Birkby Junior School

BIRKBY JUNIOR SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 10 th – 14 th March 2003

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BIRKBY JUNIOR SCHOOL

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

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BIRKBY JUNIOR 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. Birkby Junior School - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Mead Street Fartown Huddersfield

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Name of chair of governors: Mr K Anglesey

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: February 1998 Birkby Junior School - 4

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

2616 Mr P H Cole Registered inspector Information and communication technology Art and design Educational inclusion What sort of a school is it? How high are standards? How well are pupils taught? How well is the school led and managed? 14404 Mr A Rolfe Lay inspector How well does the school work in partnership with parents? 19026 Mr B Downes Team inspector Science Religious education English as an additional language

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

100053 Mrs J Simms Team inspector English Physical education How well does the school care for its pupils?

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

20301 Mr P Isherwood Team inspector Geography History Music How good are curricular and other opportunities?

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

2615 Mrs E Parry Team inspector Mathematics Design and technology Special educational needs

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Peak Education Partnership Cockerham Hall 17 Huddersfield Road Barnsley S70 2 LT

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway Birkby Junior School - 5 London WC2B 6SE Birkby Junior School - 6

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 6

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

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HOW HIGH ARE STANDARDS? 11

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Birkby Junior is a large school. It has 364 pupils on its roll. Many of pupils’ families have come from a number of different countries, mainly Pakistan, to settle in this country. Nearly two thirds of the pupils do not speak English as their first language. There are also a small number of pupils who are refugees from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Test results shortly before transfer to the school at the start of Year 3 indicate pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills are close to those of most pupils of the same age. The number of pupils who have free school meals is well above average and the community suffers from considerable economic hardship. More pupils come into, and leave, the school during each year than is usually the case. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs is similar to that found in most schools, but far more of them have statements to help them than is usually the case. Many of the difficulties that these pupils face are to do with learning but

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

several have behavioural difficulties. The school receives several grants, including Excellence in the Cities and the New Opportunities Fund. In September 2002 a new headteacher was appointed following nearly three years of uncertainty due to temporary appointments.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

The school is not providing a satisfactory education for its pupils. Standards are not high enough. This is mainly because there is too much unsatisfactory teaching and aspects of leadership and management of the school are not good enough. The school provides poor value for money.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

What the school does well • The recently appointed headteacher and chair of governors have a good understanding of the weaknesses in the school and have begun to take effective action to tackle them. • Pupils are enthusiastic about school and mostly get on well with each other.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

What could be improved • Results have not been good enough and pupils do not achieve as well as they should. • Teaching is unsatisfactory. • Most of the teachers with additional allowances do not make enough contribution to the leadership and management of the school. • Although there are exceptions, the support given to pupils who need help in learning English as an additional language and those who have special educational needs is not as effective as it should be. • Not enough is done to find out what pupils know, understand and can do and to tackle weaknesses they may have in their learning. • Parents have little opportunity to become involved in helping their children. • Not enough is done to help pupils develop awareness of themselves and their feelings, emotions and beliefs. • Attendance is unsatisfactory. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan. Birkby Junior School - 8

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

In accordance with section 13 (7) of the School Inspections Act 1996 I am of the opinion, and HMCI agrees, that special measures are required in relation to this school.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

The school was last inspected in February 1998. The school was judged to provide a satisfactory education but there was a need to improve: standards in science, geography and information and communication technology (ICT); the consistency in the quality of teaching; the planning of pupils’ learning and the assessment of the progress they were making; parents’ involvement with their children’s learning and attendance. Standards remain too low in science, geography and ICT (although they are now improving in this subject) and are now not high enough in English and mathematics. Teaching is still inconsistent and too much of it is unsatisfactory. Many of the weaknesses in planning what pupils will learn have been tackled but some remain. The assessment of what pupils know, understand and can do is still not effective in helping teachers identify what pupils need to do to improve. Parents have few opportunities to help their children with their work and attendance remains unsatisfactory.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

The new headteacher and chair of governors are now providing a clear direction to the school and are taking action necessary to bring about improvements, but most senior teachers are not effective in fulfilling their responsibilities. Overall, progress in improving the school since its last inspection has been poor.

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STANDARDS

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

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STANDARDS

Performance in: all schools similar schools Key

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STANDARDS

English E E E B 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

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STANDARDS

The table shows that the school’s results in the Year 6 tests in 2002 were well below the average for schools across the country but they compared at least satisfactorily with those achieved by schools with similar levels of free school meals. The results achieved in 2002 were well below what could reasonably have been expected, given the same pupils’ results when they were tested in Year 2. This suggests the Year 6 pupils had not made nearly as much progress as they should have done from Year 3 to Year 6. Results have been consistently well below national averages and occasionally worse, as in science in 2001 when they were in the lowest five per cent of schools. The difference in the performance of boys and girls is less marked than in other schools. The school did not quite manage to achieve the modest targets it set itself for the 2002 tests although more pupils reached the expected level, particularly in mathematics and science, than in the previous year.

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STANDARDS

The inspectors found that by Year 6 pupils in the school are achieving well below what is usually expected in science and below the expectations for English, mathematics, ICT, religious education, art, geography and history. Given what they know when they come into the school, pupils’ achievements are not high enough in all these subjects except for history, Birkby Junior School - 9 where they are closer to the national expectations. Those pupils who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) and those who have special educational needs (SEN) who benefit from regular purposeful help achieve satisfactorily, but the majority of pupils who are identified as learning EAL or with SEN and who do not receive focused support do not achieve as well as they should.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Satisfactory.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Personal development and relationships Satisfactory.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Attendance Unsatisfactory and below average.

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PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Pupils’ behaviour in classes is often good but can be rather boisterous during break times. Pupils clearly enjoy school and mostly show good involvement in their lessons. There are incidents of bullying and some of these involve minor levels of racial harassment. These are taken very seriously by the school and appropriate action is being taken to reduce such occurrences. Overall attendance rates are depressed by pupils taking extended holidays to visit relatives in the countries their families originally came from.

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

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

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

There is too much unsatisfactory teaching in the school. Fewer well taught lessons were seen during the inspection than is usually the case in primary schools and ineffective teaching was found in each of the different year groups, reflecting the inconsistency reported on in the last inspection. Teaching is particularly weak in science mainly due to low expectations of pupils and inappropriate methods that limit the development of pupils’ investigational skills and their ability to develop independence. These weaknesses are evident in other subjects. In many lessons, too few opportunities are provided to improve pupils’ skills in writing or to encourage them to apply their mathematical understanding through the excessive use of unchallenging worksheets that do not take account of the different needs of pupils in the class. Ineffective use is often made of the extensive help that is available to support pupils learning English as an additional language and on occasion those with special

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

educational needs. In too many lessons the teachers employed to assist pupils learning English as an additional language simply share the teaching of the class and do not work in ways that promote effective learning of English. This leads to many pupils struggling with technical language and, in English lessons, with the cultural context of passages that are used to develop reading and writing skills. Learning assistants are often given little guidance Birkby Junior School - 10 to help them work with particular pupils. Many lessons lack urgency because teachers talk too much and their questioning does not encourage pupils to improve their speaking skills or challenge them to extend their thinking. As a result the pace of pupils’ learning is often too slow.

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

There are well-taught lessons where confident teachers maintain a lively pace, encourage pupils to be independent and have suitably high expectations that lead them to challenge pupils to move forward in their learning. When learning assistants work with identified pupils, sometimes on their own initiative and usually out of class, they are effective in helping them to improve

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TEACHING AND LEARNING

Teachers’ marking of pupils’ work is often very superficial and rarely provides pupils with an understanding of what they need to do to make their work better. Very little homework is set and it makes very little impact on pupils’ learning.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

The quality and range of the curriculum Unsatisfactory, because of the inconsistent opportunities offered to pupils in several subjects, for example science and music.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils with special educational needs Unsatisfactory overall but effective for particular pupils when they are given well-targeted support.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils with English as an additional language Unsatisfactory; provision is not planned coherently and depends too much on the individual interests and skills of those who provide the support.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural, development Unsatisfactory because there are insufficient opportunities for pupils to consider their own feelings, emotions and beliefs.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

How well the school cares for its pupils Unsatisfactory, because of weaknesses in what the school does to assess what pupils have learned.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

The school’s links with parents are underdeveloped and parents are given few opportunities to help their children learn. They are given little information on what their children will learn and very little homework is set. Reports to parents on the progress their children have made vary considerably in the quality of information they provide and the ease with which they can be read. Pupils’ progress in English and mathematics is measured regularly but the information gained is of limited practical use. Little is done to identify strengths and weaknesses in their knowledge, understanding and skills or to use such information to make their learning more effective. Birkby Junior School - 11

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff The new headteacher is providing strong leadership and effective management. Most other senior staff have made little effective impact in the aspects of the school’s life they are responsible for.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Satisfactory. They now receive better information to help them in their duties.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

The school’s evaluation of its performance Unsatisfactory because of the lack of contributions made by senior teachers.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

The strategic use of resources Unsatisfactory. Funds for English as an additional language and special educational needs are not used effectively.

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HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

The headteacher has a good understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses based on her monitoring. She has a clear vision for the school, high expectations and is taking appropriate action to bring about improvements. She is well supported in this by the knowledgeable and committed chair of governors. With the exception of the mathematics co- ordinator, teachers with responsibility allowances have done little to identify strengths and weaknesses in their areas and have not taken effective action to bring about improvements. This is particularly the case with the leadership and management of provision for EAL and SEN and has led to unsatisfactory support for pupils and inefficient use of expensive resources. The school does not yet make sufficient use of the principles of best value to help ensure that the pupils in the school are provided with the best education possible.

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PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved • Their children are expected to work hard. • Teaching is good. • Their children like school. • There is not enough homework. • Behaviour in school. • The school could work more closely with parents and keep them better informed.

