour ranges from very good to poor. Where behaviour is unsatisfactory, some pupils deliberately disturb others, and do not respond well enough to the teacher. Some of the misbehaviour is linked to the standard of teaching and how stimulating the activities are. Parents are generally happy with the standard of behaviour achieved in the school. In the year before the inspection there were 24 fixed-term exclusions which related to just three pupils. In the year before the last inspection there were no exclusions. The majority of pupils with special educational needs work hard and
p.15
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
concentrate well. They co-operate and work productively with partners. For example in lessons for pupils from Years 1 and 2 they listened carefully and followed instructions well so that tasks were completed successfully.
p.15
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
16. Relationships, between pupils and between pupils and adults are good overall. There is a wide range of ethnic groups in the school and they all generally work and play together well. Any racial incidents that do occur are dealt with promptly and correctly by the school. Pupils are generally willing to share and take turns, and they work in pairs and groups quite happily. Most pupils have good relationships with their teacher but a minority shows disrespect by not obeying instructions and being disruptive to the rest of the class. It must also been born in mind that it is very early in the new school year and teachers are still forming relationships with pupils they have not taught before.
p.15
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
17. The personal development of the pupils is good. They respond well to the opportunities given to take responsibility. Pupils have duties in their class and there are class monitors. The school has a house system and some Year 6 pupils are elected as House Captains. After giving a speech, two representatives from each class participate in the anti-bullying squad, and ‘bully busters’ are being trained. There is a buddy system in each class to welcome incoming pupils. Special pupil helpers assist the lunchtime supervisors. Year 4 pupils visit the local frail and elderly and pupils assist with the running of the weekly school bank. Pupils show initiative by suggesting fund raising for charities like ‘Jeans for Genes’. The school has an atmosphere in which all pupils are valued and this does much for their confidence and self esteem. The multi-ethnic richness of the school enables pupils to develop
p.15
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
an appreciation of the cultures of others and they learn to enjoy each others’ company and work and play in harmony.
p.15
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
18. The level of attendance is unsatisfactory. Attendance in 2001/02 was 92.7 per cent, which is well below the national average, and unauthorised absences were worse than the national average at 0.8 per cent. However, the school has worked successfully to improve attendance and it has improved year on year in each of the past three years. As well as illness, there are a number of reasons for non- attendance. A high number of pupils leave the school part way through the school year. These pupils have to stay on the school’s roll until their new school makes contact. This artificially inflates the absence rates. Some pupils have been taken on Lodge Primary School - 16 - September 2002 extended holidays over the last four years. A meeting for parents on the importance of attendance and punctuality was well attended, and translated into the five community languages of the parents. Pupils in foster care are sometimes absent so
p.15
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
that they can see their parents. Most pupils are punctual but a few do arrive late. The unsatisfactory attendance has a detrimental effect on the attainment and progress of the pupils concerned.
p.16
Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development
19. In the previous inspection report it stated that pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and personal development were good and this is still the case. The level of attendance and punctuality was poor and it has now improved. One of the key issues from the previous report was to ‘continue to improve attendance and reduce the number of holidays taken in term time’. This has been successfully achieved.
p.16
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
20. Since the inspection in 2000 there have been many changes to the teaching staff. Seven teachers, including the headteacher, have joined the school and a similar number have left. The quality of teaching is satisfactory, as was the case at the time of the inspection two years ago. At that time, however, there were particular year groups where teaching was unsatisfactory. The school was asked to improve the teaching in Years 1, 2 and 3 and this has been addressed. Taking this into account, there has been good improvement since the last inspection. This inspection took place at the start of the autumn term. A third of the teachers were either new to the school or teaching an age group with which they were unfamiliar. There were two unavoidable absences, including the deputy headteacher, that meant key members of staff did not contribute to the inspection.
p.16
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
21. At this time of the school year, teachers have to concentrate on ensuring that pupils are settled and have a clear understanding of how they are expected to behave. This is particularly important when pupils have newly arrived in the area or in the country, as is the case for almost one in every six pupils in this school. Teachers had all undertaken this aspect of their work very well. Good relationships and a good working atmosphere were established in all classes. In the Year 1 class, a few pupils were understandably finding it difficult to settle without the activities and elements of play to which they had become accustomed in the Reception class. Where permanent members of staff were absent, learning support staff and other teachers worked very effectively to minimize the disruption for the pupils concerned.
p.16
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
22. The school has organized the classes so that nearly all pupils, who have special educational needs and those who are at an early stage of learning to speak English have help in smaller classes and with a greater number of learning support staff, including those who are bilingual. This good strategy helps these pupils make progress because work can be adapted to suit their needs and adults can offer more individual support. In a good mathematics lesson, for instance, in Years 1 and 2, the teacher provided simple tasks for pupils learning to count to 20 and close observations by adults enabled help to be given as soon as pupils found difficulty with the task.
p.16
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
23. The quality of teaching and learning throughout the school is satisfactory. This does not fully reflect the improvements that have been made, particularly in the teaching of English and mathematics, where the school has focused much of its effort in order to raise standards in these subjects. Although the teaching in these two subjects is satisfactory overall, lessons often have good features. The quality of work pupils did last year shows that the teaching has clear strengths. However, there have been too Lodge Primary School - 17 - September 2002 many changes to rely entirely on this for a overview of teaching and many of the judgements made in this report stem from lesson observations carried out during the inspection week.
p.16
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
Good teaching of basic skills in numeracy and literacy. Teachers have a good understanding of ways to teach pupils how to calculate mentally and they are knowledgeable about the best methods of teaching writing and reading.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
Good management of pupils based on shared respect and well established class routines that are seen as fair. Teachers give praise and encouragement so that all pupils are confident and contribute in whole-class sessions.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
Explaining to pupils what it is they are expected to learn and checking at the end of the lesson to see if these objectives have been achieved. In the best lessons teachers refer to these objectives as the lesson proceeds so that pupils become aware of how well they are learning and strive to do better.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
Group literacy targets are displayed clearly in the classroom. These motivate pupils and are effective in improving skills, for instance in punctuation and grammar. Teachers use them well when pupils are doing work in other subjects such as religious education. The teacher can give pupils a quick reminder without detracting from the lesson at hand.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
Work is marked well and the comments given help pupils understand how they can improve their work.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
25. The teaching in the Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception classes) is satisfactory overall but varies between good and unsatisfactory across the different areas of learning. When staff have clear learning objectives pupils make clear progress but on occasions activities lack clear learning intentions and teachers’ interactions with children lack focus. In those areas in which the teaching is unsatisfactory, the teaching is severely hampered by a lack of suitable and stimulating resources.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
26. In Years 3 to 6, one lesson in ten was less than satisfactory. Some of the problems with these lessons could be explained by teachers misjudging their pupils’ capabilities at this early time of the year because they were taking a year group with which they were unfamiliar. However, the errors occurring in these lessons were seen elsewhere to a lesser degree, and constitute the main areas for development.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
27. The main points for development are:
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
Tasks and learning are not always well matched to pupils’ differing levels of attainment. When this happens some pupils find the work too easy and are not made to think hard enough. Others find the work too hard and become a little frustrated because they cannot keep up.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
Too few lessons have a stimulating focus or practical activity designed specifically to help pupils’ skills in speaking and increase their understanding of vocabulary. This adversely affects pupils’ ability to discuss matters thoroughly or to give detailed answers to questions. Lodge Primary School - 18 - September 2002 Teachers have too little knowledge and understanding of how to use information and communication technology to support pupils’ learning in other subjects. Pupils’ understanding of how to use this important tool as an aid to learning is under-developed.
p.17
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
Teachers do not plan well enough with learning support assistants to ensure that the contribution they make is fully effectively in all lessons. When the support pupils receive is not well targeted there is often a lack of focus and both pupils and assistants are not quite sure what it is they are trying to achieve.
p.18
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
The teaching in the some areas of learning in the nursery and reception classes needs to be stronger to ensure that pupils can learn effectively in all the aspects of the foundation stage curriculum.
p.18
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
28. In some of the unsatisfactory lessons, teachers provided tasks that had too many options and did not relate realistically to the pupils’ prior knowledge and skills. In other lessons, explanations were well matched to pupils’ stage of learning but written tasks were the same for all levels of attainment. Consequently they were too challenging for those of lower attainment, even when they had an adult working with them. Teachers have high expectations, which is commendable, and so pupils of higher attainment are often given enough challenge, but when the challenge is insufficiently varied those of lower attainment often make least progress.
p.18
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
29. In some lessons teachers use a limited range of resources or methods to stimulate or inspire. On occasions a simple resource, such as worms in a glass jar filled with earth in a lesson on habitats, would bring the subject alive and support pupils’ learning and use of spoken English. In Years 1 and 2 the lack of richly resourced play areas focused on pupils’ current learning detracts from their acquisition of English.
p.18
HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?
30. Teachers are very conscious that more than three quarters of the pupils in their class speak English as an additional language, and they have established good working routines that ensure that all pupils feel included and are eager to work. Teachers employ some good strategies and techniques for teaching those who are learning the basics of English. For instance, explanations are given clearly and activities such as paired working and group discussions are encouraged. In some subjects such as science, the school has identified particular difficulties that are faced by these pupils and has addressed them by the introduction of well-focused short lessons on science vocabulary. A newly appointed teacher whose responsibility it is to lead this area has begun to devise other good strategies. However, there is still a lack of good resources and focused planning for this aspect of pupils’ learning.
p.18
PUPILS?
31. The curriculum provided by the school has improved since the last inspection and now delivers a satisfactory quality and a full range of statutory learning opportunities. Lessons are planned from structured schemes of work that are based on government guidelines. Extra-curricular provision is now good with a wide variety of clubs and activities, from dance and karate to table tennis and football. Parents have expressed concern about charging for one activity. The charge is for special clothing and certificates of achievement and is completely within requirements concerning the provision of extra-curricular activities. Lodge Primary School - 19 - September 2002 32. The allocation of time to subjects is satisfactory overall. However, difficulties with qualified provision for music and swimming do mean that pupils receive less teaching in these areas than pupils in most other schools. The curriculum for
p.18
PUPILS?
information and communication technology now meets requirements and all pupils receive an appropriate range of learning experiences. However, insufficient fully functioning computers in the information for communication technology suite mean that effective organisation of lessons is difficult and limits the depth of learning that it is possible to provide.
p.19
PUPILS?
33. The curriculum provided for children in the Nursery and Reception classes is satisfactory overall and helps children begin to acquire the basic skills many lack when they first come to school. However, a severe shortage of resources in some areas restricts the curriculum that can be offered. In the learning areas of knowledge and understanding of the world, creative development and physical development, pupils do not experience a sufficiently wide curriculum. There are not enough opportunities for imaginative play in the infant classes to enable pupils to address one of their principal weaknesses, the inability to communicate effectively through speech.
p.19
PUPILS?