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PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

The inspectors agree that pupils do enjoy school, and that there should be better provision made for homework and more effective links with parents. The inspectors found behaviour to be satisfactory but also understand why parents may have some concerns. They do not share parents’ views on the quality of teaching, which was found to be unsatisfactory. Birkby Junior School - 12

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

1 Standards achieved by pupils in the school are not high enough. This is reflected in both the national test results and the findings during the inspection. On the surface the results in the national tests look to be satisfactory. Although they are well below those achieved by all schools across the country they compare favourably with schools that have similar levels of free school meals when the high proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is taken into account. However, when the Year 6 results are compared to what the same pupils achieved in their Year 2 tests the results are very disappointing. This can be seen in the school’s own records of the pupils as they have moved through the school. The information on the current Year 6 pupils’ writing for instance shows that close to a half of them have not made the expected gains between Year 3 and the start of Year 6. Lessons, pupils’ completed work and discussions with inspectors show standards in all of

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

the core subjects to be noticeably below national expectations and particularly so in science.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

2 In English, inconsistency in the methods used to develop reading, lack of identification of pupils’ language skills and inappropriate use of EAL teachers, who often work as general support assistants or team teach without providing structured support, leads to standards being too low. Pupils are not encouraged to provide extended responses when speaking, or helped to understand the technical nature of vocabulary or its cultural context, or to produce accurate, well thought out and presented written work. This leads to clear weaknesses in all of these aspects of English. In mathematics, pupils are not consistently given work that builds on what they have already learnt. This is particularly evident in Year 3 and leads to a fall off in the standards that pupils are achieving. As in English, many pupils in Year 6 still struggle with technical language; lessons also often lack sufficient challenge and activities

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

are often not effectively matched to pupils needs, particularly for the lower attaining pupils. This again results in pupils achieving standards below what they could reasonably be expected to achieve given what they had achieved at the end of Year 2. Standards in science are poor. Pupils have considerable weaknesses in their abilities to conduct scientific investigations (identified as unsatisfactory in the last inspection) and in recording and presenting their work independently. These weaknesses stem from the teaching that too often prevents pupils from conducting their own investigations and from the use of over- directed recording tasks and worksheets that limit what pupils can do. A consequence of ineffective teaching in science is that the subject does little to help pupils develop their literacy and numeracy skills and indirectly contributes to standards that are too low in both.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

3 Pupils do not achieve well enough in several other subjects. Standards are too low in ICT, mainly because there are gaps in pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills. In Year 6 pupils have little understanding of how databases work and what they can do and they have no understanding of how computers can be used to monitor events, such as temperature changes outside, or to control other devices. However, the subject is now taught regularly, there are improved resources and teachers have had training to improve their skills, and these are beginning to make an impact on raising standards more quickly than before. Pupils have sound knowledge of religions but do not understand sufficiently the impact that religion can have what people believe and how they behave and as a result they are achieving below the expectations of the agreed syllabus and standards are not high enough. In geography, pupils’ knowledge is weak and they lack basic skills and an understanding of geographical

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

vocabulary. Although much of the art work is attractive and promotes a sound understanding of cultural dimensions, techniques show little development from Year 3 to Year 6 and pupils do not demonstrate sufficient skills in working in three dimensions. Birkby Junior School - 13 4 Standards are in line with expectations in physical education and just below expectations but broadly satisfactory in history. There was insufficient evidence to make judgements on standards in design and technology and music.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

5 The few pupils who are clearly in the very early stages of acquiring English as an additional language are very well supported in lessons by learning assistants and make good progress. The teachers employed specifically to promote the learning of English as an additional language do not effectively support pupils who are at the next stage of learning English as an additional language. Little is done to plan for their needs and they are often not the focus when the EAL teachers are working alongside class teachers. These pupils form a large proportion of the school population and they achieve unsatisfactorily as a result.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

6 Where pupils with special educational needs are provided with support individually or within small groups, they make good progress. Examples of this were seen in the way that a pupil who has problems with behaviour was sensitively supported by both the teacher from the Pupil Referral Unit and his class teacher; he is being helped to cope with increasingly longer spells in school. A few pupils are making good progress in relation to their special needs for literacy because of individual support. In other situations where there is no targeted help, pupils make the same progress as their peers and this is often not good enough because of weak teaching. Pupils with special educational needs do not make enough progress in some lower sets for mathematics. This is partly due to lack of challenge and weak teaching that affects the whole group but also because the few pupils who do have special needs for mathematics do not necessarily have individual plans to guide teachers to

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

7 Overall standards are not high enough because of unsatisfactory teaching and the often ineffective provision made for many pupils with specific needs including those learning English as an additional language and those who have special educational needs.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

8 Pupils’ attitudes to learning, their behaviour and personal development are satisfactory. Relationships in the school are satisfactory overall and often good in class. Attendance is unsatisfactory. The overall attendance rate is below the national average and unauthorised absence is above the national average. Registration is undertaken morning and afternoon and meets statutory requirements.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

9 Overall, pupils’ attitudes to learning are satisfactory. Almost all pupils enjoy coming to school. Discussions with pupils in all year groups indicate they have positive attitudes to learning and are able to identify favourite subjects . The majority of pupils are interested in what they are doing and want to take an active part in their learning. For example in a Year 5 science lesson where pupils were investigating ‘change of state’, pupils were keen and eager to contribute to classroom discussions and maintained their concentration throughout the lesson. They enjoyed sharing ideas and supporting each other and therefore made good progress. Most pupils take reasonable care with their work; they are willing and able to talk about their work and explain their ideas to inspectors.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

10 Overall the standard of behaviour is satisfactory. In most lessons, behaviour is at least satisfactory and often good. Most pupils are aware of what is and is not acceptable behaviour. They like the school’s merit system and readily accept the principle of sanctions as an appropriate response to instances of poor behaviour. In only a few lessons were there any instances of pupils being involved in low level inappropriate behaviour, and on almost all occasions this was when teaching lacked pace or challenge, and pupils lost interest in the Birkby Junior School - 14 lesson. Behaviour at breaks and lunchtime is just satisfactory. There is a significant amount of boisterous behaviour on the playground that involves physical contact and can lead to injuries. Pupils treat school equipment with care and respect, there is no evidence of pupil- generated vandalism and there is little or no litter around the school. Bullying is an occasional

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

problem but the school has in place an anti-bullying policy that makes clear it will not tolerate bullying, and both parents and pupils have indicated that these procedures are effective. There were permanent and fixed term exclusions in the last academic year. In the current academic year fixed-term exclusions have risen, mainly due to the introduction and application of a rigorous new behaviour management policy. However, the rates of exclusion generally match the national average for a school of this type and size. There are a small number of recorded racist incidents which the school now logs and tackles immediately.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

11 Pupils make satisfactory progress in their personal development. Relationships between teachers and pupils are mostly good. They often are between pupils, who co- operate well together in pairs and groups when they are given the chance and they are willing to listen to and consider the views of others. Relationships are less strong out of class where name calling and boisterous behaviour sometimes with racial overtones bring them down. Pupils in all year groups show a willingness to take additional responsibilities, undertaking a range of duties as classroom monitors; older pupils help to supervise the playground and assist lunchtime supervisors during wet play times. However, pupils have limited opportunities to demonstrate initiative, for example, in their own learning, because in almost all lessons learning was teacher directed. Pupils are developing well their understanding of the cultures in the school and sound awareness of cultures from other societies. They are

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

encouraged to reflect on the impact on their actions on others, although for a minority awareness of others’ feelings is not always evident in their behaviour.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

12 Attendance is unsatisfactory. Overall attendance is well below national averages and unauthorised attendance above the national averages. The school’s attendance is adversely affected by the number of pupils who make extended visits to the countries their families came from. Registration is undertaken morning and afternoon and meets statutory requirements.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

13 The last inspection found there was too much inconsistency in the quality of teaching across the school. This is still a weakness of the teaching, but of even more significance is the amount of unsatisfactory teaching found across the school. There is unsatisfactory teaching in all year groups and in most subjects and some teachers who taught good lessons also taught unsatisfactory ones. Too many lessons have weaknesses that outweigh their strengths and compared to many schools the proportion of well taught lessons was small. Overall teaching is unsatisfactory.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

14 Most of the lessons seen in English and mathematics were sound, but there was unsatisfactory teaching in both subjects and in science half of the lessons observed were unsatisfactory. There are serious common weaknesses in teaching across the school that contribute to teaching being judged unsatisfactory in both English and mathematics and unsatisfactory overall which include the marking of pupils’ work and the inadequate provision for homework. Marking is poor. It mainly consists of ‘ticking’ work to indicate it has been looked at. Very few comments are made and these rarely provide pupils with any indication of what they need to do to make their work better. Homework is set occasionally, does not add to what is taught in lessons and fails to make any significant contribution to pupils’ learning. Birkby Junior School - 15 15 The planning of lessons is weak. It rarely identifies how the different needs of pupils

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

will be met and this leads to lessons that do not ensure that all pupils achieve the intended objectives. On occasion teachers are not clear enough about what pupils are expected to learn and do not think through how they will teach the main objective of the lesson. This can lead to pointless activities and pupils completing tasks without understanding why. For example, in an unsatisfactory lesson in ICT the pupils followed the teacher’s instructions without realising or being helped to understand that they were sorting on particular fields of a database to find suspects for a crime. Teachers miss many opportunities across all subjects to give pupils opportunities to develop their speaking skills and to practise, extend and enhance their skills in reading and writing in purposeful contexts. In many lessons teachers talk too much and ask few questions that challenge pupils to think and to provide complete

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

reasoned answers. In a mathematics lesson the teacher talked throughout the session and pupils had very few opportunities to contribute or be actively involved. As the lesson progressed they became increasingly detached, their behaviour deteriorated and little was achieved. In science lessons teachers often demonstrate experiments and sometimes ask few questions that challenge pupils to hypothesise or to explain what is happening. When this is the case pupils add very little to their learning and are not stretched or extended. In many lessons teachers use worksheets that limit how pupils can record their ideas. Subjects such as science, history, geography and religious education therefore make little contribution to the development of pupils’ literacy skills. Similarly, teachers do not encourage pupils to apply their mathematical knowledge and understanding to record and present what they have found

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

out by, for example, devising tables and using graphs. The worksheets often take little account of the differing abilities of pupils; some children find them to easy to do while others struggle to complete them.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

16 A major weakness in teaching is the use made of EAL teachers. They do not contribute sufficiently to the planning of work in the year groups they support. English lessons, for example, suffer because little is done to ensure that pupils who need help are identified and supported. The content of lessons is not modified and adapted to meet the needs of the many pupils in each class who speak English as an additional language and insufficient effort is made to ensure that pupils understand the technical language that is being used. Many of these weaknesses apply in lessons in other subjects. The many lessons that do not take sufficient account of the range of ability of pupils compound this problem and adversely affect not only the pupils with English as an additional language but also those who have special educational needs who do not receive additional support.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

17 Overall, the teaching and provision for pupils with special educational needs is unsatisfactory. Support assistants provide valuable help, for example with programmes to help pupils to learn to read and write better. One has taken on an initiative to provide additional therapy sessions at lunchtime to help a small group of pupils with their physical co- ordination. Pupils with physical problems have the support that they need and develop positive attitudes to those who help them. In contrast to these examples, there are too many other times when pupils who are on the school’s register for special educational needs are not well supported and there are clearly examples of lack of general understanding by teachers of the whole issue of special educational needs. These include:

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

• responding to the request for samples of work from pupils with statements of educational need by providing work from pupils who are on the school’s register for special needs but do not have statements; • identifying most of the pupils in the lowest set for mathematics as having special educational needs when many of them are not on the register; • individual education plans which lack detail about numeracy even though this is a requirement on the statement; • lack of support in one classroom and five adults in the one next door; Birkby Junior School - 16 • removing a pupil who has recognised problems for behaviour from a class for inadequate reasons.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

18 Features found in the well-taught lessons included: teachers showing good subject knowledge teaching with confidence and with a lively pace that engaged pupils’ interest and successfully encouraged them to work hard; asking questions that challenged pupils to think and being careful to include pupils from across the ability range in this, all of these were seen for example in a mathematics lesson in Year 6; challenging pupils to develop independent learning skills, for example by researching information in a history lesson on the Ancient Greeks.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

19 Teaching is now judged to be worse than it was at the time of the last inspection. It is a major reason why pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

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PUPILS?

20 The quality and range of learning opportunities provided by the school are unsatisfactory. There was no clear overall judgement on the quality of the curriculum in the previous inspection report. The previous report did highlight the fact that the curriculum did not satisfactorily cater for pupils’ spiritual development or include opportunities for pupils to exercise initiative and responsibility. There has been unsatisfactory progress in addressing these issues. There have been improvements in giving pupils responsibility but these are mainly teacher directed and there are too few opportunities for pupils to develop independent learning skills. The curriculum still does not cater effectively for pupils’ spiritual development.

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PUPILS?

21 The school covers all the subjects of the National Curriculum and religious education. There is a strong emphasis on the development of language skills, which is particularly appropriate to the needs of the large majority of pupils who have English as an additional language. The curriculum is broad but it is not balanced. Time allocations are low for many subjects and topics are not always covered in sufficient depth, for example in geography. There is a long period without history being taught in Year 6, which limits opportunities to consolidate and develop pupils’ learning. In science, too little time is spent on developing pupils’ investigative and enquiry skills and this restricts independent learning. In music, the time allocation varies between classes within year groups, resulting in inequality of opportunity. When studying religious education, too much emphasis is put on learning about religions at the expense of their learning from them; this limits opportunities for spiritual

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PUPILS?

development. The school has been slow to adopt the National Literacy Strategy and the three-part lesson has only recently begun to be used to develop language skills. The National Numeracy Strategy has been introduced but it has not yet had an effect on raising standards and pupils do not make sufficient progress in mathematics. The curriculum for the higher attaining pupils has been modified recently, for example by bringing in teachers from a local high school to teach; this is at an early stage and has not yet had an impact on learning. Links between subjects are developing satisfactorily, for example between English and history when pupils learn about Greek myths and legends. There is some use of ICT across the curriculum but opportunities to develop research skills are not used sufficiently. 22 There has been satisfactory progress in improving planning since the previous inspection and schemes of work are now in place for all subjects. It has been recognised by

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PUPILS?

the school that the present long-term planning in music does not fully guarantee step-by-step development as the pupils move through the school. Monitoring and evaluating curriculum provision are inconsistent and as a result it is difficult to ensure that there is equality of opportunity for all pupils. Birkby Junior School - 17 23 The provision for pupils’ personal, social and health education is unsatisfactory because it is applied inconsistently across the school. At present, there is no co-ordination to ensure that there is a consistent approach. Discussion groups (called ‘circle time’) in which pupils talk about their feelings and topics such as ‘respect’ take place in some classes but not all. Circle time has been introduced recently and comments from Year 6 pupils show that it is starting to have a positive effect on developing self-esteem in the classes where it takes place. There is satisfactory provision for drugs and alcohol awareness involving the local

p.16

PUPILS?

police force and other agencies. Provision for sex education is good and takes into account the cultural backgrounds of the pupils. The governors’ policy on sex education now meets legal requirements.

p.17

PUPILS?

24 The provision for extra-curricular activities is satisfactory. Pupils have opportunities to take part in an art club, table tennis club, a ‘Bolliwood’ dance club, football and a steel band. There is an occasional choir, which performs in public, for example in the local music festival. Pupils develop their learning by visits out, for example visiting a neighbouring area in geography and visiting churches, mosques and a temple. Visitors into school including the community police officer, actors and musicians have a positive effect on developing learning.

p.17

PUPILS?

25 There are some good examples of curriculum provision for pupils with special educational needs such as the co-ordination sessions for pupils with dyspraxia, physiotherapy, phonics programmes and links with the Pupil Referral Unit. However, on the whole the wider group of pupils with special educational needs is based in classrooms; therefore their curriculum provision is the same as their peers and is often unsatisfactory. The curriculum for pupils with English as an additional language is unsatisfactory because of the specialist teachers are not deployed effectively. They do not provide sufficient input into the planning of work for the large number of pupils who are learning English and their time is not used well to support the learning of these pupils. Because of this pupils who speak English as an additional language are not ensured full access to the whole curriculum provided by the school.

p.17

PUPILS?

26 The school’s provision for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is unsatisfactory because of the lack of opportunities to promote spiritual development. There has been unsatisfactory progress since the previous inspection when opportunities to develop spiritual development were also judged to be unsatisfactory. The school has satisfactorily addressed the key issue of failing to comply with the regulations regarding collective acts of worship and now meets legal requirements.

p.17

PUPILS?

27 The provision for spiritual development is unsatisfactory. The collective acts of worship are used effectively to enable pupils to think and reflect in silent periods. Opportunities to develop this further, for example by using music at the beginning and end of the collective worship, are missed. Teachers do not plan opportunities to develop pupils’ spiritual awareness, for example the beauty of colour in art or the wonder of the world in geography. There are examples of developing spiritual awareness in religious education but these are not fully developed because of too great an emphasis being placed on learning about religions rather than from them. There are some opportunities for pupils to think, reflect and talk about their feelings, for example in the recently introduced discussion groups (circle time) in Year 6. These are not organised for all pupils, therefore there is inequality of opportunity.

p.17

PUPILS?

28 The provision for moral development is satisfactory. Pupils are taught right from wrong. The school rules have recently been revised and are now positive and easy to understand. Pupils were not involved initially in setting up the rules but they were discussed with them. A system of rewards and merits has been established. Comments such as those from a Year 5 pupil, who explained that he was working very hard to obtain his silver award, Birkby Junior School - 18 show the system is having a positive effect. Most staff take a positive approach to behaviour management. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on inappropriate behaviour by saying what they did, why they did it and what can they do to make it better. There are opportunities for pupils to discuss moral issues in lessons, for example when learning about the life of Henry VIII in history. These opportunities are not formally planned and rely on the expertise of

p.17

PUPILS?

individual teachers. In collective acts of worship and aspects of the English curriculum teachers use stories and fables with moral messages, for example The Hare and the tortoise .

p.18

PUPILS?

29 Provision for social development is satisfactory. Within classes teachers give pupils opportunities to work together in mixed gender and ethnic groups and pairs. Older pupils act as prefects and help look after younger pupils during wet break-times. Pupils in Year 5 develop their social skills well when they act as reading partners with pupils in Year 3. In all classes pupils are given opportunities to carry out monitorial tasks. There are too few opportunities for pupils to develop their independence skills, for example by suggesting their own topics for research or working on their own on computers. Pupils have few opportunities to express views on what they like at school and what they would like to see improved. This has been recognised by the headteacher and future plans include setting up a school council.

p.18

PUPILS?

30 The provision for cultural development is satisfactory. There are some good elements, particularly the way the school reflects the cultural mix in topics chosen in the geography curriculum. Opportunities for pupils to discuss matters related to living in a multi- ethnic society are inconsistent at present. The school celebrates major religious festivals in school. Art and music are used effectively to illustrate non-western culture, for example displays of African art and the steel band. A visiting specialist uses dance from a wide variety of regions to develop an understanding of culture and tradition. The school makes good use of the ethnic mix of staff by using them to talk about their cultures and traditions. In religious education pupils learn about the world’s major faiths thus developing cultural awareness. The recently introduced circle time in Year 6 includes opportunities to discuss living in multi-ethnic

p.18

PUPILS?

communities but it is not yet available to all pupils.

p.18

PUPILS?

31 There are satisfactory, improving links with the local community. There has been satisfactory progress since the previous inspection when links were underdeveloped. These links are starting to have a positive effect on pupils’ learning. Pupils are given as wide an experience as possible when learning about places of worship, by visiting a church, mosque and temple. There are good links with the local police force and the school nurse that involves her talking to pupils as part of the sex education programme. The ‘Fast Lane’ reading partnership has resulted in volunteers working alongside pupils to effectively help them develop their reading skills. More recent links which are starting to have an impact on developing learning and resources include those with a local supermarket and a branch of a national clothing chain. Pupils help others, for example by running a ‘Blue Peter’ bring and buy sale and raising money for ‘Comic Relief’. There are satisfactory links with other local

p.18

PUPILS?

schools. There is regular contact with the main feeder infant school. Pupils and staff from the infant school visit Birkby Junior School and staff from Birkby visit the infant school. Liaison with the secondary schools is a little more difficult because of the large number of different schools chosen at the end of Year 6. There are satisfactory procedures in place to ensure that pupils transfer with few problems. There are satisfactory procedures for links with local colleges and teacher training institutes.

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

32 The school provides a safe and caring environment. The standard of individual care, support and guidance provided for pupils is effective and enables them to feel happy, Birkby Junior School - 19 confident and secure. Staff and pupils are known to each other and interact together both inside and outside the classroom. Pupils are mainly confident that they can approach their teachers should they have any problems either of a personal or academic nature, and that appropriate support and guidance would be forthcoming. Overall, the school provides pupils with a sound level of care and support that enables pupils to concentrate on their lessons and has a positive impact on pupils’ learning.

p.18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

33 Occurrences of bullying and racial harassment are taken very seriously, recorded in detail and prompt action is taken to deal with each incident. There are a small number of pupils with special needs related to behaviour. These pupils are managed well and given good individual support. Exclusions, although running at a relatively high level, are used purposefully and appropriately within an increasingly positive approach to managing behaviour, which is beginning to make an impact on improving behaviour generally. The pupils with special needs related to behaviour are managed sensitively with appropriate individual support and use of exclusion when it is judged to be unavoidable.