34. The curriculum for English and mathematics is satisfactory and closely reflects national guidelines. Good opportunities are provided for pupils to extend their learning of literacy through other subjects, for example by recording observations in science and accounts of past events in history. There is less development of such curriculum links in mathematics and information and communication technology and this is a weakness in the curriculum in both these subjects. The science curriculum has been the focus of recent work by the school, including training for staff. As a result the science curriculum has a better balance of skills, knowledge and understanding. In addition lessons in the vocabulary of science have been introduced. These improvements are having a positive effect on standards although more needs to be done to ensure that the curriculum enables pupils to build their skills at an appropriate pace and in the correct order.
p.19
PUPILS?
35. Pupils with special educational need are taught the full curriculum along with other pupils and this is satisfactory in providing an appropriate range of experiences. The curriculum provided for pupils who are from minority ethnic backgrounds is also satisfactory overall and generally takes account of the fact that most are learning English as an additional language. However, opportunities to improve the curricular provision for these pupils, for example through the use of their first language, are not as well planned as they could be. The school is aware of the need to review the curriculum it provides for these pupils and one of the roles of the new co-ordinator for this area is to carry this out.
p.19
PUPILS?
36. There is a good range of visits and visitors to the school. These improve pupils’ learning in subjects such as geography through visits to places of educational interest. For example, Year 5 pupils visited a canal. The prize for a speaking competition resulted in Year 6 pupils visiting the House of Commons and seeing the centre of government for the country. This enabled them to see places first hand that most only experienced through the media. Subject co-ordinators monitor curriculum delivery satisfactorily and produce annual plans for development. However, there is no co-ordinator for design and technology, and while the subject is developing steadily, more could be done to ensure that the curriculum reaches the same standard in all classes. Lodge Primary School - 20 - September 2002 37. Staff take considerable care to ensure that all pupils have equal opportunities to learn. The outcomes are reflected in the daily life of the school where pupils and
p.19
PUPILS?
teachers all work harmoniously together. Pupils are supported where necessary and a policy for personal social and health education ensures appropriate teaching within the normal school curriculum about drugs and personal issues. The governors’ policy is to give appropriate information about sex education as issues arise rather than in a programme of special lessons. A programme of awareness raising known as ‘Bully Busters’ strengthens pupils’ awareness of important social issues such as bullying.
p.20
PUPILS?
38. The contribution of the community to pupils’ learning and the constructiveness of relationships with partner institutions are both satisfactory. Most pupils transfer to the George Salter High School. Years 5 and 6 pupils make introductory visits before they transfer. Links with the High School are improving and include drama links. Good links with the nearby Sandwell College include information and communication technology and sporting links. The Sandwell Victim Support helps pupils understand how to address the issue of bullying and Sandwell’s drug education team delivered workshops on drug awareness. The school has worked with the Educational Business Partnership which has assisted in the funding of some visits, including one to the Transport Museum in Coventry. The school has been involved in local Greets Green community projects, which include ‘reading volunteers’ who hear pupils read, and educational visits.
p.20
PUPILS?
39. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness is developed well as a result of good provision by the school. Assemblies and religious education lessons give pupils opportunities to reflect on personal issues and powerful ideas about life and living. These opportunities are sensitively presented and spiritual provision is good. For example, in one assembly, there was an air of hushed expectation and attentive listening to a story about the beginnings of people, their differences and the need for co-operation. A recent project, under the leadership of a celebrated artist and poet, stirred the imagination of pupils well as they wrote stories about animals from pre history roaming the land on which the school is built.
p.20
PUPILS?
40. The methods used by the school to develop pupils’ moral awareness are good and contribute much to the good behaviour of the pupils. Teachers offer examples of responsible behaviour that establish clearly right from wrong. Pupils are encouraged to follow the school’s code of conduct and the impact of their behaviour on others is made clear to them. Lessons are used well to illustrate and consider questions of fairness, as when pupils studied the role of women in Sparta during a history lesson.
p.20
PUPILS?
41. Good provision for pupils’ social development contributes much to the harmonious atmosphere within the school. Assemblies are delivered on topics such as citizenship, where pupils are shown the benefits of co-operation and sharing. Pupils carry out various responsibilities such as handing out materials and taking registers to the school secretary. Lessons are organised so that pupils work together in small groups. For example, information and communication technology lessons require good social skills from pupils as they take turns and share opportunities on the limited resources available. Pupils with special educational needs take a full part in the life of the school. They develop self-confidence and learn good social skills such as sharing and co-operation.
p.20
PUPILS?
42. Good opportunities for developing pupils’ cultural awareness are provided by the teachers. The wide range of religions in the school is celebrated regularly and, through this and a well structured religious education curriculum, pupils’ awareness of other religious traditions is raised. Visits and visitors include places of worship and Lodge Primary School - 21 - September 2002 religious leaders and religious festivals are celebrated. Students from a local college have produced murals in the school that celebrate the multicultural nature of the school. Lessons in other subject areas talk about the example set by people of courage. Pupils’ write about a theatre visit and show growing awareness of this form of entertainment. However, some opportunities are missed in art and music that would increase the breadth of pupils’ cultural awareness.
p.20
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
43. The steps taken to ensure the pupils’ welfare, health and safety are satisfactory. The teachers and staff know the pupils well, recognise their needs and give them sound support and guidance. The school’s health and safety policy is in need of updating. Twice yearly health and safety surveys of the buildings and grounds are completed. Written reports are then made to the governing body. A full range of risk assessments is carried out and efforts are made to ensure that all staff are aware of them. Fire drills are carried out half-termly and the fire equipment and bells are checked regularly. A wide range of visiting specialists comes into the school. These include, amongst others, the school nurse, speech therapist, behaviour support teacher, police liaison, road safety officer and the teacher for hearing impaired. In the previous inspection report it stated that the quality of care was satisfactory with
p.21
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
44. The school has an appropriate child protection policy, which is based on the local education authority’s (LEA) guidelines. The headteacher is responsible for its implementation and has received the necessary training. Members of staff, both teaching and non-teaching, are informed about how to identify child protection concerns and what to do if they are observed. However, there has not been any formal training on child protection for staff.
p.21
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
45. The school’s procedures for monitoring and supporting the pupils’ personal development are satisfactory. The personal development of the pupils is monitored by their class teachers. From the very beginning the school maintains a strong interest in the development and care of the children entering the school. Nursery staff make home visits for all children due to enter, and a parents’ evening for all parents with children who have an individual education plan has been introduced. Teachers keep informal records of the personal development of their pupils and formal records are kept of any pupils who are causing concern. Pupils with special educational need are fully involved in all parts of school life. The ethos of care is seen in all contacts between these pupils and staff.
p.21
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
46. The school’s procedures for monitoring and improving attendance are good. Attendance is monitored by the headteacher, the school secretary and the recently appointed educational welfare officer. If there are any concerns about non- attendance, the parents are contacted and the educational welfare officer makes home visits, if necessary. The school emphasises the importance of good attendance and has successfully urged parents not to take their children away on extended holidays. There are individual and class awards for good attendance. Attendance is analysed in relation to the academic attainment of the pupils and this shows that pupils who have a poor attendance record do not attain as highly as those with a good attendance record.
p.21
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
47. The school’s procedures for monitoring and promoting good behaviour are good and procedures for monitoring and eliminating oppressive behaviour are very good. The behaviour management policy contains a suitable range of rewards and sanctions to Lodge Primary School - 22 - September 2002 encourage good behaviour. The policy is used by some teachers to counter misbehaviour by pupils, but there are some inconsistencies in the way the policy is applied across the school. An anti-bullying policy is being developed with the assistance of pupils and a representative of the local victim support group. Incidents of racism or bullying are infrequent but, when they do occur, they are taken seriously and dealt with speedily. The pupils concerned are spoken to and parents are involved, if necessary.
p.21
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
48. Identification of pupils with special educational need is triggered by teacher concerns about pupils’ learning and by analysis of assessment results. A clear structure of individual learning targets is put in place. This is monitored and evaluated by teachers and learning support assistants, and targets are developed to meet the changing needs of pupils. Formal procedures for pupils with greater needs involve specialist help and regular review of the success of the provision.
p.22
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
49. A number of good improvements have been made to assessment procedures since the last inspection. A series of regular tests and assessment tasks has been established. For example, all pupils are periodically given a test in which they write unaided on a particular subject. This is then evaluated against national standards and pupils’ progress (or otherwise) is assessed. Some of the methods the school has conceived, while others employ materials acquired from a range of outside sources, such as national test papers. Information from these tests and tasks is providing the school with a much clearer picture of how well pupils are doing, and informing judgements about what pupils should be taught and when.
p.22
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
50. All test results are analysed thoroughly and in detail. From this information the progress of individual pupils over time is carefully monitored. The headteacher and other senior staff are starting to look for patterns in the attainment of specific groups of pupils, such as those from differing ethnic backgrounds, although this is at an early stage of development.
p.22
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
51. Teachers mark pupils’ work conscientiously and this provides useful information on how well individuals are doing. On the basis of this, teachers set pupils targets for improvement. While the principle of target setting in this way is a good one, some teachers are setting too many targets and not giving pupils time to consolidate before moving on to the next goal.
p.22
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
52. There are however, weaknesses in the way teachers keep track of pupils’ progress during lessons. To a marked extent this is because the school has yet to determine a set of criteria in each subject against which pupils’ on-going learning can be assessed. Some use is being made of information contained in the national schemes of work but often this is not detailed enough to make a clear judgements about what particular groups of pupils need to learn next.
p.22
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?
53. Children in the Nursery and Reception classes are assessed periodically This enables staff to establish the baseline of knowledge and skills the children start with to monitor how much progress they are making towards the targets set for the age group. This enables nursery and reception staff to evaluate how well pupils are progressing over time. However, procedures for making day to day assessments that are needed to inform teachers lesson planning is not as well established and improvements are needed. Lodge Primary School - 23 - September 2002
p.22
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?
54. The school has taken numerous steps to involve parents more in their child's education and the work of the school, and other schemes are planned for the near future, such as the employment of home/link workers. The parental response to these initiatives, however, has been generally low and unsatisfactory. Overall, the impact of parents’ involvement on the work of the school and the contribution of parents to children’s learning, at school and at home, are unsatisfactory. Because of the general lack of response from the parents, the effectiveness of the school’s links with parents is also unsatisfactory. At the last inspection parental involvement in pupils’ learning was found to be lower than in most schools. This continues to be the case.
p.23
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?
55. The information provided to parents is unsatisfactory. Half-termly newsletters, informing parents of what their child will be studying, are sent out, as are general information letters. These are not translated into the different community languages of the parents. The school does assist with translation on request, but more written information in the community languages of the parents would assist communications between school and home.
p.23
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?
56. The quality of the pupils’ annual reports is mixed. Some reports, for example in Year 6, tell parents what their child knows, understands and can do and give targets for improvement in mathematics and English. Other reports, for example in Year 2, refer generally to whether pupils liked or enjoyed the subject and provide insufficient information about attainment and achievement. Last year’s annual governors’ report to parents had omissions. The school and governing body is aware of these and is checking to ensure that the report this year contains all the required information.
p.23
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?