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

34 There are satisfactory procedures for child protection and pupils’ welfare. The headteacher is the designated teacher and has received appropriate training. Staff training was undertaken some while ago, and when questioned some support staff could not recall this training. The school is committed to providing a safe working environment for staff and pupils, and arrangements for health and safety are satisfactory. The health and safety policy meets statutory requirements. Procedures for general risk assessments are in place and inspections are carried out on a regular basis. First aid provision is good, there are appropriate numbers of qualified first aiders and good records of accidents and injuries are maintained. A small number of minor health and safety concerns were brought to the attention of the headteacher, most of which were rectified during the inspection.

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

35 Procedures for monitoring and promoting attendance are broadly satisfactory although they are not always effective. Parents are advised of the need for regular and punctual attendance, and are asked to inform the school of the reasons for any pupil absence. Teachers monitor pupils’ absence and bring to the attention of the headteacher any concerns they have about the attendance of individual pupils. The school is aware that some pupils make extended visits to their parents’ country of origin and actively discourages such absences during school time, but with limited success. There are a small number of pupils with poor attendance records and the actions taken to date have not significantly improved the attendance of these pupils. This is primarily due to recent problems with availability of the school’s community development worker, and the lack of an educational welfare officer. A new community development worker has recently been appointed.

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

36 The school does a great deal of summative assessment, that is measuring where children are, particularly in English and mathematics. This is mostly based on commercial tests at term or year ends, and is assessed using the criteria set by the publishers. In mathematics in particular, this system is unhelpful because it grades pupils only against the expectations for their age. If they match this, grades provide a level related to the National Curriculum. When so many pupils are below average, though, these systems are unsatisfactory because they do not inform teachers of where most pupils are, in terms of level, but of where they are not. Teachers only know that the pupils are somewhere below the expectation, not showing pupils’ actual progress. Such assessments are also unhelpful because they are retrospective, so do not involve the teacher’s judgement on where pupils are in terms of levels of the National Curriculum. In English, the assessment co-ordinator has

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

put in place a more useful system of identifying where pupils’ levels are, if they fall below average. This could usefully be extended further across the school. Birkby Junior School - 20 37 Little is done to identify what individuals and groups of pupils can and cannot do. There is no mechanism therefore to fine tune the curriculum and teaching to ensure that weaknesses in pupils’ learning are tackled and strengths systematically built upon. Marking, usually regarded as the first element in the process of assessment, is not good enough. It often consists of just a ‘tick’ even in the core subjects; it does not help pupils to know what they need to do get better. A key missing element in the school’s assessment systems, impacting more adversely on English than elsewhere, is the lack of information for teachers about the levels of English language acquisition of pupils in their classes. The co-ordinators

p.19

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

for EAL have chosen not to use the local authority’s systems for assessing the progress of pupils who speak English as an additional language. This system has not been replaced by a consistent alternative. As a result assessment for pupils with EAL is unsatisfactory and teachers cannot be aware of what progress pupils are making or what additional support and resources may be needed to improve their learning. With so great a proportion of the school’s population learning EAL, this component is crucial if teachers are to understand the full picture of their pupils’ needs. This aspect of assessment is very weak and requires urgent improvement.

p.20

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

38 Assessment in science is also a weakness which the school acknowledges. This is currently poor, providing no useful information about this core subject. The same is true for ICT. In most other subjects of the curriculum, the school has barely begun assessment procedures, so is well behind provision nationally. In Year 3, the accuracy of teachers’ assessment of mathematics skills is incorrect in about a quarter of cases. Teachers need further training to ensure that they fully understand the levels of the National Curriculum in this subject, but the accuracy of teacher assessments in English prior to the statutory tests for eleven year olds has improved. The key issue for the school to improve is to develop systems which enable teachers to track pupils’ progress formatively, providing group and individual targets which can become specific learning objectives for pupils to work towards. This is particularly urgent for core subjects.

p.20

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

39 Overall, the school’s partnership with parents is unsatisfactory. There are significant weakness, in relation to how closely the school works with parents and the support it gives to parents to help their children’s learning, both at home and at school.

p.20

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

40 Overall, the quality and range of information provided for parents are satisfactory. The school prospectus and governors’ annual report provides a wide range of information about the school and its activities, although they do not contain all the required statutory information. Regular newsletters and letters about specific events ensure that parents are aware of current school issues. Parents are invited to three parents’ meetings a year, at which they can discuss their children's progress. However, pupils’ annual reports are inconsistent in quality. The majority give adequate information about pupils’ strengths, but many do not provide parents with a clear understanding of what pupils need to do to improve. The school consults parents when it is required to do so; for example, parents’ views have been sought on the proposed changes to the school day. There are procedures to involve the parents of

p.20

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

pupils who have special educational needs in the development and review of their individual educational plans, but there is no record of parents’ attendance and involvement in these reviews and there are examples of parents not knowing what is in their child’s individual education plan.

p.20

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

41 Parents’ involvement in their children’s learning is unsatisfactory. They receive little information on what their children will be learning, parents do not help in classes, and until the current academic year the school had not taken any measures to encourage parents to be Birkby Junior School - 21 involved in their children’s learning in school. The school therefore misses opportunities both to use parents’ skills and to support learning in small groups. However, a significant number of parents from the Asian community attend the weekly ethnic minority support group, run by the school’s bilingual assistant. Parents receive basic instruction in mathematics, science and English which is intended to help these parents to support their own children more effectively.

p.20

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

42 The effectiveness of leadership and management of the school has suffered over the recent years through the absence due to ill health and subsequent retirement of the previous headteacher, followed by a period of temporary replacements. This has undoubtedly contributed to the poor progress made in tackling the issues from the last inspection and until recently the lack of purposeful direction in the leading the school forward. The new headteacher has quickly identified the strengths and significant weaknesses in the school and with the strong support of the professionally knowledgeable chair of governors has effectively begun to put things right. Already the learning environment has shown considerable improvement, the management of the school’s finances, which was poor, has been sorted out and long-standing major issues to do with the deployment and effective use of the EAL teachers are being tackled. Much still needs to be done, particularly in relation to

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

the inconsistent and unsatisfactory teaching that is found across the school and the impact of post holders, as the headteacher’s own monitoring shows.

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

43 The ethos of the school does not place sufficient value on the provision of high quality education and high standards; the expectations of many members of staff need to be raised. A culture has developed within the school that staff should be rewarded for any extra responsibilities they undertake and many teachers do not have any responsibilities above those of teaching their classes. Several teachers therefore have a number of responsibilities. Unfortunately insufficient expectation has been placed on them that these responsibilities need to be fulfilled. In only a few cases have post holders taken action that has led to the identification of strengths and weaknesses within their areas and little has been done to bring about any improvements. The role of the deputy headteacher has not been sufficiently developed; he has had no class responsibilities nor any significant leadership or management role and has therefore made little impact on the work of the school. The

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

delegation of responsibilities has been managed poorly.

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

44 Until recently the governors have not been sufficiently informed of the situation in the school. They have developed an effective committee structure and are now provided with more detailed information about the school’s activities and are discussing evaluations of the school’s performance. The governors are fulfilling their responsibilities satisfactorily and provide good support to the headteacher. They are beginning to fulfil their roles as ‘critical friends’ to the school.

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

45 The headteacher, with good support from the local education authority, is undertaking an appropriate and effective programme of monitoring the work of teachers and post holders. This is identifying where help needs to be given and clear guidance and expectations provided to individuals. Overall, post holders have done little to find out how effective the provision is in their areas of responsibility. There have been few efforts made to check that the plans for pupils’ learning are followed or to evaluate the quality of their delivery and the impact these have on what pupils know, understand and can do. As a result very little action has been taken to bring about improvements. Birkby Junior School - 22 46 The process for securing funding from the local education authority for pupils with special educational needs has been managed satisfactorily and necessary funding has been achieved. In other respects, the leadership and management for special educational needs

p.21

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

are unsatisfactory. The register for special educational needs has only recently been set up. Some teachers have limited understanding of the procedures and criteria for placing pupils on this register. Following encouragement from the co-ordinator, teachers have been gradually taking on the responsibility for writing individual education plans for pupils. These are of variable quality and the process for ensuring that these plans are in the correct classrooms is not secure when pupils move into sets for mathematics. Of the four pupils with special educational needs who were interviewed, only one really knew what her need is and none could recall discussions to take account of their views. The new move to use a professional computer program to write individual plans will provide a better framework for this because it asks for the pupils’ views about what they need.

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

47 The leadership and management of the co-ordinators who support EAL are poor. The deployment of teachers with responsibility for supporting pupils with EAL is inflexible and poorly managed. The co-ordinators rarely carry out their role of supporting and developing the skills of class teachers to ensure that all pupils with EAL make good progress.

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

48 Valuable resources, such as the additional staffing to support pupils with EAL have not been used well enough, although recently the funding from Excellence in the Cities has started to be used appropriately and with some effect to improve the provision for more able pupils. As has been described earlier the four EAL teachers mostly work as extra teachers and provide little added quality to the learning of the many pupils who would benefit from their expertise. There seems to be no clear rationale for deciding the pattern and allocating the time for support assistants to help pupils with special educational needs and no co-ordination with other staff to ensure the best possible provision for all pupils. For example, it was observed that one teacher in a classroom with no other adult was trying to provide individual support to a struggling pupil whilst there were five adults in a neighbouring classroom. The

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

timetables for support assistants show more support on some days than others, with relatively little on Fridays.

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

49 The arrangements for staff appraisal meet requirements and have been improved recently with the linking of individual targets to school priorities. Teachers’ expertise in ICT has improved since the last inspection as a result of the nationally funded training that has been undertaken, although some individual weaknesses remain. Resources for religious education and ICT are also much better than they were at the time of the last inspection and effectively support the delivery of the curriculum. Attractive new books have been recently bought for pupils who are receiving special help with their reading. As there are only two of each, when there are three pupils, two must share. This is not ideal for struggling readers as reading at an angle makes unnecessary difficulties. The library contains little reading material for junior pupils who are still at the early stages of reading and the number of bilingual texts is

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

inadequate. The library’s location continues to limit the ease with which it can be used. The accommodation is well looked after and maintained to a very high standard of cleanliness.

p.22

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

50 The approach to planning developments in the school is sound and concentrates on important issues that need to be tackled. It is based on evaluations that are increasingly making use of the principles of best value, although more needs to be done to take account of the views of parents and pupils when making decisions. Birkby Junior School - 23

p.22

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

51 In order to raise standards and improve the quality of the education provided, the governors, headteacher and staff should:

p.23

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(1) Improve results and the general level of pupils’ achievement by improving:

p.23

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

• teaching, making better use of the provision made for pupils with English as an additional language and those who have special educational needs; Birkby Junior School - 24 • the arrangements for finding out what all pupils know, understand and can do; • the use of this information to make pupils’ learning more effective.

p.23

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Please refer to paragraphs 1 - 7, 13 - 19, 36 - 38

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(2) Make teaching effective across the school by:

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

• raising teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve; • improving the planning of lessons so that objectives are clear, appropriate methods are identified to achieve them and the needs of all children are provided for; • ensuring that teachers work effectively with other adults who are available to help; • improving the marking of pupils work so that it helps pupils to understand what they need to do to improve; • providing regular homework that extends what is being taught in class; • monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of lessons and providing support where needed so that improvements are made.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Please refer to paragraphs 13 – 19, and subject paragraphs, particularly English, mathematics and science.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(3) Review and modify the management structure of the school and the roles and responsibilities of teachers who have allowances so that they make an appropriate contribution to the work of the school. Their roles should involve monitoring and evaluating the standards that pupils are achieving and the quality of provision in their areas and taking action to bring about improvements in both. As part of their continuing professional development, other teachers should be encouraged and helped to take on responsibilities for subjects, as happens in other primary schools.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(4) a) Make sure that the teachers and other staff who are employed to support pupils with English as an additional language work consistently to improve the learning of these pupils by:

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

• identifying what the language needs are of individual pupils who are learning English as an additional language; • specialist teachers planning with class teachers to identify what resources are appropriate and what extra guidance and support need to be provided for these pupils.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Please refer to paragraphs 5, 16, 25, 37, 47, 52, 54, 58 - 60

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

b) Improve the provision for pupils who have special educational needs by: Birkby Junior School - 25 • ensuring that all teachers have a secure knowledge of the school’s procedures for identifying pupils who have special educational needs; • ensuring that all individual education plans are with the relevant teachers so that they can plan for pupils’ needs; • planning the deployment of support assistants to meet the best interests of these pupils.

p.24

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Please refer to paragraphs 6, 17, 25, 48, 67

p.25

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(5) Develop arrangements to find out what pupils know understand and can do and use this information to help them improve by:

p.25

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

• assessing and recording what pupils have learnt against planned learning objectives in the core subjects (and possibly ICT); • analysing the year end tests to find out if there are any particular strengths and weaknesses in what pupils demonstrate they know. Use this information to modify what they are taught in the following year; • using information from the assessments made above to set learning targets for groups of pupils and individuals so that they know what they need to do to improve their work.

p.25

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Please refer to paragraphs 36 - 38, 54, 57, 60, 68, 73, 94

p.25

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(6) Help parents to become more involved in their children’s education by:

p.25

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

• providing them with more information about what their children will learning; • encouraging parents to become involved in helping in school; • providing more information on what their children need to do to improve, in both their annual reports and in the workbooks that are taken home.

p.25

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(7) Help pupils to develop the spiritual dimension of their personal development by fully implementing the school’s personal, social, health and citizenship programme, and planning opportunities in lessons across the curriculum that encourage pupils to reflect on their emotional responses, feelings and beliefs.

p.25

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(8) Improve attendance by vigorously pursuing poor attendance, encouraging parents to realise the adverse effect on their children’s education when extended visits are taken.

p.25

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

Please refer to paragraphs 12, 35 Birkby Junior School - 26

p.25

ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE (EAL)

52 Overall the resources available to support teaching EAL are good. There are two co- ordinators and two other teachers employed for work with pupils who speak English as an additional language. There are also a number of teaching assistants who give support particularly to pupils who are in the earliest stages of learning English. The support given by the assistants is effective and this group of pupils make good progress as a result. However, the quality of teaching for pupils with EAL is unsatisfactory. Teachers show limited recognition of pupils’ needs in lessons and provide very limited work that is tailored to their requirements. They are not helped to tackle these weaknesses by the specialist teachers. Assessment procedures are unsatisfactory and do not provide consistent data by which teachers can judge pupils’ progress and assess their future requirements. The co-ordination of work for pupils with EAL is poor. The co-ordinators and teachers do not successfully fulfil

p.26

ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE (EAL)

Birkby Junior School - 27 either of their main roles: those of supporting pupils with EAL or of supporting and developing class teachers as effective teachers of EAL. Birkby Junior School - 28

p.27

Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 37

p.28

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactor y Poor Very Poor

p.28

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

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

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils on the school’s roll Nursery Y3 – Y6

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) NA 376

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals NA 173

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Special educational needs Nursery Y3 – Y6

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs NA 8

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register NA 77

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

English as an additional language No of pupils

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 240

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 36

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 47

p.28

Attendance

National comparative data 5.4 National comparative data 0.5 Birkby Junior School - 29 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Birkby Junior School - 30

p.28

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

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 2 for the latest reporting year 2002 53 40 93

p.30

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

National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science

p.30

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

Boys 32 34 43 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 29 25 33

p.30

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

Percentage of pupils School 66 (61) 63 (42) 82 (60) at NC level 4 or above National 75 (75) 73 (71) 86 (87)

p.30

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

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

p.30

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

Boys 34 35 46 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 29 25 32

p.30

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

Percentage of pupils School 66 (55) 63 (44) 81 (55) at NC level 4 or above National 73 (72) 74 (74) 82 (82)

p.30

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

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year. Birkby Junior School - 31

p.30

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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

p.31

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

White – any other White background 0 0 0

p.31

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Mixed – any other mixed background 0 0 0

p.31

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British - Pakistani 233 3 0

p.31

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 0 0 0

p.31

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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

p.31

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black or Black British – Caribbean 19 2 0

p.31

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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

p.31

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

The table refers to pupils of compulsory school age only. It gives the number of exclusions, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded. Birkby Junior School - 32

p.31

Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 19 Financial year 2002

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 19.8

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Education support staff: Y3 – Y6 Total income 1,004,067

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 16 Total expenditure 985,657

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 298 Expenditure per pupil 2,540

p.32

Teachers and classes Financial information

Qualified teachers and support staff: nursery Balance brought forward from previous year 11,915

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) NA Balance carried forward to next year 30,325

p.32

Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher NA

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff NA

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week NA

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Recruitment of teachers

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

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 4

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Recruitment of teachers

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

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

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Recruitment of teachers

FTE means full-time equivalent. Birkby Junior School - 33

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

Percentage of responses in each category

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

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

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

My child is making good progress in school. 48 40 8 3 3

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

Behaviour in the school is good. 43 30 15 5 8

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 43 23 15 18 3

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 45 33 5 13 5

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 58 38 3 0 8

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 60 30 3 0 8

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school works closely with parents. 43 35 8 10 5

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school is well led and managed. 35 45 3 8 10

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 43 40 3 5 10

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 43 35 5 5 13 Birkby Junior School - 34

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ENGLISH

53 Pupils’ attainment in English when they enter the school is below average. Standards at the end of Year 6 are also below average, and in written aspects well below average. Although results in national tests for eleven year olds have risen somewhat over the last few years, recent attainment has been well below average. Pupils’ standards in these tests after the last inspection did not match the average levels described in the report and were also well below average, similar to those in 2002. These 2002 tests showed that pupils’ overall standards in English fell well below those which should have been expected, given their prior attainment at the age of seven. A similar picture exists in the current Year 6, where over half the pupils have not made the progress expected based on their results at the age of seven, particularly in writing. Standards are below those found in the last inspection.

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ENGLISH

54 Many pupils in all years come from backgrounds where a language other than English is used. Very few are at the very early stages of acquiring English. Those who are, are ably supported by bilingual learning support assistants. These pupils often progress rapidly with their English learning because of this good support and because they have very positive attitudes. Other pupils for whom English is an additional language do not have their specific language needs identified sufficiently well, so class teachers cannot provide for them properly in the literacy elements of English. Higher level EAL needs are often for very specific aspects of language. For example, many pupils are weak in their use of the more academic language required for the type of text comprehension and written responses in national tests as well as in National Curriculum literacy work. Pupils’ backgrounds are often rich in another culture, but

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ENGLISH

they lack knowledge about cultural inferences, such as those referred to in texts used in lessons. These aspects need to be identified and planned for, so that pupils who require special preparation for these aspects can progress satisfactorily. These omissions derive mainly from a lack of co-ordination between the EAL and English/literacy areas of the curriculum. No assessment or analysis of pupils’ English language needs is provided for class teachers to incorporate into their plans. Teachers responsible for EAL are mostly deployed as general classroom assistants, so do not promote the progress of pupils with EAL specifically, particularly if their needs are for higher level skills. Pupils sometimes regress in English overall in Years 3 and 4. By the time useful intervention strategies such as opportunities for gifted and talented pupils, support such as ‘further literacy’ for identified underachievers, or structured guided reading sessions, are in place in Year 5, pupils’ skill

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ENGLISH

deficits are too great for these initiatives to be as successful as they could be.