57. There are two opportunities a year for parents to discuss their child’s progress with the class teacher. Around half to three-quarters of the parents take up this opportunity. A few parents help in school and more are awaiting national checks before they can start. Parents of pupils with special educational need are involved in discussions about the learning needs of their children. Links were much improved as a result of a recent evening for parents to discuss the progress of these pupils.
p.23
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?
58. Parents are encouraged to learn more about their child’s education and also to improve their own skills and education. To assist this, home visits for the new Nursery intake have been introduced, as well as meetings for Year 3 parents and an additional parents’ evening for children with an individual education plan. Several opportunities have also been created for parents to take advantage of free adult classes, some of which are accredited. A mother and toddler group has been started and parents of Year 1 pupils are being invited to participate in the Share project, which assists parents to work with their child at home.
p.23
HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?
59. The parents’ views of the school are satisfactory overall. In the parental questionnaire and at the parents’ meeting prior to the inspection, most of the parents who responded were positive about the school. However, a significant minority was not happy with the amount of homework provided. The school’s homework policy is sent home and parents of pupils in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 have details of the homework timetable. The provision of homework by teachers is satisfactory. There is a home/school agreement but not many parents have signed. Lodge Primary School - 24 - September 2002
p.23
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
60. The headteacher provides the school with a good quality of leadership. She receives effective support from the deputy headteacher and together they are moving the school forwards at a good pace and standards are starting to rise. Overall, the management of the school is satisfactory. A team of senior teachers has been established and is beginning to play a more complete and active role in decision making and organisation. For a number of years, prior to the appointment of the present headteacher, the school lacked this tiered management structure and it is only recently that senior teachers have been given appropriate roles and responsibilities. To some extent they are still learning what those responsibilities entail and how to work together as a fully effective management team. The very good improvements to school leadership and good improvements to management that have been made since the last inspection have made the school much stronger
p.24
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
and are the main reason why it no longer has serious weaknesses.
p.24
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
61. Since her appointment less than two years ago the headteacher has worked tirelessly to lift the school and to establish a positive climate for learning. The success of this strategy can be felt throughout the school in the pleasant but industrious atmosphere that prevails. The school is lively; pupils are motivated to learn and show considerable enjoyment in the experiences that are provided for them. More than anything else, it is this ethos, and the sense of togetherness, equality of opportunity and self-worth that it generates, that is at the root of pupils’ good achievements. The headteacher recognises that, while there have been improvements that are now beginning to have a positive effect on standards, the school has really only laid foundations and a sustained period of continuing development is needed to make it fully effective. The school development plan is realistic. It contains appropriate priorities for development and focuses strongly on
p.24
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
the main priorities for raising standards through improving the quality of teaching and learning.
p.24
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
62. There have been many changes of staff over the last two years. Good appointments have been made and the headteacher is regularly making adjustments to the organisation of the school to get the best from the staff. The quality of teaching and learning is monitored closely by senior staff and the outcomes used effectively to raise the quality of the education pupils receive. It is on the outcomes of this monitoring that many of the staffing decisions are based. The principles of performance management linked to on-going professional development for staff are firmly established.
p.24
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
63. A wide range of information is used to evaluate how well the school is doing and staff are much more aware of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Teachers have a better understanding of the sources and implications of this information than in the past and are therefore in a much stronger position to bring about improvements. Many of these management procedures were lacking when the school was last inspected and have been established from scratch in less than two years. The school sets challenging targets for pupils’ performance in the national tests based securely on a detailed evaluation of performance data. Much better systems for managing and using information of this type have been introduced since the last inspection and the school is able to track pupils’ development more closely.
p.24
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
64. In common with some senior members of staff, most subject and aspect co- ordinators are still learning the finer points of school management. Some, such as the science co-ordinator, are very new to their responsibilities and, because of the Lodge Primary School - 25 - September 2002 school’s past weaknesses, do not have a lot to build upon. However, most subjects are developing steadily and co-ordinators have a satisfactory overview of the curriculum provided for pupils. What is lacking are the systems for teasing out exactly what is being done well and what remains to be developed. Each year, co- ordinators construct an action plan for their subject or area of responsibility. These are of a satisfactory standard but do not focus on the key issue of how to raise standards as sharply as the whole-school development plan. There is a rolling programme of policy review through which all policies will eventually be updated.
p.24
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
Some, however, are well out of date and of very little use whatsoever. The Race Equality Policy was written and has been implemented in line with requirements.
p.25
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
65. The management of the provision for pupils who speak English as an additional language does not function as well as other aspects of school management because a clear strategy for providing support for these pupils has yet to be determined. The funding provided to the school to support the achievement of ethnic minority pupils is spent satisfactorily, mainly in providing support for pupils with very little English but other pupils who have some difficulty with the language do not receive equally effective support. A new teacher with responsibility for managing this aspect of the school’s provision has very recently started work in the school.
p.25
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
66. There has been good improvement in the management of the provision for pupils with special educational need since the last inspection. The co-ordinator has organised the provision well. Individual education plans have improved, and they are regularly reviewed. Parents are much more involved and the success of the provision has resulted in a number of pupils no longer needing extensive support.
p.25
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
67. Governors fulfil their statutory duties and have a satisfactory understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. A good working relationship between the school and its governing body is firmly established. Governors meet regularly, either as a full body or through the committee structure, to discuss the work of the school and to arrive at the decisions which affect its future. However, much of the information governors base their decisions upon comes from reports from the headteacher and other sources and their first-hand knowledge of workings of the school is rather limited.
p.25
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
68. Financial management is satisfactory. The school budget is carefully constructed and regularly monitored to ensure that spending levels are within targets. Links between the school’s spending plans and its priorities for development are well established. The school has accrued a large surplus of funds but is spending the money appropriately to enhance staffing in order to raise standards. To some extent a rather narrow view of the options the surplus provides has been taken and there is scope to improve provision for learning in other ways. For example, resources in the Nursery, Reception and in Year 1 to promote physical development and to stimulate children’s imaginations would enhance the curriculum considerably for the youngest pupils.
p.25
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
69. Grants for staff training and for the support of pupils with special educational needs are correctly spent, although, as mentioned earlier in this section, more could be achieved with the funding provided for pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds. Day-to-day financial management is efficient and makes good use of modern computerised systems. Longer-term projections enable the school to anticipate events and to plan beyond the immediate future. Evaluations of how efficiently funding is spent and the extent to which the school is obtaining best value for money are satisfactory. Lodge Primary School - 26 - September 2002 70. The cost per pupil is a little above the national average. When this is measured against what pupils are gaining from their education at Lodge Primary it is clear that the school provides satisfactory value for money.
p.25
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
71. The school has an adequate number of appropriately trained teachers and support staff. The induction programme for staff new to the school is very good. The school currently has one newly qualified teacher who has a mentor and a development programme that is closely monitored. Currently, an unqualified teacher graduate in the school has a well structured training programme. The professional development of the staff is determined by the priorities identified in the school development plan and the individual needs of the pupils. There is currently a lack of training for English as an additional language, the Foundation Stage and child protection. 72. The adequacy of the accommodation to deliver the curriculum is satisfactory. The school was built almost a century ago and there have been some more recent additions, such as the Nursery. The school has a large adequate playground but no grassed play space, which limits the games pupils can play. The school has some
p.26
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
surplus accommodation but does have plans to use some of it constructively. For example, one large room is due to be turned into a new computer suite for the pupils. The school has disabled access and is on one level. It does not, however, have a disabled toilet. 73. The adequacy of the learning resources to deliver the curriculum is unsatisfactory overall. In the Nursery and Reception classes the resources are inadequate and this is seriously affecting teaching and learning. There is a shortage of resources relating to outdoor play, physical development, creative development and knowledge and understanding of the world. In Years 1 and 2 there is a shortage of resources to stimulate the imagination and encourage educational play. Resources in ICT are unsatisfactory. There is a lack of networking between the computers and a shortage of software. Plans are in hand to address this. The resources in all the other
p.26
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
subjects are satisfactory. Lodge Primary School - 27 - September 2002 74. WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?
p.26
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
The headteacher, staff and governors should now address the following key issues:
p.27
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
1. Raise standards in English by: implementing a whole school strategy for the teaching and learning of speaking and listening; using the National Literacy Strategy less rigidly when planning work for pupils. (Paragraphs 4, 7, 27, 112, 116)
p.27
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
2. Raise standards in mathematics by: providing pupils with more opportunities to solve problems that are rooted in their everyday experiences; making better use of pupils’ numeracy skills in all subjects. (Paragraphs 7, 34, 119, 120, 121, 124)
p.27
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
3. Raise standards in science by: ensuring that in all classes pupils are receiving regular opportunities to carry out a full range of scientific enquiries; identifying clear criteria against which teachers can monitor pupils’ progress; providing the new co-ordinator with training in the skills and techniques of subject monitoring and evaluations. (Paragraphs 7, 128, 131, 133)
p.27
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
4. Improve the quality of teaching and learning by: ensuring that the work provided in lessons challenges all pupils at the correct level; increasing the involvement of classroom assistants in pupils’ learning; ensuring that pupils who speak English as an additional language are given the support they need to make full use of the learning opportunities open to them. (Paragraphs 10, 27, 28, 30, 35, 52, 65, 77, 116, 122, 123, 127, 131)
p.27
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
5. Increase parental involvement in children’s learning by: ensuring that key information is provided in the main community languages; taking further initiative to involve parents in the life of the school and in children’s learning at home. (Paragraphs 54, 55) Lodge Primary School - 28 - September 2002 In addition to the key issues the governors should include in their action plan the following less significant issues:
p.27
HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?
a) Provide a better balanced curriculum for pupils in the Nursery and Reception classes; (Paragraphs 27, 33, 85, 101, 104) b) Make better use of information and communication technology across the curriculum as a whole; (Paragraphs 27, 34, 116, 132, 158) c) Make better provision for the teaching and learning of art and design and raise standards in the subject; (Paragraphs 9, 42, 134, 138) d) Improve resources in general and particularly for the areas of learning in the Nursery and Reception classes, for educational play in Years 1 and 2 and for pupils who speak English as an additional language; ( Paragraphs 25,33,73,80,85,87,102,106) e) Increase levels of attendance. ( Paragraph 18) Lodge Primary School - 29 - September 2002
p.28
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
75. Most pupils in the school speak English as an additional language. The provision made for their learning is satisfactory. If what these pupils know, understand and can do when they leave at the end of Year 6 is compared with their low attainment when they first come to the school, their progress is good overall. However, the school’s provision in this area is not yet an integral part of all aspects of its work and language learning is not yet fully integrated into the curriculum. The good progress made by pupils who speak English as an additional language is due in the main to the positive climate for learning that the school generates for all its pupils, rather than to the specific provision made for this group.
p.29
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
76. Almost all pupils enter the Nursery with very low language skills in English and many have a poor grasp of their own mother tongue. They are extremely shy and bewildered and are reluctant to respond to staff or to join in activities. They are nearly always totally silent. As they move through the school, they become more confident, and by the time they leave to go on to secondary education, most pupils are reasonably fluent in English. In some cases, however, pupils have not gained higher language skills because the teaching does not focus sharply enough on the language learning needs of pupils, and they are not given enough support in lessons. This has a negative effect on standards, which could be raised at all levels, if this issue was addressed.