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ENGLISH

55 Pupils’ reading throughout the school is stronger than their writing. However, some classes and years are doing far more reading than others. ‘Guided reading’ has only recently been introduced and is implemented with little enthusiasm by some teachers. As a result provision is inconsistent. Most classes have a short silent reading session during registration, but many pupils, especially those with lower levels of EAL acquisition, do not really read during this time. Their eyes wander, they lack concentration and do not have specific help to enable them to benefit from this opportunity effectively. Other years and classes include guided reading lessons in addition to their literacy hours, but not all do. There has been some staff resistance to the provision of guided reading time, but lessons seen showed pupils to be progressing well because of its inclusion. These lessons usually take place with pupils in

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ENGLISH

groups of six or seven with help from the class teacher and other adults. Pupils therefore benefit from the lower adult/pupil ratio, which enables staff to target help more directly, both in withdrawal sessions and when different groups are in the classroom together. By Year 6, pupils’ attainment in reading is below average, with very few pupils above the nationally expected standard and many whose skills are very low. Abler pupils can read with the Birkby Junior School - 35 expected degree of fluency and can explain vocabulary they encounter. Their comprehension of what they have read matches the expectation for Year 6. Few of these, however, read extensively, or speak with confidence and pleasure about their reading experiences. Middle attaining pupils’ technical reading skills sometimes match the expectation for their age, but few of these pupils know about the range of texts expected, nor are they confident about

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ENGLISH

accessing information from sources such as libraries or the internet. Lower attaining pupils in Year 6 are often well below average, some barely able to read simple words at all; they guess at words randomly, lacking strategies to work out, for example through ‘sounding out’ what the script says.

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ENGLISH

56 Writing is pupils’ weaker skill when they enter the school and remains so. Handwriting-script formation is often weak, even amongst higher attaining pupils. Script is often inconsistent and unevenly formed, with pupils frequently orienting the paper or exercise book on which they write, the wrong way for English, thus writing vertically for example. The present co-ordinator has analysed pupils’ strengths and weaknesses in English, correctly identifying handwriting as weak. Subsequent recommendations, that staff apply agreed handwriting strategies, are not applied consistently, which leads to unsatisfactory progress in this skill. In pupils’ literacy and other English books, script often does not match the standard in their handwriting exercises and marking seldom mentions this. Pupils do not, therefore, understand that their script needs to be improved and to be consistently good. Even in handwriting exercises, all but the highest attaining pupils’ script often differs day by day,

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ENGLISH

especially when they are learning English as an additional language. Spelling is also a weak area. Again, only higher attaining pupils, and these mostly girls, can consistently retain and recall spellings to the standard expected. Middle attaining pupils often forget the spelling of frequently used, simple words, mis-spelling these in their written exercises. These technical aspects of the ways in which pupils write are below or well below average, spoiling the presentation and appearance of their written work. The content of their writing is also below average, with only a minority of pupils who can express their thoughts to the standard expected in writing. In many cases pupils also write slowly, so all but higher attaining pupils present a low volume of written work in their exercises. Overall, most pupils do not make enough progress in writing across the school.

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ENGLISH

57 Pupils have a lot of opportunity to listen to teachers, with most listening compliantly. They have few structured opportunities to speak aloud. Speaking skills are insufficiently well developed overall. On occasions where teachers were seen to promote speaking more formally, for example in a small-group guided reading lesson in Year 5, pupils responded well. Many, however, lack a well-developed a sense of the differences between formal and informal language as is expected by Year 6. Throughout the school, this is mostly because they are native speakers of other languages. Opportunities for reinforcement of speaking skills in other areas of the curriculum, for example in circle time or in personal, social and health education, are too few. Pupils listen politely, but often passively. When their comprehension of what has been said is checked, many have not understood. Again this is particularly noticeable in speakers of other languages. The school does not assess how well

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ENGLISH

pupils speak and listen, which is unusual where so many have EAL needs. Other skills are assessed regularly, but information is not presented to teachers in ways which would be helpful for amending individuals’ or groups’ curriculum. This is because assessment lacks the key component of the EAL needs which are crucial to teachers’ understanding of the full picture of pupils’ English competence.

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ENGLISH

58 Teaching and learning are unsatisfactory over time, although the lessons seen during the inspection were satisfactory. Although individual lessons seen in Year 3 were satisfactory, pupils’ overall progress decreases during this year. The momentum of learning which most have brought from their previous school is not maintained. The team-teaching approach, where support teachers take joint responsibility for lessons with class teachers, is Birkby Junior School - 36 not helpful to the progress of either those pupils who have EAL needs, or of others. For example, in a good Year 3 lesson where the National Literacy Strategy was being followed effectively by the class teacher, pupils’ specific EAL needs were not identified or targeted by a teacher who acted as a classroom assistant for much of the time. This pattern is common across the school and support teachers could more usefully be deployed as EAL support

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ENGLISH

staff, using tightly targeted support materials, prepared in conjunction with the class teacher. Where the class teachers’ literacy planning is satisfactory and the lesson effective, as in a Year 4 lesson seen about poetry, they often have no classroom assistance, for example to support pupils with special educational needs such as dyspraxia.

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ENGLISH

59 Deployment of supporting adults’ time is unhelpful, because sometimes there are as many as five adults in one class in a year group and, concurrently, none in another. This distribution of classroom support in English lessons needs to be rationalised and matched to a thorough assessment of pupils’ needs, particularly as these relate to EAL, if these pupils are to progress better. Occasionally teachers do not match the texts they use to the language levels of pupils, so learning is hindered. In a Year 5 lesson, for example, the teacher presented complex, unknown vocabulary and a historic model of English in Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott . Here, the teacher had not prepared pupils for difficult vocabulary, which greatly hindered their learning of the main literacy points about the use of simile. This lesson was unsatisfactory because the teacher had to spend too long on explanations, not all of which pupils understood and they were inactive for too long. In a sound Year 6 lesson, where

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ENGLISH

learning was made memorable and fun for pupils by play-acting on the part of a second teacher in the role of a ‘mad professor’, preparation of unknown vocabulary would also greatly have helped pupils’ understanding of the characterisation elements of the text. They also needed some of these words for subsequent written work. Pupils were unlikely to know words such as ‘kittiwake’, ‘sou’wester’, ‘monotone’ and ‘vigilant’. The lack of preparation of these and other such examples represents missed opportunities for learning in lessons to be made more effective. Homework, for example, could be used to prepare pupils for vocabulary in planned texts. Pupils have no English homework, which is a particular disadvantage as they get older. Because they do not regularly take reading home, pupils do not develop rigorous reading habits through home/school links. Marking of written work is not good enough to provide the first link in the chain of assessment which leads to effective target

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ENGLISH

setting. Pupils therefore do not have short-term, achievable targets towards which they can realistically strive.

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ENGLISH

60 The co-ordination between the EAL and literacy aspects of English pupils’ needs in the curriculum, is currently unsatisfactory and is the key area for development once a new English co-ordinator has been appointed. At present pupils’ achievement is not satisfactory in English because these two sets of needs are not matched in teaching. Assessment currently does not identify pupils’ standards in the literacy and EAL aspects of English, nor provide pupils with any analysis of what they must do to get better. Summative assessment of pupils’ levels in the National Curriculum also gives teachers too little information on which to plan, unless they are achieving the age-related expectation. Better summative information exists in Year 6, which needs to be extended into other years.

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MATHEMATICS

61 Standards have been consistently well below the national average in the last three years although good improvement was secured in the last year’s results. Reasons given by the school for this include changes to the classroom arrangements, with Year 6 brought together in one wing, and the impact of booster classes. Although satisfactory when compared to similar schools nationally, pupils are making poor progress from the good Birkby Junior School - 37 standards that they bring with them from the infants school. The standards by Year 6 are below those found during the last inspection.

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MATHEMATICS

62 Before leaving the infants school, about a third of the current Year 3 pupils were working at a level that is above average. Current evidence shows that in the junior school this is no longer the case. The work is planned below what these pupils are capable of doing and lacks the challenge that would consolidate and extend the good knowledge and understanding that pupils bring with them. Consequently standards drop significantly in Year 3.

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MATHEMATICS

63 In Year 6, pupils’ knowledge across the range of mathematics is variable but overall well below average. The most able are sound with numbers, but others are not secure with fractions and decimals. Knowledge of shape is satisfactory but of measures is weak, as shown in the current mathematics topics. Even in the high ability set, pupils were not secure with the different types of measures. Pupils from across the ability range can calculate area of squares and rectangles but not of right-angled triangles or circles. Ratio, proportion and probability are areas that all of them find difficult. For example, although they knew the language of probability, they did not use the most appropriate term when given a problem.

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MATHEMATICS

64 Taking account of all the available evidence, teaching is unsatisfactory. Although in the lessons seen teaching ranged from unsatisfactory to very good, the large majority was only just adequate in meeting all or most pupils’ needs. In the one lesson in Year 6 where teaching was judged to be very good, it was markedly different from all the others, moving seamlessly through mental and oral work that was fast moving and individually challenging to the main activity which gradually increased the complexity of calculations, but at a pace that ensured pupils’ understanding, into a round-up of what had been learned. Because of the pace and variety of teaching methods, pupils remained constantly eager and interested, working hard throughout the lesson. Most teaching was much more sedate with often an emphasis on control activities, for example through longer than necessary introductory mental and oral work. Where there is little change of activity in this, for example questions

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MATHEMATICS

that are asked of all the class in turn, pupils respond to the pace only answering when asked therefore restricting the amount of work to the little they need to do. On other occasions, teachers asked questions that were clearly aimed to stretch pupils and made sure that those who did not offer answers were drawn in. In one lesson, pupils were provided with a good opportunity to apply and develop their measurement skills. However, the resources were not of the best quality and in the weighing activity, lack of small gram units prevented the degree of accuracy that Year 6 pupils should have been using. Nevertheless, the pupils tackled the activity with quiet interest and worked together well.

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MATHEMATICS

65 The National Numeracy Strategy has not been implemented effectively. In some lessons there is continuous class teaching throughout the whole session. This inevitably means that there is too little differentiation which is particularly restricting to those who have grasped what to do and would benefit from pursuing activities at a faster pace. Both the lessons seen that were judged unsatisfactory were in the lowest sets. In one case, the whole lesson was conducted in a mental and oral form with no change of pace or method with the result that pupils gradually lost interest, responding only when asked. Behaviour also deteriorated meaning that the teacher had to spend increasing time on dealing with a series of relatively minor incidents which stopped the flow of the lesson. In the other lesson judged unsatisfactory, the carefully prepared tasks allowed pupils some practical activity but these were not of a challenging enough nature to extend pupils’ mathematical knowledge and

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MATHEMATICS

66 Pupils know what level they are expected to reach but the strategy for reaching it was consistently described by pupils as them being asked to work harder. This matches with Birkby Junior School - 38 evidence from previously completed work in their own books; marking is not used well enough to provide pupils with a clear understanding of how they might improve their work. The good models that are seen in some books, for example in Year 5, are not evident in others. Work is not presented well in some classes because teachers’ expectations are too low, and they do not insist on higher standards. There is little evidence that homework is used appropriately to raise standards.