p.29
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
77. Teaching of English as an additional language is varied. Some class teachers are sensitive to the needs of pupils with little or no English and concentrate carefully on the introduction and repetition of new and specialised vocabulary, but other teachers give too little recognition to the needs of these pupils. As a result, in some lessons pupils have a reduced understanding of the lesson material.
p.29
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
78. The headteacher has taken a strong lead in promoting the achievement of ethnic minority pupils. A co-ordinator with specific responsibility for this are of the school’s work joined the staff this term but, since it is only the second week of term, has made no impact as yet. Teaching staff have had no specific training in the teaching of pupils who speak English as an additional language and are mostly unaware of the stages of English learning. However, a full staff training programme, including training for the co-ordinator, is due to be implemented shortly. As yet no targets are set for English language learning and the school lacks assessment procedures for measuring this aspect of pupils’ development. Pupils who are more fluent in English are not targeted sufficiently to ensure that their learning of vocabulary and grammar keeps pace with the demands of the curriculum. This makes it more difficult for
p.29
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
pupils to gain higher levels in national tests.
p.29
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
79. Teachers and classroom assistants provide effective models of spoken and written language for bilingual learners and pupils also assist each other. There is at present insufficient recognition of the role of the pupils’ home language in the development of English, and pupils are not readily encouraged to speak, write or listen to stories in their own language. Although there are a number of skilled bilingual classroom practitioners, who give good support and encouragement to all pupils, only a few examples were seen of bilingual translation being used to give pupils fuller access to the curriculum and to give them the confidence to participate fully. Lodge Primary School - 30 - September 2002 80. Although there are some dual language books in the school, story tapes in other languages are insufficient. In general resources are inadequate. There are insufficient materials from the range of cultures represented in the school. For
p.29
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
example there are few visual aids, multi-ethnic cooking utensils, clothes for dressing up in the home corner, and multi-cultural music in assemblies and lessons. Some examples were found but there is too little development in this area to enable full ownership of the school by the community.
p.30
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
81. Pupils who speak English as an additional language learn to respect each other and themselves. They are given good opportunities to explore values and beliefs, including religious beliefs, and the way they impact on their lives. The school promotes a good ethos in which pupils can grow and flourish, respect others and be respected. They develop the ability to distinguish right from wrong, learn a moral code, and think of the consequences of their actions. A sense of community is fostered, free from racial tensions, and pupils learn to co-operate well. Opportunities are given for pupils to exercise responsibility, and to participate in a range of cultural experiences. The promotion of pupils’ personal development is the current strength of the school’s provision.
p.30
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
82. The school provides a welcoming environment for pupils who speak English as an additional language, in which they are confident to contribute and in which they feel at home. Pupils are well cared for personally and emotionally by all staff. Refugees have had no trauma counselling made available to them by the Local Authority, and the school has received little extra funding for them. Nevertheless, members of staff and the school community have welcomed these children and their parents and have supported them informally so that they have been fully included in the life of the school.
p.30
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
83. Teachers and other staff are involved in the admission process for pupils to the school and visit all pupils and parents in their homes. However, as yet not enough work has been done to explain school routines or to give information to parents in their mother tongue. Although the school had a mother and toddler group and toy library to which parents and younger children came, at present, official national checks on people in schools have curtailed these activities. Links have been established with some community groups to assist with parental involvement in their children’s education, but this is not yet strongly established. There are as yet no classes for parents to help them to understand or to be involved in their children’s education. The funding provided specifically for the promotion of ethnic minority achievement is spent appropriately. Lodge Primary School - 31 - September 2002
p.30
Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection
Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 39
p.31
Summary of teaching observed during the inspection
Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very Poor
p.31
Summary of teaching observed during the inspection
Percentage 0 11 29 52 7 1 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 over one percentage point.
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Pupils on the school’s roll Nursery YR– Y6
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 30 247
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 0 95 FTE means full-time equivalent.
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Special educational needs Nursery YR– Y6
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 0 6
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 5 95
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
English as an additional language No of pupils
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Number of pupils with English as an additional language 255
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 50
p.31
Information about the school’s pupils
Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 35
p.31
Attendance
National comparative data 5.6 National comparative data 0.5 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Lodge Primary School - 32 - September 2002
p.31
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 2001 9 21 30
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)
National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)
Boys 6 6 6 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 14 16 15
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)
Percentage of pupils School 67 (66) 73 (89) 70 (89) at NC level 2 or above National 84 (84) 86 (85) 91 (90)
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)
Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)
Boys 5 5 4 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 11 11 10
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)
Percentage of pupils School 53 (69) 53 (71) 47 (60) at NC level 2 or above National 85 (84) 89 (88) 89 (88)
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)
Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.
p.32
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 2001 10 25 35
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)
National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)
Boys 3 7 9 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 15 16 18
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)
Percentage of pupils School 51 (28) 66 (46) 77 (33) at NC level 4 or above National 75 (75) 71 (72) 87 (85)
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)
Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)
Boys 4 6 5 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 14 16 15
p.32
Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)
Percentage of pupils School 51 (62) 63 (56) 57 (59) at NC level 4 or above National 72 (70) 74 (72) 82 (79) Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year. Lodge Primary School - 33 - September 2002
p.32
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
p.33
Exclusions in the last school year
White – any other White background 0 0 0
p.33
Exclusions in the last school year
Mixed – any other mixed background 0 0 0
p.33
Exclusions in the last school year
Asian or Asian British – Pakistani 48 0 0
p.33
Exclusions in the last school year
Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 57 4 0
p.33
Exclusions in the last school year
Asian or Asian British – any other Asian background 0 0 0
p.33
Exclusions in the last school year
Black or Black British – Caribbean 10 20 0
p.33
Exclusions in the last school year
Black or Black British – any other Black background 0 0 0
p.33
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.
p.33
Teachers and classes Financial information
Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 12.2 Financial year 2001/2
p.33
Teachers and classes Financial information
Number of pupils per qualified teacher 20.2
p.33
Teachers and classes Financial information
Education support staff: YR– Y6 Total income 826,265
p.33
Teachers and classes Financial information
Total number of education support staff 7 Total expenditure 771,588
p.33
Teachers and classes Financial information
Total aggregate hours worked per week 199.5 Expenditure per pupil 2,890
p.33
Teachers and classes Financial information
Qualified teachers and support staff: Nursery Balance brought forward from previous year 97,968
p.33
Teachers and classes Financial information
Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 1 Balance carried forward to next year 152,645
p.33
Teachers and classes Financial information
Number of pupils per qualified teacher 30 FTE means full-time equivalent. Lodge Primary School - 34 - September 2002
p.33
Recruitment of teachers
Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 7
p.34
Recruitment of teachers
Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 7
p.34
Recruitment of teachers
Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 0
p.34
Recruitment of teachers
Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 0
p.34
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. Lodge Primary School - 35 - September 2002
p.34
Results of the survey of parents and carers
Percentage of responses in each category
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
Strongly agree Tend to agree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
My child is making good progress in school. 52 39 3 2 5
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
Behaviour in the school is good. 61 29 5 0 5
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 35 32 19 6 6
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 37 45 10 3 5
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 60 35 3 2 0
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 61 34 2 2 2
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
The school works closely with parents. 37 42 15 2 5
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
The school is well led and managed. 40 39 6 2 13
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 45 47 3 2 3
p.35
Results of the survey of parents and carers
The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 32 31 10 6 21 Lodge Primary School - 36 - September 2002
p.35
AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE
84. Children in the Foundation Stage attend part-time in the nursery and become full- time on entry to the reception class at the beginning of the school term in which they have their fifth birthday. When the children start in the nursery, their knowledge skills and understanding are considerably lower than expected for their age. Almost all the children have English as an additional language. A small proportion of children are in the early stages of speaking English, but most do not speak any at all. Many children have lower than average skills in their first language. The children make satisfactory progress overall during the foundation stage due to the satisfactory teaching and the activities offered. In the area of personal, social and emotional development, many children are well on the way to meeting the targets for their age. This is due to the good atmosphere in the Foundation Stage and the skilful
p.36
AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE
work of staff in promoting these areas of development.
p.36
AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE
85. Progress is unsatisfactory in the areas of creative development, knowledge and understanding of the world and physical development, due to a severe shortage of resources in these areas, which restricts the curriculum that can be offered. By the time they are five, most children will be well short of the early learning goals in most areas of learning.
p.36
AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE
86. Teaching is satisfactory generally, but better where staff have high expectations of children’s learning, focus the teaching on clear learning objectives, and base the teaching on the prior assessment of the children. This was the case in a lesson about making books, where the teacher had a clear vision of what she wanted to teach, and used her excellent knowledge of the children to target questions at the level of each child’s ability and understanding. Teaching is less successful when the activity takes place without a clear learning intention, and staff do not intervene in a constructive or meaningful way. A strength of the teaching is the way all the staff plan the curriculum together and work together at delivering it. This provides continuity of experiences and gives cohesion to pupils’ learning.
p.36
AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE
87. Accommodation in the nursery and reception classes is satisfactory and there is a good secure outdoor play area. However, the outdoor area is insufficiently developed as a place in which pupils can experience the whole curriculum. Much of the equipment in both classes is shabby and worn and there is a serious shortage of equipment for teaching the areas of knowledge and understanding of the world, creative development and physical development.
p.36
AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE
88. Arrangements for admission to the school are good. Staff visit the children’s homes before they start school and make friendly contact with them. There has been a toy library and a mother and toddlers club in the school but unfortunately official national checks on people coming into schools have curtailed these activities. Overall, the development of parents’ involvement with the school and in their children’s education is unsatisfactory.
p.36
AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE
89. The co-ordinator of the Foundation Stage has given satisfactory leadership in the introduction of the new curriculum but further development is now needed. In particular staff need to give further thought to the making of day-to-day observations of children and how to link these with longer term assessment when planning activities. Lodge Primary School - 37 - September 2002
p.36
Personal, social and emotional development
90. When the children enter the nursery, their skills in this area are very much lower than expected for their age. At first, they are extremely shy, passive and bewildered and are reluctant to respond to staff or activities. They are nearly always totally silent. However, there is good teaching in this area of learning throughout the foundation stage and children gradually settle down and becoming happier and more confident with adults and with each other.
p.37
Personal, social and emotional development
91. Most children flit from one activity to another when they first start Nursery or simply sit and stare and do not join in at all. Gradually as their independence and social skills develop, they become more aware of the activities, and learn to play co- operatively, to share and take turns. Despite this marked improvement, many children still find concentrating on a task for any length of time difficult.
p.37
Personal, social and emotional development
92. The staff help the children to engage in very simple social conversation and take care to ensure that all children are included. This is quite hard work in the nursery due to the children’s lack of spoken English, but in the reception class the children are beginning to participate more fully. As soon as the children begin to feel confident, they become more sociable and make friendly approaches both to one another and to adults, first by bodily gestures, and then by talking to each other as their language develops. Overall children make good progress in this area of learning.
p.37
Personal, social and emotional development
93. The warm, friendly and supportive approach of the adults creates a positive response from the children, over time, and they try hard to please. There are insufficient opportunities, however, for children to choose their own activities, or to make their own decisions, or to explore the full range of cultures that are present in the school.
p.37
Communication, language and literacy
94. The skills of most children are well below the standard expected for their age, by the end of the Reception year. Nevertheless, this represents satisfactory progress from the very low level of children’s English on entry. This reflects the satisfactory teaching in the nursery and reception class and the sensitive way in which all staff help the children to understand stories, instructions and explanations, and to use new English words and phrases. However, bilingual staff make insufficient use of their language skills to support children with English as an additional language.
p.37
Communication, language and literacy
95. Children talk most when working in small groups where adults are present and leading the activity. For example, in the nursery a little boy with no English was able to repeat his name out loud and repeat after the teacher “I am a boy.” In the reception class, children begin to contribute short phrases and sentences. Children in both classes are becoming interested in books and stories. They can turn the pages carefully and by the end of the reception class are beginning to talk about the pictures. They use single words and short phrases to describe what is happening, but are not encouraged sufficiently to use their mother tongue.
p.37
Communication, language and literacy
96. The children’s writing skills are well below what is expected for their age and many nursery children are slow to become interested. However, a minority of children are beginning to attempt to write their names and make marks on paper. Reception Lodge Primary School - 38 - September 2002 children are eager to try to read, and can recognise many initial sounds. A few children can read one or two familiar words in English and recognise the written version of each other’s names. Most can write their own name with correctly formed letters. Opportunities for informal writing and reading are insufficiently developed in creative play in the home corner or other areas.
p.37
Mathematical development
97. Although the children make satisfactory progress standards are well below those normally found at this age. The teaching in this area of learning is satisfactory and staff provide a range of practical and more formal opportunities to develop children’s skills and understanding. Children enjoy singing number songs and rhymes and holding up the correct number of fingers. They experiment with capacity when playing with water and sand, but are not yet able to talk about what they do.
p.38
Mathematical development
98. By the end of the reception year, most children can count to ten, and can add numbers to five. However many children do not have sufficient English to explain what they have done and why. There are insufficient opportunities for children to play with mathematical equipment or to transfer adding, counting or money activities to the home corner or other areas of creative play, so children do not grasp the purpose of numbers as well as they should.
p.38
Knowledge and understanding of the world
99. Provision in this area is unsatisfactory. Teaching is seriously hampered by the lack of equipment such as magnifying glasses, computerised toys and digging tools, and there are insufficient opportunities for children to explore, make predictions and discover things for themselves, using the classroom and the outside environment.
p.38
Knowledge and understanding of the world
100. Staff work hard to encourage children to work independently with the equipment they do have, but most children often resort to copying the teacher’s directions step by step. This was very evident when a group of Nursery children were attempting to wash their dolls. All did exactly the same thing and there was none of the spontaneity often found at this age. When making jelly and attempting to talk about the process, their very poor language skills prevented the children from voicing their obvious curiosity about the activity. As a result children are unlikely to reach the early learning goals in this area.
p.38
Physical development
101. Provision in this area and subsequently children’s progress are unsatisfactory and there are not enough opportunities for children to develop their physical skills both inside school and in the outdoor area. Consequently, most children are unlikely to achieve the standard expected in this area of learning.
p.38
Physical development
102. There are insufficient opportunities for children to experience outdoor play, and when it does occur at playtimes, it is little more than sliding down the slide and riding round on bicycles and scooters. Children are able to move at speed and go slowly on the wheeled toys, and they make good use of space and direction as they move freely around with great pleasure and confidence. They put their own coats on to go out to outdoor play, but are unable to do the buttons up without help. When they take part in physical activities, they have great difficulty taking their clothes off, and putting them back on again. The dolls in the home corner are undressed and have no clothes for the children to practise their skills. Lodge Primary School - 39 - September 2002 103. During physical activities in the hall, reception children have great difficulty with coordinating their actions. Nursery children show that they can walk, jump and hop
p.38
Physical development
in the hall to the teacher’s instructions, but few can skip. Children are beginning to learn how to manipulate paintbrushes, pencils and building blocks, and to explore materials such as playdoh by squeezing and modelling it, but the skills they show are at a low level.
p.39
Creative development
104. The provision in this area of learning is unsatisfactory and children have too few opportunities to progress as far as they should towards the early learning goals. Most children are likely to fall some way short of the targets set for the end of the Foundation Stage.
p.39
Creative development
105. The children start from a very low level of skill and their shyness hampers their development as they are reluctant to try to create for themselves. For example, they enjoy listening to a wide range of songs and rhymes in the nursery sung by the staff, but only half of the children attempt to join in with the words and a few do actions only. Many children are reluctant to join in at all, but just sit and watch and listen.
p.39
Creative development
106. Children can paint portraits of themselves using poster paint, but their drawings are very immature and typical of much younger children. Children could stick ready-cut shapes onto paper, but no opportunities were seen where children chose materials for themselves. A severe lack of equipment for imaginative play results in activities in the home corner being short-lived and uncreative. The fostering of creativity through music or dance is limited.
p.39
ENGLISH
107. The school’s results in national tests for pupils at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 have been well below average for the last four years. Those for pupils in Year 6 have been in the lowest five per cent nationally in some years. The school faces particular difficulties in relation to English not experienced in most other schools. For instance, many pupils are at an early or intermediate stage of learning English and few parents can provide help with reading and other homework. A further difficulty is that there are several languages spoken in the school and so those teachers and support assistants who are bilingual can only help a proportion of the pupils.
p.39
ENGLISH
108. At the time of the last inspection in June 2000, standards in reading were found to be at the expected level for pupils at the end of Year 2 and Year 6. This, however, was not borne out by their results in national tests nor in the subsequent visit by two inspectors in the summer of 2001. In this report standards in reading were given as below average and those for writing were well below average. Currently, the standard of pupils’ work in Year 2 and 6 indicates that pupils are likely to be below average by the end of the year. When what pupils could do on their arrival in school is compared with what they can do by the time they leave, including those who have recently arrived in the school as refugees, their achievements are good. Although they are not yet fully reflected in test results, there have been good improvements, particularly in leadership and teaching, since the previous inspection.
p.39
ENGLISH
109. There are a number of strengths in the provision the school is making in English that are having a positive effect on standards. The teaching of letter sounds and names is good in Years 1 and 2; reading and writing targets are displayed and used Lodge Primary School - 40 - September 2002 effectively in each class; group reading sessions in which teachers assess pupils’ skills and help them gain a range of strategies to tackle unknown texts are organised well; a system of recording pupils’ progress in spelling that identifies where weaknesses lie has been established and there is regular assessment of pupils’ independent writing; pupils with special educational needs and those who are at an early stage of learning English are taught in smaller groups; teachers provide good opportunities for pupils to practise their skills in literacy in other subjects.
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ENGLISH
110. The pupils currently in Years 1 and 2 use letter sounds very effectively to work out unknown words. Higher and average attaining pupils in Year 2 are confident spellers and many are spelling at, and in some cases beyond, the level, expected for their age. For example, in one lesson in Year 2, a higher attaining pupil needed only a few minutes thought to write the word ‘knife’ correctly. Those with special educational needs and those at an early stage of learning English know some letter sounds, such as those in their name, and they try to use these when they read. Some can read simple books with one or two lines of print. Others struggle to match one written word to one spoken word. They need a great deal of support to write very simple sentences. Their needs are well met in a class with more than the usual number of adults. Higher and average attaining pupils write interesting sentences
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ENGLISH
confidently. They are beginning to use full stops and capital letters as a matter of course. Pupils in Year 2 are much further on with handwriting this year than last year, and at least a quarter of the class are writing with a joined hand.
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ENGLISH
111. In Years 3 to 6, good group reading sessions are having a very positive effect on pupils’ reading skills. For instance, teachers explain the strategies that can be used to work out unknown words, and check to see how well pupils use them in their individual reading. In Year 6, higher attaining pupils who speak English as an additional language read fluently at a level beyond that expected for their age but they have difficulty making deductions and inferences from the texts. Pupils with special educational needs and those who are at an early stage of learning English have good support. They read texts that are almost at the standard expected for their age but often need help to understand what they have read. Pupils have a satisfactory knowledge of authors by the time they are in Year 6 but their knowledge of different kinds of books, such as biographies is limited. Pupils written work in
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ENGLISH
Years 3 to 6 is imaginative and of a good length. On occasions, however pupils’ ideas run away from them and sentences are poorly constructed. The correct use of full stops and capital letters is sometimes ignored even by those of higher attainment, up to and including Y6. Grammatical errors that reflect the way pupils speak often slip into their writing. Teachers set similar handwriting activities in Years 5 and 6 to those in earlier years. Most pupils do not need to spend time on these exercises.
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ENGLISH
112. Pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 are well below average in speaking, although they listen quite well. In both age ranges, pupils who speak English as an additional language lack the knowledge of words that you would expect them to know. For instance, a boy of higher attainment in Year 2 was puzzled by the word ‘slide’ when he met it out of context in a book about snails, although he knew it as a playground resource. In the older classes many pupils use too many words in their explanations and have difficulty summarizing their ideas. Teachers provide paired and group activities to encourage talk but many other methods and opportunities are not a regular feature of teaching.
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ENGLISH
113. Teaching is generally satisfactory and often has good features. Teachers establish good relationships with pupils. They have high expectations of pupils, who respond Lodge Primary School - 41 - September 2002 with good behaviour and by working hard. Teachers explain to pupils what they are expected to learn in each lesson and most teachers check to see if these have been achieved at the end. Work is marked well, with ways to improve their work made clear. Sometimes, however, not enough care is taken to see if pupils have understood and put things right before the next target is set. In the best lessons, work is well matched to pupils’ level of attainment and interest. One lesson was unsatisfactory because the teacher provided activities that were too challenging and most pupils could not carry out the expected tasks. This was not characteristic of this teacher’s work and, as with several other teachers, the error occurred because it
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ENGLISH
was very early in the year and they were unfamiliar with the pupils in their new class.
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ENGLISH
114. In Years 1 and 2, teachers make sure that pupils enjoy the books, stories and poems that form such an important part of the lesson. In Years 3 to 6, teachers often hurry too quickly through the part of the lesson in which pupils get to know and enjoy stories and poems. They use the texts to teach grammar and technical points, so that sometimes the enjoyment and therefore a real understanding of the writing and its literary merits, is lost and opportunities to develop pupils’ love of literature are missed.
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ENGLISH
115. The subject is being well led. Effective classroom monitoring has led to teachers developing a good knowledge of the methods recommended in the National Literacy Strategy, for instance, the skill of teaching writing by the teacher composing part of the sentence for the pupil to finish. The co-ordinator has worked hard to address the issues raised in previous reports. However there are still areas in need of improvement.