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MATHEMATICS

67 There is a particular concern for the lowest attaining pupils who are on the school’s register for special educational needs. Where pupils are from a different registration group, the set’s teachers do not have pupils’ individual education plans. Statements of educational need, which include numeracy as well as literacy, cannot therefore be well enough addressed. There is also clearly some lack of understanding about what is or is not sufficient concern for a pupil to be on the register for special needs. In one case, for example, almost all the pupils in the lowest attaining set were described as having special needs but not all of them were on the school’s register for special educational needs.

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MATHEMATICS

68 The co-ordinator is providing good support and direction for the subject within the aspects she is able to take responsibility for. Information from the national tests has been analysed carefully to provide Year 6 colleagues with clear guidance about the areas that pupils do not do well in, for example different strategies for calculations, so that teaching can be directed towards addressing these. Resources have been improved. Some monitoring of teaching and learning has been undertaken and visits to the neighbouring infant school have enabled the co-ordinator to see the problems relating to transfer. A system for tracking how well pupils are doing has been established recently but in its present form is not sophisticated enough to provide good quality information such as which pupils are doing well and who needs help. This is because it is based on the results of tests which record only good information for those who are reaching the level expected for that year group or above. All

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MATHEMATICS

others are recorded as below that age level but not exactly where.

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SCIENCE

69 Results in the 2002 national tests at the end of Year 6 indicated that pupils’ attainment was well below average in comparison with national levels. Results are broadly in line with those for similar schools, but are low when compared with the same pupils’ assessments when they were in Year 2. This indicates that pupils make poor progress over their time in the junior school. There are no significant differences in test results between boys and girls or across the different minority ethnic groups found in the school.

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SCIENCE

70 Inspection evidence confirms that standards are well below average at the end of Year 6, and that pupils’ achievement is poor. This applies to both boys and girls and across all levels of attainment. There are serious deficiencies in the co-ordinator’s management of the subject, in the deployment of teachers and in their teaching methods that are the main contributory factors in pupils’ low achievement. The skills of scientific enquiry are particularly weak. This was an issue raised at the previous inspection that has not been addressed and pupils’ achievement is worse than at the time of the last inspection.

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SCIENCE

71 By the end of Year 6, pupils have some knowledge of such topics as how forces such as gravity and upthrust operate, the life processes of plants and how food chains develop. Pupils develop a basic scientific vocabulary. Pupils in Year 6, for example, understand such terms as germination and pollination. Pupils have limited opportunities to carry out their own investigations and tests. Their opportunities to discuss their own ideas about finding solutions to problems are often limited by teachers telling them too much which restricts their own development, especially for higher attaining pupils. Pupils can understand how to set up fair Birkby Junior School - 39 tests and make sensible predictions about possible results. They have very limited opportunities to discuss what happens if the variables in a test are altered, to assess how procedures could be improved in the light of experience, or to devise and set up their own

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SCIENCE

tests. Science makes a poor contribution to pupils’ literacy and numeracy development. Teachers do not take advantage of the opportunities the subject offers for older pupils to write in a range of styles or to decide on their own ways of writing up results. Writing tasks are very teacher directed and often consist of ‘fill in the blank’ exercises where pupils add one or two words to a sentence. Teaching is also heavily dependent on the use of worksheets that restrict pupils’ writing opportunities. Pupils use measurements of various types in lessons. Pupils in Year 6, for example, use force meters and measure in newtons. They do not regularly use a range of graphs and tables to present information and the subject makes a poor contribution to numeracy as a result. The use of ICT for research and to present information is poor. Teachers need to pay attention to the recommendations for science and its contribution to ICT.

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SCIENCE

72 The quality of teaching and learning in science is poor. In many lessons two teachers are deployed to teach the class. One of these is usually a teacher employed to teach English as an additional language. What occurs in practice is that the two teachers simply share the teaching and there is little focus on the needs of pupils who speak English as an additional language. As a result a substantial minority of pupils do not receive an adequate service and do not achieve well enough. In many lessons, pace is slow. Often two teachers are taking the time to do work which one teacher could reasonably be expected to achieve in half the time. A feature of the previous inspection was that teachers often spent too long talking and demonstrating when pupils could be working answers out for themselves. This is still the case and pupils’ skills in scientific enquiry are still poor. In a minority of lessons, the teacher’s

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SCIENCE

control of pupils’ behaviour is unsatisfactory and time is lost during the lesson. However, pupils generally behave well and show good attitudes to work even when teaching is boring and they are not actively engaged in the lesson. The quality of marking of pupils’ work is poor. Often work is marked merely by the teacher ticking the work. Spelling mistakes are not regularly corrected and there are few hints from the teacher to tell pupils how they can improve their work. There is some good teaching. Where teaching is good the teacher carefully plans the work so that pupils are active in the lesson. Careful thought is given to the instructions that pupils are given so that they have sufficient information to allow them to complete their tasks, but enough scope is left for them to think and work out answers for themselves. This was well demonstrated in a Year 3 lesson where pupils were testing the absorbent properties of various materials. Pupils had opportunities to discuss how to set up

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SCIENCE

the test, how to make it fair and how to record their results. This lesson gave them plenty of scope for thought and experiment, and good learning was the result.

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SCIENCE

73 At the time of the previous inspection there was no consistent scheme of work in place. This has now been corrected but this has not led to an improved curriculum for pupils. Analysis of pupils’ work indicates that there are still direct repeats of work over a number of years. Assessment procedures are unsatisfactory. Some assessment takes place towards the end of Year 5 to allow teachers to focus on what needs to be done to prepare pupils for the national tests in Year 6. There are no other consistent assessments and teachers do not have sufficient information to enable them to judge what progress pupils are making or how they can improve. The subject co-ordinator has shown poor leadership and management of the subject. There has been no monitoring and supporting of teaching and no consistent assessment procedures have been developed. Because of this, there are few procedures to check on teaching quality, to share good practice and to ensure that pupils are achieving as

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SCIENCE

well as they can. The subject has made poor progress since the previous inspection. Birkby Junior School - 40

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ART AND DESIGN

74 Only one lesson was seen during the inspection. Judgements on standards are made on the evidence of pupils’ completed work and discussions with them. Overall, standards are below expectations and worse than at the time of the last inspection. Much of the pupils’ work is attractive and reflects a sound understanding of cultural influences, historically, from European traditions and other parts of the world. The skills that pupils develop are limited by the narrow range of media that pupils in any one year use and their skills in three-dimensional work are the least well developed although the school has a kiln. An area where pupils do show sound skills is their use of ICT programs to produce effective ‘paintings’. Completed work shows little difference in the skills of pupils in each year group; the older pupils’ work does not show sufficient improvement in technique. Teachers have been given no specific

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ART AND DESIGN

guidance on what pupils in each year group should be expected to do when drawing, painting or using other media and how skills build on what has been already covered.

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ART AND DESIGN

75 The Year 6 pupils’ work shows little sophistication with limited colour mixing evident in paintings and lack of detail in the line work of drawings, although their drawings of gymnasts capture movement well. In Year 5, pupils demonstrate sound colour mixing, but their exercises in this demonstrate weak skills with brushes. Their three-dimensional Greek vases show little individuality in construction and crude decoration shows limited skills in using brushes of different sizes. The Year 4 pupils’ painted work based on Aboriginal patterns again demonstrates limited technique although their felt-tip patterns do show real care and detailed work as do their hieroglyphs and scraper board Tutankhamen pictures. A greater range of work is seen in Year 3, where pupils have produced simple woven patterns and mosaics linked to their history topic and good quality computer-generated African cloth patterns. Their

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ART AND DESIGN

collage work using corrugated paper and wash techniques shows care and sound line work. Much of the work that pupils in classes across the school have produced is very similar and this would suggest that they have very limited opportunities to explore techniques and different media.

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ART AND DESIGN

76 The co-ordinator, who has an allowance, has undertaken some checking of planning, which follows the national model schemes of work, but has not looked to see if skills are developed systematically. She has kept a portfolio of work which gives insights into coverage, but does not make use of this to evaluate the quality of provision across the school or to provide focused support to colleagues. Leadership and management of the subject are unsatisfactory as not enough has been done to improve the quality of provision and the standards that pupils achieve.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

77 Limited evidence was found for pupils’ work and attainment in design and technology and it has not been possible to make a secure judgement on the standards that pupils achieve. At present, the agreed programme includes one topic per year which if delivered with quality would ensure some experience of all strands within a pupil’s time in the school. However, this is not enough to ensure a good enough experience and a progressive development of skills and knowledge. This leads to the conclusion that the programme for design and technology is unsatisfactory.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

78 A display of pupils’ work in Year 6 from a technology day showed that they had tackled the problem of creating a marble run that would take 8.5 seconds logically. The best designs showed good thought and planning with detail about how the construction would be made, including measurements and materials; some were of a low standard containing very brief ideas. Interestingly, the winning design was not the best made model but the one that fulfilled Birkby Junior School - 41 the design brief exactly. It showed clearly that this group of pupils had experimented and amended the product to match the time limits almost exactly. In other year groups there are photographs and displays showing how pupils have constructed models with moving parts to fulfil design briefs. The best ones are of a satisfactory standard and include evaluations of how pupils might improve their work.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

79 In the only lesson that was seen during the inspection week, teaching was unsatisfactory. The teacher never allowed the pupils sufficient time to undertake the practical task but kept interrupting their experiments. The pupils’ own recordings of their findings were superseded by a whole class model which is going to be the finished model. A pupil whose behaviour often causes concern was dismissed from the class for trivial reasons.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

80 Co-ordination of the subject is unsatisfactory. The main role of the co-ordinator at present would seem to be helping and advising colleagues. The programme for each year group is agreed but there is no system for ensuring that it is delivered with equality. Similarly, whilst there is a recording sheet for showing what pupils have covered, there is no system for checking or ensuring that it is being done. The co-ordinator has identified the need to develop the subject through ensuring that pupils’ skills and knowledge are developed more systematically.

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GEOGRAPHY

81 Standards of attainment are below the expected level at the end of Year 6 and similar to those found during the last inspection. Achievement is not as good as should be expected. Pupils make unsatisfactory progress over time. Limited time allocation results in not all topics being covered in sufficient depth. The amount of work produced is variable within year groups. There is no difference in the level of achievement between different groups of pupils. There has been unsatisfactory progress since the previous inspection in addressing the key issue of ensuring that there is more consistent and extensive teaching of geographical skills.