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ENGLISH
The school has not focused enough on the teaching of speaking. One reason for this is that it has not been a national priority and is only now becoming so. In Years 1 and 2, there are few opportunities, or resources, for pupils to practise newly acquired spoken language by improvising stories or taking on different roles in controlled play activities. There are few opportunities for pupils to negotiate with each other in turn-taking games and no areas for them to talk as they share a book together. In Years 3 to 6, there are not enough resources to help teachers and support assistants make clear the meaning of unfamiliar words, as they crop up in lessons, to those pupils at an early stage of learning English.
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ENGLISH
Whole-school planning does not always help teachers provide a good match to pupils’ stage of learning. Planning in each year group is taken from the appropriate year and term in the National Literacy Strategy. This is good for those pupils who have reached this level but presents problems for those whose English is limited. Teachers adapt work and provide support when in fact an earlier strand of learning is needed.
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ENGLISH
Computers and learning support assistants are not always made best use of in literacy lessons. Some learning support staff are very effective in their work. Others have had too little training and are not guided by teachers sufficiently well to contribute fully to pupils’ learning. Teachers do not make enough use of a range of programs to support those who have fallen behind others, or to push on those of higher attainment. Lodge Primary School - 42 - September 2002
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MATHEMATICS
117. Performance in national mathematics tests shows steady improvement by pupils at the end of Year 6 over recent years. In 2001 the school results were much the same as those of similar schools but still below national average, with performance at the higher levels of attainment well below national averages. In the 2002 tests results, were a little lower overall but there was improvement at the higher levels of attainment.
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MATHEMATICS
118. Standards for pupils in Year 6 are below those expected for pupils of this age but rising as the benefits of work the school is doing to raise levels of attainment starts to show in lessons and in pupils’ exercise books. More pupils are reaching or exceeding the levels expected of the age group than have done previously. Overall there is good achievement as pupils have made significant gains in attainment since they entered the junior classes. Although the school has more to do to ensure the work provided is at a suitable level of difficulty for all pupils and to make more effective use of assessment, the rising standards reflect good improvement since the last inspection. Standards for pupils in Year 2 are below expectations also. But since they were very low on entry to the infant classes, this too represents good achievement. Classroom support for pupils with special educational need helps them
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MATHEMATICS
in their activities and so contributes to the good progress these pupils make.
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MATHEMATICS
119. At the end of Year 2 attainment in number and shape, space and measure is below expectations. The use and application of mathematical ideas are well below what is expected of pupils of this age. Higher attaining pupils have moved from addition and subtraction on to multiplication and division although they are generally still working with lower orders of numbers. For example they can accurately divide a two figure number by a single figure one, as well as finding halves and quarters of simple shapes; measuring to nearest centimetre, and telling the time to the nearest quarter hour. However, they do not yet recognise angles as an amount of turn or how to use information in tables and simple lists. Average attaining pupils have a satisfactory grasp of addition and subtraction and are able to add, for example, ten to 76. They know the names of shapes such as cube, cylinder and sphere and are able find the
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MATHEMATICS
change from one pound after spending 19 pence. Lower attaining pupils are able to add and subtract but only with small numbers. When working with numbers to 20, pupils need to ‘count on’ in order to maintain their position in the sequence and their grasp of number relationships is weak. Much of the work pupils are given to do focuses on task completion to a set routine rather than skill development. As a result there is little evidence of pupils knowing or using the properties of shape, using the position of digits to recognise the value of numbers, or making choices about subtraction or addition when solving problems.
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MATHEMATICS
120. The attainment of Year 6 pupils in number and shape, space and measures is below national expectations. A majority of pupils have a knowledge and understanding of numbers that is close to expectations. However there is a significant minority who do not have a firm grasp of how number systems operate and make frequent mistakes when making basic calculations. Higher attaining pupils are starting to look at different strategies when making calculations and for ways of making calculations easier but most pupils restrict themselves to the method they were taught last and do not yet appreciate that mathematical problems can often be solved in several different ways. When working on other aspects of their mathematics higher attaining pupils can measure angles to the nearest degree and recognise the properties of parallelograms and rhombus’s. Average attaining groups of pupils can calculate the Lodge Primary School - 43 - September 2002
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MATHEMATICS
perimeter of simple rectangles and know the different types of triangles. They recognise simple fractions and measure accurately to the nearest millimeter. Lower attaining pupils count squares to find the perimeter of rectangles. As a result of the good use of group support, pupils with special educational need successfully complete tasks at a suitable level of difficulty and so make good progress.
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MATHEMATICS
121. Attainment in data handling is well below expectations because pupils are give only limited experience in this type of work. Although pupils have met the ideas of mean, mode and range in the curriculum and completed simple surveys of most popular television programs, there is little further evidence of these ideas being used again in other settings. This applies also to the use and application of mathematical ideas, where attainment is below expectations. Pupils learn an appropriate range of methods and techniques, but do not have sufficient meaningful opportunities to develop them as tools to be used in everyday life. This means that after instruction most can perform calculations satisfactorily, but have difficulty applying these skills, particularly when put into an assessment situation. Problem solving and the understanding of mathematical relationships are skills that many pupils need to develop further.
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MATHEMATICS
122. At this very early point in the new school year, pupils in Years 3 to 6 are receiving a satisfactory quality of teaching that has some good features to it that hold promise for future lessons. The best teaching is structured well and has clear objectives. Relationships between teacher and pupils are good, with brisk question and answer sessions that have confident expectations of pupils’ performance. Praise is used well and pupils respond enthusiastically as they take a full part in the lesson. For example, pupils in a lesson in Year 3 worked hard to find total amounts of money, to recognise coins to £1 and to find different sets of coins to the same value. However, individual responses were not often sought, and because questions were not directed to individual pupils, few pupils were called on to explain their answers. This weak use of assessment opportunities suggests that teachers are not focusing
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MATHEMATICS
strongly enough on what pupils have understood but rather on whether they can complete a task. Where the teaching is unsatisfactory, pupils often do not understand the task sufficiently. The teaching focuses on the activity and pupils have slender understanding of the skills they are required to use. This does not help pupils to transfer the ideas to a problem-solving situation where they have to organise information and make decisions about which calculations to use. Teaching and learning were generally less effective when all pupils were given the same challenge, but with higher or lower order numbers for groups of different ability. This did grade the level of difficulty to some extent, but did not help lower attaining pupils to understand better since the tasks and questions were not related well to their level of understanding. Nor did it offer higher attaining pupils the opportunity to use more
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MATHEMATICS
challenging situations in order to test their skills of selecting effective methods to solve problems.
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MATHEMATICS
123. Teaching and learning for pupils in Years 1 and 2 are satisfactory overall. There is some good teaching but the majority of teaching uses a careful and deliberate way of explanation that supports pupils of lower attainment well but lacks challenge for others. Ideas are structured clearly so that pupils understand the processes involved, such as choosing the largest number first when counting on as a method of adding 5 and 9. However, when pupils practise these skills, teachers do not always monitor progress closely and so leave some pupils working in confusion and making little progress. In a good lesson, a class of lower attaining Year 1 and 2 pupils were given simple activities at a suitable level. Carefully structured questions by the teachers helped pupils towards accurate work and an understanding of how to identify their Lodge Primary School - 44 - September 2002 mistakes. However, in general, there is insufficient difference in the work given to,
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MATHEMATICS
and in the teaching methods used with, pupils of differing levels of attainment. Too often all pupils are set the same task with no provision of additional challenge for higher attaining pupils, and no focused support for lower attaining pupils to help them complete their work. While the majority of pupils learn and achieve well, higher and lower attainers could make more progress.
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MATHEMATICS
124. The coordinator for mathematics gives good leadership for the subject and works hard to improve standards. She monitors planning, teaching and pupils’ work carefully and teaches alongside other teachers at times to demonstrate ideas and teaching methods. Information from annual assessments is analysed thoroughly to identify areas of weakness and to monitor the progress of pupils against targets based on previous performance. However, the assessment information is not yet helping teachers to identify a better way of providing pupils with challenge. Some use is made of the opportunities that other subjects provide for pupils to consolidate and practice the skills they are gaining in mathematics lessons. However this is not a strong feature of the curriculum and more could be done to widen the context of pupils’ learning of numeracy.
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SCIENCE
125. At the end of Year 6, pupils’ attainment in science is below national expectations. This represents a distinct improvement in the two years since the last inspection, when standards were very low. Many pupils enter the school with very little knowledge and understanding of the world in which they live. The majority leave at the end of Year 6 with a sound grasp of a range of scientific principles and much better understanding of why things happen around them in the way that they do. Overall, pupils achieve well in science in the time they spend at the school. A significant proportion of pupils have special educational needs and find learning in science more difficult than other pupils. Despite these difficulties these pupils apply themselves well and make clear and sustained progress.
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SCIENCE
126. In 2001 pupils’ performance in the national tests was well below the national average but much the same as that of schools in a similar context. Early indications from the 2002 tests indicate that a similar proportion of pupils attained the nationally expected level and that the pattern of results is similar to last year. At the time of the last inspection results were very low in comparison with similar schools and here too there is clear evidence of the good improvements the school has made. Maintaining the improvements made in 2001 was made more difficult by a cohort of pupils who had been low attaining throughout their time at the school. This provides a strong indication that the improvements the school has achieved are being sustained.
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SCIENCE
127. Improvements have been made to the quality of teaching in Years 1 and 2 and this issue from the last inspection has been successfully addressed. Consequently pupils’ attainment by the end of Year 2 is starting to rise. By the end of this school year pupils in Year 2 are likely to attain standards that are below the national average but much better than in the past. The emphasis teachers are placing on practical work is starting to pay dividends and most Year 2 pupils are now able to carry out a simple test with a satisfactory level of success. Lower attaining pupils still need considerable support to complete a test successfully but there is also a significant minority of higher attainers who are showing good levels of independence and who are starting to make decisions for themselves. In a lesson on the properties of materials, higher attaining pupils were able to reach their own decisions
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SCIENCE
about the softness, ‘springyness’ and elasticity of a range of materials, but lower Lodge Primary School - 45 - September 2002 attaining pupils quickly became confused as to what they were looking for and needed regular help from the teacher or classroom assistant.
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SCIENCE
128. The pupils currently in Year 6 are benefiting from the changes in the way the subject is taught that have been made over the last two years and standards are continuing to rise. Consequently there are more pupils reaching or exceeding national expectations than in previous years and to a large extent this is why the judgement on standards in this report is higher than last year’s test results. By the end of Year 6 the majority of pupils have a range of factual knowledge that is at a level appropriate for their age. They can, for example, explain how forces act on a falling body and why pulse rate varies with exercise. Most understand how different mixtures can be separated and higher attaining pupils readily use terms such as evaporation and condensation with understanding. Fewer pupils have the range of science skills expected because up until recently this aspect of their learning has not
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SCIENCE
been as effectively taught. This is no longer the case and pupils’ skills are strengthening, but it will take time to bring them up to the level of their factual knowledge. For example pupils know that an investigation needs to incorporate a fair test if it is to provide reliable data, but are not yet fully conversant with how to make a test totally fair or what to do when results show anomalies.
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SCIENCE
129. Over 80 per cent of pupils speak English as an additional language and many find understanding technical terms and remembering the meaning of science specific words difficult. The school has recognised this as a barrier to learning and introduced science vocabulary lessons in all classes. These are received with much interest and enthusiasm by the pupils, and although it is very early days, the benefits are already being seen in pupils’ explanations and in their writing. Overall, pupils who speak English as an additional language maintain the same good rate of progress as other pupils. Pupils from refugee families are given the support they need to participate fully in science lessons and they too make good progress.
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SCIENCE
130. Although much of the teaching in the lessons seen during the inspection week was of a satisfactory standard, it should be recognised that it is still very early in the school year, several of the teachers are new to the school and established teachers are still forming working relationships with their new classes. Taking a broader view, pupils’ good achievement over time reflects very positively on the quality of teaching in the school. Also, the approaches teachers were using and the manner in which they were challenging pupils strongly suggest that once the school has settled the teaching will strengthen further.
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SCIENCE
131. Teachers provide pupils with interesting activities which generate excitement and encourage them to participate fully. Pupils’ attitudes to science are good. They are keen to find out for themselves and try hard to meet the objectives the teachers set. Pupils get on well together and both boys and girls readily share ideas and responsibilities during group activities. In most lessons standards of behaviour are good, although some are still learning how to listen effectively and in their excitement they can get a little too noisy. An issue within teaching that needs careful attention is that of ensuring that the work given to pupils takes full account of their differing levels of attainment. In some lessons the activity and expectations are not varied enough to provide the correct level of challenge for all pupils. Subsequently higher attaining pupils find the activity easy and quickly work through it, while lower
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SCIENCE
attainers struggle to keep up. To a marked extent this issue relates to weaknesses in assessment during lessons. Teachers are not clear enough about what they are measuring pupils’ achievements against, particularly their science skills, and therefore do not have all the information they need when planning activities for the Lodge Primary School - 46 - September 2002 pupils. Some improvements have been made to the way the school monitors pupils’ progress but more work is needed to increase the effectiveness of the regular, on- going assessment.
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SCIENCE
132. Teachers make good use of the opportunities science lessons provide to extend pupils’ literacy skills. Pupils are required to record their observations and to produce written reports of what they have done. In some lessons the method of recording teachers encourage pupils to use could match the ‘plan, do, evaluate’ structure of the National Curriculum better but the skills pupils are learning in literacy lessons are extended well in science. Teachers provide satisfactory opportunities for pupils to use the mathematics they are learning, mainly through measuring and the recording and interpretation of the data they collect during investigations. Information and communication technology is not used as much as it should be, chiefly because of difficulty with resources. Improvements planned for the near future should enable improvements to be made in this area.
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SCIENCE
133. The school has made satisfactory progress in ensuring that the subject is monitored regularly, mainly through the detailed analysis of test results and through the senior managers’ overview of the whole curriculum. However, a secure system through which the subject co-ordinator can regularly evaluate provision and its effect on pupils’ learning has still to be established. The co-ordinator has only very recently taken on responsibility for subject but has recognised that this aspect of the management role is a priority for development.
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ART AND DESIGN
134. The last inspection identified weaknesses in art, such as low standards, the lack of a coordinated approach to developing pupils’ skills, and a narrow experience in art and design for the pupils. Insufficient progress has been made in tackling these issues. Standards are below average and too low at the end of both Year 2 and Year 6. Across the school as a whole pupils’ progress is unsatisfactory. The school still lacks a coordinated approach to developing pupils’ skills to ensure progress in key areas such as painting, drawing and modelling. The opportunities pupils have to experience different media and art techniques are too limited. In Years 3 to 6, for example, the art work seen was almost entirely coloured pencil drawings connected with other areas of the curriculum. Not enough work derived specifically from the art and design element of the National Curriculum.
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ART AND DESIGN
135. In the lessons seen during the inspection, the teaching was mostly satisfactory and indicated that, with a better structured curriculum, much more could be achieved. A particularly effective lesson in Year 3 combined work on personal, social and health education with art work where pupils drew carefully observed story boards displaying situations and emotions. They then transposed these situations into dramatic representations which they designed, recorded and printed in story board form using the digital camera.
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ART AND DESIGN
136. A successful lesson in Year 2 utilised the teacher’s artistic flair for design. A collection of found natural objects from the school garden was used very well to inspire imagination in the pupils. They learned about design and how to arrange displays and then represent them in carefully and closely observed drawings. The high level of challenge of the activity resulted in work of a good standard being produced by the sustained concentration and persistence of the pupils. Lodge Primary School - 47 - September 2002 137. In Year 3 a good example of a collaborative project involving art, literature and music was carried out by two artists in residence. This produced a 3D model of a tower of dreams and a booklet of stories, pictures and masks which is of a high quality and much valued by the school. In this one example pupils’ spiritual and cultural development was promoted well, but other opportunities to extend pupils’
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ART AND DESIGN
appreciation of the art of different cultures are missed.
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ART AND DESIGN
138. The co-ordinator, although keen, has no specific skills or knowledge in art and has difficulty moving the subject forward. Staff expertise generally is limited in art and design and they have as yet not undertaken training in specific art techniques or explored a range of media themselves. As a result, many pupils are missing out on valuable creative experiences. Pupils have recognised this and expressed a wish themselves to participate more in art and design, as they enjoy it so much.
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
139. Pupils’ attainment in design and technology is in line with national expectations by the end of Year 2 and Year 6. This represents a good level of achievement and clear progress by all pupils, including those with special educational needs and pupils who speak English as an additional language.
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
140. By Year 2, pupils know a range of different ways of joining materials together and have begun to appreciate some of the finer points of construction, such as pinning pieces of fabric together to hold them securely for sewing. They describe in detail how they made glove puppets, although all but the higher attainers have difficulty finding the words to explain themselves fully. What is clear is the amount of pride and pleasure pupils derive from being able to make things for themselves, reinforced by being able to take them home to play with and to share with others. Many pupils have very limited resources at home and the opportunities teachers provide through design and technology are important to their personal development and self esteem.
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
141. Year 6 pupils design and make to a satisfactory standard, know how to analyse commercial products and make worthwhile evaluations to improve the quality of their work. The work they did last year as Year 5 pupils was particularly effective in developing their understanding of the processes involved in designing and making. This development is continuing in Year 6, where pupils are currently learning how to gather the information they need before taking decisions about structure and materials. Some of this work involves investigating materials, which makes good links with science.
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
142. The teaching at this early stage in the new school year is satisfactory and has the potential to be good. In the most effective lessons, the work is set at a very challenging level but in a way that encourages pupils to try their best. Last year, in Year 3, pupils were required to construct a moving model using pneumatic systems. On the face of it, this is a very difficult task for pupils of this age but, because the teacher set the work in an interesting context, pupils were motivated to try hard. The designs of monsters with jaws which open and close by inflating and deflating balloons show that pupils have securely grasped the principles of simple mechanics and are beginning to appreciate how models can be made to move.
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
143. When planning what they will do end evaluating the things they have made, pupils are encouraged to make full use of the literacy skills they are acquiring and the use of English during design and technology lessons is often very productive. Teachers do not emphasise mathematics as well in design and technology and more could be Lodge Primary School - 48 - September 2002 done to extend pupils’ use of numeracy, particularly their ability to measure and their understanding of proportion, dimension and scale.
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
144. Many of the findings of the last inspection continue to apply and, although there is no one with specific responsibility for managing this subject, there has been steady development in the school’s provision for design and technology. This is due to the efforts of individual teachers rather than whole-school initiatives. The lack of a co- ordinator adversely affects subject monitoring and evaluation. The results of this can be seen in the variations in provision between different year groups. These range between very good and satisfactory.
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GEOGRAPHY
145. Standards in geography are broadly average by the end of Year 6 and most pupils have the knowledge and skills expected of eleven year olds. This is a very good improvement since the last inspection, brought about by a far more comprehensive and better taught curriculum. Throughout the school all pupils, including those with special educational needs and pupils who speak English as an additional language, make good progress and achieve well.
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GEOGRAPHY
146. By the end of Year 2, pupils’ attainment is below expectations for their age, but considerably better than when they first joined the school. They develop an appreciation of how the geography of an area influences the lifestyle of the people who live there. They understand, for example that the modes of transport used by people living on a small island differ considerably from those they are used to seeing around Sandwell. This work is building successfully on what pupils did in Year 1, where they learned much about the area in which they live.
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GEOGRAPHY
147. The development of pupils’ knowledge of different places continues through Years 3 to 6, with teachers gradually broadening the scope of the work pupils are doing. Pupils in Year 3 learn about the weather as a foundation for studying climatic conditions around the world in Year 5. They gain a solid understanding of how the weather influences physical conditions, which Year 4 pupils are able to use when comparing their own lifestyle with that of children in an Indian village. Pupils’ geography skills also build progressively as they learn how to read maps and use coordinates effectively. By Year 6 pupils are able to grasp how rivers form and how the water we have on the planet is continually being recycled by natural events. Many are able to consider wider issues and are able to reflect sensitively on how the waste produced by human beings pollutes the seas.
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GEOGRAPHY
148. The quality of teaching is currently satisfactory and some of pupils’ work from last year shows evidence of good teaching. Teachers have secure subject knowledge and teach it confidently. They are able to interest the pupils in places and events that shape the world. Pupils respond with an enthusiasm for the subject and a willingness to apply themselves well in lessons. Year 6 pupils have recognised and appreciate the improvements that have been made to the geography lessons in recent times and make sensible suggestions as to what they would like to develop further, such as the opportunity to go on extended visits. Feeling that they can express their views openly in this ways reflects well on the relationships teachers establish with pupils and on the personal development which results.
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GEOGRAPHY
149. Teachers encourage pupils to use the correct vocabulary when putting forward their ideas or answering questions, but a more structured approach to the teaching of Lodge Primary School - 49 - September 2002 speaking and listening would benefit pupils’ ability to express themselves and help increase the detail of their work.
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GEOGRAPHY
150. The curriculum is much broader than it was at the time of the last inspection although opportunities for pupils to participate in practical field work are still somewhat limited. A climate of development has been firmly established and there are no reasons why the subject should not continue to improve in the future. Thorough procedures for monitoring and tracking pupils’ progress are yet to be established, although teachers mark pupils’ work carefully and provide them with useful feedback.
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HISTORY
151. Standards in history are well up to expectations at the end of both Year 2 and Year 6 and pupils of all ages make good progress. There has been a good improvement since the last inspection, due to effective subject management. The co-ordinator has strengthened the history curriculum throughout the school, provided strong leadership, and carefully monitored what is being done and achieved by pupils.
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HISTORY
152. Teachers have risen to the challenge and history teaching is now at least satisfactory and often good throughout the school. Artifacts, such as old toys, are used well to stimulate pupils’ ideas and imagination and to encourage them to reflect on the recent past. There is skilful use of video footage to give pupils an insight into the life and times of people at various periods in history, such as during the Second World War. With careful support from the teacher, pupils learn how to access a range of different sources of information to find out about the past and to express their views and feelings about what they find out. Pupils are encouraged to imagine what life was really like for people in the past and to contrast it with their own. Teachers challenge the pupils to reflect on what they are learning about the past, and to compare it with what they know about the present day. This encourages sensitivity
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HISTORY
and appreciation of some of the advantages and disadvantages that modern living provides.
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HISTORY
153. Teachers manage pupils well and succeed in encouraging a love of history in the pupils. Pupils’ response is good. They are lively and enthusiastic and keen to find out more. One weakness in the teaching is that pupils’ appreciation of the passage of time is insufficiently developed. There is too little use of time lines and other methods to give pupils a grasp of time scales and almost all refer to all the past as the ‘olden days’.
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HISTORY
154. The progression in pupils’ learning is a further strength of the curriculum. They start in Year 1 by recalling their own and their teacher’s life as a baby and a child, and their teacher’s life as an adult. They collect artifacts from their lives and examine the differences with the passing of time. By Year 4, pupils are able to look at the consequences of events, such as Boudicca’s revolt, as well as learn the details. Two years further on, Year 6 pupils are thinking hard about some of the social issues that affect societies. While studying the civilisation of Ancient Greece they consider the implications of slavery and of differences in voting rights.
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HISTORY
155. Skills of historical enquiry and the use of artifacts have improved since the last inspection and are now satisfactory. There is a good supply of artifacts and other resources to support the curriculum, including big books and other literacy resources to link with the English curriculum. History is used well to extend pupils’ learning of literacy but does not promote numeracy as effectively. Basing the curriculum on real Lodge Primary School - 50 - September 2002 things brings the subject to life and ensures that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and pupils who speak English as an additional language, are able to participate fully in lessons and subsequently achieve well. History makes an effective contribution to the aims of the school.
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
156. Standards for pupils in Year 6 are in line with those expected for pupils of this age. These are better than those found at the time of the previous inspection and this represents good achievement by the pupils. Pupils with special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language make good progress as a result of their full inclusion in lessons and the opportunity to work at appropriate levels of attainment. Samples of work show pupils using word-processing for poetry, book reviews and opinions about issues of importance. Spreadsheets are used to develop calculations and record information from surveys. Multimedia software is used to create presentations that include graphic images and text as well as sound effects. There is evidence of sensing and control being used to develop a security system for a model house and a traffic light sequence. However, standards are not as high as they could be. There is no email opportunity for pupils, and a significant
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
lack of hardware in the information and communication technology suite means that a great deal of work has to be done on worksheets as pupils await an opportunity to use the computers.
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
157. Standards for pupils in Year 2 are below those expected for pupils of this age, but pupils make satisfactory progress in relation the skills they have when they first enter the Year 1 class. Standards have improved since the last inspection and are no longer unsatisfactory. Pupils with special educational needs also make satisfactory progress. Pupils show appropriate accuracy in the control of the mouse when moving images around the screen. They can select icons from the tool bar and make appropriate choices about a sequence of actions. However, there is too little use of word processing to write, or to ask questions of information collections. Although pupils do start up software and close down to the log in page, they have no files of their own work on the computer. These standards are not as high as they could be because pupils have limited access to the hardware and many lessons are spent on
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
worksheets that try to teach about computer skills. This is due to a serious lack of suitable software. The units in the information and communication technology suite are not all loaded with the same software and the central server is not working efficiently.
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
158. Teaching and learning are satisfactory overall throughout the school with, on occasions, some good and very good teaching. The very good teaching of a class of lower attaining Years 1 and 2 pupils handled the problem of limited access to hardware well, with clear explanation and good organisation of the pupils. Careful checks were made to ensure they had understood and skilful advice given if they had not. The result was a well behaved and hardworking group of pupils who helped to make the lesson a success by sharing and turn-taking willingly as they concentrated fully on the tasks of moving images around the screen. This lesson made a good contribution to the pupils’ social development. The teacher of a Year 6 class managed the lesson well by sorting the class into two groups and carefully introducing a quite complex multimedia programme to each group in turn. Pupils listened attentively and were able to make immediate use of their skills and ideas so
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
that effective learning followed smoothly. One pupil who had already benefited from the introduction was planning a book on rivers that would include text and illustration on the title page and a moving river with sound effects on a second page. The pupil Lodge Primary School - 51 - September 2002 had checked this possibility on the software. However, the lack of sufficient software and the organisational difficulties of teaching large classes without access to the software frustrated much of the teaching. As a result few teachers used information and communication technology resources within their classrooms as they are stand- alone and not linked to the main server unit. As a result pupils and teachers make insufficient use of information and communication technology to support learning in other subject areas. The problem with resources was one factor in an unsatisfactory lesson with too many objectives, in which the teacher tried to develop pupils’
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
mathematical skills at the same time as their skills in information and communication technology.
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
159. Leadership and management of the subject are satisfactory since there is now a structured curriculum for information and communication technology and all teachers are making a consistent effort to teach this programme. Training opportunities have been used to increase teacher confidence and there is a greater frequency of appropriate teaching in the subject. However, resources for the subject are in serious need of development. The computer suite is not reliably networked and software accessibility is unreliable. Classroom units are not linked to the main server and software is purchased on an unstructured basis by subject co-ordinators. There is little reference to the scheme of work when purchasing this software. There are plans for the installation of a new computer suite as part of a local community project, but this has not yet reached a stage of specific action.
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MUSIC
160. No music lessons took place during the inspection, so it was not possible to judge the standard of pupils’ attainment in the subject. Pupils receive a well planned programme of work with all lessons conducted on a Friday. The lessons are planned by a specialist music teacher from the local authority’s service and delivered for half a term by this teacher and for the other half term by the class teacher.
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MUSIC
161. Pupils in Year 6 sang with evident enjoyment during a lesson on religious education. They spontaneously broke into song when their teacher played a music tape with which they were familiar. Several made the comment that it was their ‘favourite.’ They sang tunefully and with good diction.
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MUSIC
162. A part-time teacher has been appointed recently as music co-ordinator to develop and increase the part music plays in the life of the school. She has good plans to offer guidance to non-specialist teachers and to increase the range of percussive and tuned instruments and their use. A small number of pupils receive specialist music teaching, including those from Year 5 and Year 6 who are learning Indian drumming.
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
163. Standards in physical education in Years 2 and Year 6 are in line with those expected of primary age pupils. Year 1 pupils showed growing awareness of body shape as they linked basic actions to represent ideas of forces such as push and pull. They showed appropriate control and co-ordination as they squashed and stretched their bodies in a sequence of movements. Year 6 pupils demonstrated expected skills of ball control as they worked in pairs and used a racquet to strike the ball from one to the other over a range of distances. The less successful pupils managed at least four consecutive exchanges and the most successful managed a high number of consecutive strikes. Discussion with the co-ordinator established that Lodge Primary School - 52 - September 2002 the majority of pupils would be able to swim the expected 25m by the end of Year 6. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 are judged to be making satisfactory progress in the subject
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
with those in Years 1 to 2 making good progress as a result of the gains made in control and co-ordination from the foundation years.
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
164. There has been satisfactory improvement in the delivery of the physical education curriculum through the use of a structured scheme of work, and game skills are now developing well. Lessons are providing the full range of curriculum. Swimming in the spring term, athletics in the summer term and orienteering around the school grounds. There is a good range of extra-curricular activities such as football, table tennis, dance and karate.
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
165. Teaching and learning are satisfactory through Years 1 to 6 with some good teaching seen. All teaching is planned well and follows a structured sequence of warm-up, skill development and cool-down. Pupils are made aware of the results of vigorous exercise and the value of raising the heart rate and developing stamina and flexibility in the body. Pupils respond well in lessons, they work hard at the activities with minimal disruption and seek to achieve greater control and skill. Good teaching was seen for example in a lesson for Year 4 pupils. They listened carefully to instructions and followed them accurately. As a result they made real gains in the skills of ball control, using their fingers to push the ball slightly forward in order to travel along with the basketball. By the end of the lesson, they could bounce the ball while running, clap on the bounce of the ball when it was thrown to them and catch it
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
safely. This lesson made a good contribution to the spiritual development of the pupils. They thoroughly enjoyed the lesson and the personal satisfaction from their achievements gave them real gains in confidence and self esteem.
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
166. Where teaching was less successful the pace of lessons was slower. This was due mainly to the inexperience of young teachers who were focusing clearly on class management in an open setting. This meant that activities were explained in too much detail and the organisation of pupils into groups took too long. Praise was used well when pupils were selected for good performance, but opportunities were missed to raise the performance of individuals by extending the challenge or emphasizing to pupils the good qualities in the examples used.
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
167. The co-ordinator for physical education has developed the extra-curricular provision and improved teaching since the last inspection. Resources are much improved and teaching now follows a structured scheme of work. The subject is celebrated through events such as a recent Commonwealth Games Day and the pupils’ cultural and social awareness is developed through a dance club that puts on performances for elderly citizens in the community. However, there was a low time allocation for physical education during the inspection, with pupils from Years 3 to 6 receiving only one lesson per week. This is significantly below national averages.
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
168. The school provides a good programme of work for pupils based on the syllabus agreed by the local authority. This has helped pupils make good progress in each year group. By the end of the year, pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 are likely to attain the standard expected for their age. This is similar to the findings of the inspection in June 2000. However, at that time, pupils were given little opportunity for reflection or to explore issues relating to their own lives. There has been good improvement in this aspect and, overall, improvement in the two years has been good. Lodge Primary School - 53 - September 2002 169. Many of the pupils come from homes where faith is an important part of daily life. There are far more religious beliefs represented in the school than in most primary schools. Teachers have not only taken account of this in their lessons, but have made it a very positive focus in their teaching. Pupils are often asked to tell others
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
about the customs and practices that they learn of at home and to name symbols and celebrations in their own language. Teaching is good. There are good discussions in lessons in the younger classes about the issues that affect their lives. In older classes, wider issues affecting society are explored.
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
170. The inspection took place at the beginning of the Autumn term and so pupils were at an early stage of learning in that year’s programme of work. Pupils in Year 2 knew the names of several different faiths and could explain what food was eaten at the Jewish festival of Rosh Hannah and the Muslim festival of Eid. They knew some simple aspects of the Christian faith. In Year 6, when discussing the principle of charity, an important component in the beliefs of many religions, a pupil of average attainment said, “It means to be to others how you would like them to be to you,” an explanation which would be hard to better.
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
171. When recording their knowledge pupils with special education needs achieve a lower standard than others but their knowledge and understanding are similar to others because they are interested in their lessons and encouraged to participate. In Year 6, for example, all pupils, including those who were at an early stage of learning English and those of lower attainment, contributed to whole-class learning and discussion about our responsibilities to the natural world. This was because the teacher planned good ways to include them at a level at which they could succeed.
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
172. Teachers use religious education well to improve pupils’ spoken language and their writing and reading skills. For example, in Year 4 the teacher with special responsibility for supporting pupils who speak English as an additional language spoke part of a story from the Sikh religion in one of the home languages of the pupils. At the time of the last inspection visits to places of worship were planned. One or two have taken place but pupils would benefit from more visits to the many different places of worship in the local community.
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