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GEOGRAPHY

82 By the end of Year 6 pupils show a satisfactory understanding of the features of the Swat Valley in Pakistan and have basic knowledge of the climate and economic conditions in St Lucia. They do not have a good understanding of the development of rivers, with a number of pupils thinking that rivers start at the sea. In work on climate pupils show a satisfactory understanding of conditions in the desert. Knowledge and understanding of contrasting local areas are poor, with many pupils unable to compare the local area with other localities. Many pupils find it difficult to explain their views using the correct geographical vocabulary.

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GEOGRAPHY

83 Only a small amount of geography took place in the inspection week because of the system used on the timetable. The quality of teaching in the lesson seen was good but analysis of the work shows that teaching overall is unsatisfactory. The lesson seen was well planned and related effectively to ICT. Additional support given by a support assistant ensured that pupils with special educational needs made progress in line with the rest of the class. Clear explanations and regular visits to pupils as they worked ensured that pupils with English as an additional language achieved well. Analysis of pupils’ work shows that there is too little recorded work, with differences in the amount produced both within and across year groups. Work is not always challenging for the higher attaining pupils, for example Year 4 pupils writing their name and address. The amount of written work produced means that opportunities to develop literacy skills are limited. Recorded work shows few examples of the

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GEOGRAPHY

development of numeracy skills by teachers. There are some good examples, for example in a Year 4 class, where graphs are used to record temperatures. Marking of work is poor. In some classes pieces of work are not marked, therefore pupils do not know if they have completed the task correctly. There is little if any use of marking to develop learning. Pupils Birkby Junior School - 42 have satisfactory attitudes to the subject but they are not as enthusiastic about the subject as they are when talking about history.

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GEOGRAPHY

84 Management of the subject is unsatisfactory because the key issues raised in the previous report have not been fully addressed. The co-ordinator has not yet monitored teaching and learning to identify the areas of strength and weakness. She has started to compile a portfolio of work and is keen to raise standards in the subject. Assessment procedures are unsatisfactory and as a result there is no guarantee of step-by-step development of skills and knowledge as pupils move through the school. Particularly good attention is paid to the cultural background of the pupils when selecting topics to be studied, for example St Lucia, India, Pakistan and South Africa. Studying these countries has a positive effect on developing pupils’ cultural awareness and self-esteem. Opportunities to use ICT are used, for example when Year 6 produce a PowerPoint presentation but analysis of work shows that the use of ICT is limited and does not have a significant effect on developing

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HISTORY

85 Standards at the end of Year 6 are close to but below the expected level and similar to those found in the last inspection. Pupils just achieve satisfactorily. There has been satisfactory progress since the previous inspection, by ensuring that a scheme of work is in place.

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HISTORY

86 Younger pupils have a developing understanding of the Invaders. They are starting to understand the significance of a time-line. They have difficulty in understanding why people acted in the way they did. By the end of Year 6 pupils have particularly good knowledge of Ancient Greece, explaining about Greek gods and differences in schooling for rich and poor and boys and girls. In work on the Tudors, pupils know that Henry VIII had six wives and the reasons for this but they can recall little more about the period. They have good knowledge about conditions in Victorian work places but are unable to name important figures from the Victorian era. Pupils find it difficult to explain the reasons for, and results of, change. Older pupils show satisfactory knowledge of sources of historical information.

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HISTORY

87 The quality of teaching is satisfactory overall; during the inspection period there was some good quality teaching. In the good quality lesson, planning was effective. The use of mixed ability pairs meant the higher attaining pupils supported lower attaining pupils and those with special educational needs. The teacher gave clear instructions and additional support to all pupils. There were no pupils in the class at an early stage of English language acquisition. Relationships with the pupils were good and this had a positive effect on developing both learning and pupils’ self-esteem. Analysis of work shows that there is inconsistency in the amount of work teachers expect pupils to produce within year groups. Worksheets reduce opportunities to develop literacy skills in some classes. There are some good links between history and English, for example when pupils study the myths and legends in Ancient Greece. Writing skills are satisfactorily developed when pupils in Year 6

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HISTORY

write letters to the match factory. There is some use of ICT but this is not fully developed. Teachers develop numeracy skills in Year 6 when they use census figures as a historical source. The use of marking is unsatisfactory. There are some good examples of marking being used to develop learning, for example in Year 6 asking why someone went to London, but this is inconsistent. Not all work in other classes is marked and as a result pupils do not know if their work is correct.

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HISTORY

88 Pupils have good attitudes to history and this has a positive effect on their achievement. Work is well presented. In discussion groups and lessons pupils talk Birkby Junior School - 43 enthusiastically about their work. In pairs they relate well to each other and listen attentively to the teacher.

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HISTORY

89 The management of the subject is just satisfactory. The co-ordinator monitors plans to ensure all areas are covered. A portfolio of work is being developed to ensure that there is progress throughout the school. Assessment procedures are unsatisfactory and as a result there is no guarantee of step-by-step development of skills and knowledge as pupils move through the school. Present timetable arrangements mean that there is a long period of time when Year 6 pupils do not study history which limits the opportunities they have to consolidate and refine their learning. The subject makes a good contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils when pupils learn about the great cultures of the past and the history of Britain. There are missed opportunities to plan to discuss social and moral issues raised in the programmes of study.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

90 Standards in ICT are below the national expectations by Year 6 and are not high enough. They were also too low at the time of the last inspection. Since then there have been improvements made to provision for the subject. These have come from the national initiatives to improve resources and to develop teachers’ skills in ICT, and the adoption of the national schemes of work. As a result pupils now have much better opportunities to learn. They have regular lessons in the new computer suite and teachers are more confident in what they do, although their knowledge is still not strong enough. These were the two main weaknesses identified in the last report. Recently the rate of pupils’ learning has accelerated and although standards are still below what is expected, the gap is closing.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

91 Standards are highest in using computers to present information either through using word-processing programs or computer art packages. By Year 6, pupils can set their work out effectively on the page, using formatting commands to align text, changing fonts and letter sizes and emphasising words by underlining or making them bold. They can also cut and paste pictures into their work either from clip art collections or from Internet pages. They have similarly developed skills when ‘painting’ on the computer: they spray colours, select shapes, resize them and change their orientation, fill them with colour and add text to their pictures. Pupils are less confident and secure in their understanding of how computers can be used to handle information using database programs and to perform calculations and model different situations with spreadsheets. They are unsure of technical terms such as records, fields,

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

cells and formulae although they can describe how to search for information in a data file. Similarly they can search for information on the Internet but have weak skills in using email. Pupils in Year 6 have virtually no knowledge or understanding of how computers can be used to monitor events, such as changes over time of the temperature outside or how they can be used to control other devices.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

92 There is often little difference in the standards demonstrated by pupils in the younger classes. For example, the African patterns produced by Year 3 pupils show very similar levels of skill to those seen in the older pupils work, as do the Kandinski and Mondrian inspired pictures produced by Year 4; Year 5 pupils’ work on ancient Greece makes use of appropriate formatting and includes imported pictures to illustrate their writing.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

93 The teaching during the inspection was just satisfactory and varied in quality depending on the teacher’s confidence and the quality of the support available in the classroom. During the inspection an additional teacher was available to help and in some lessons a knowledgeable and skilful learning assistant effectively taught the objectives that had been planned. This nearly always ensured that pupils who were experiencing difficulties Birkby Junior School - 44 were helped even though the teacher was extended. Teachers’ lack of understanding and knowledge often leads to missed opportunities to develop pupils’ understanding of key vocabulary and to inadequate explanations that do not make clear the characteristics and properties of programs that are being used, for example the type of questions that can be asked to identify objects when making branching databases. In other instances teachers rely

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

on learning assistants to lead the teaching and sometimes the teacher does not have the knowledge to answer pupils’ questions when supporting them, for example when copying images from a website to include in computer-based presentation. The planning of lessons is weak and usually fails to acknowledge that pupils may have different levels of attainment and sometimes fails to provide adequate guidance for delivery of the lesson, which can lead to learning being unsatisfactory.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

94 The programme for teaching and learning across the school is sound, being based on the national model guidelines. However, pupils’ learning is not fine tuned to match their needs because there are no effective ongoing assessments made of what they can and cannot do. Despite being given time the co-ordinator has done little to identify what needs to be done to improve the quality of pupils’ learning experiences or to judge the appropriateness of the standards they are achieving. There is no basis on which to plan improvements in the provision for ICT. Leadership and management of the subject are unsatisfactory.

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MUSIC

95 There is insufficient evidence to make a secure overall judgement on standards of attainment, achievement and the quality of teaching. Only one full lesson and a short part of a second lesson were seen. In these lessons pupils were attaining at a lower than expected level. Year 6 pupils recognise an underlying pulse but their music appreciation skills are at a low level. Singing skills in a Year 5 class are below expected level with pupils mis-pitching and singing flat. Pupils in this group showed unsatisfactory attitudes to the subject and a small but significant minority took little part in the lesson. In discussion with Year 6 pupils they demonstrated little knowledge of composition but talked more confidently about listening to music.

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MUSIC

96 In the full lesson seen the quality of teaching was satisfactory. The musical expertise of the teacher was very good but too much time was lost at the start of the lesson waiting for pupils to arrive. As a result the introduction was rushed. The choice of music was good and pupils enjoyed the lesson. Opportunities to develop spelling skills were missed when the pupils recorded the names of musical instruments and their impressions of the music. In the lesson the majority of pupils showed good attitudes and behaved well.

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MUSIC

97 There is unsatisfactory co-ordination of the subject. The co-ordinator has recognised shortcomings in the provision, for example the inequality of opportunity because of different amounts of time being spent on the subject within year groups, but this issue has not been addressed. Time spent on the subject is limited and this has an adverse effect on achievement. There has been no monitoring of teaching and learning in the classroom to identify areas of strength and areas for development. Assessment procedures are unsatisfactory and as a result there is no guarantee of step-by-step development of skills and knowledge as pupils move through the school. It has been recognised by the co-ordinator that the present long-term planning does not guarantee progression throughout school and relies too much on the expertise of individual teachers. Some opportunities to raise the profile of music are missed, for example using tapes or CDs when pupils enter and leave the hall for

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MUSIC

collective worship. There are, however, some good opportunities to enrich pupils’ musical experiences. The curriculum is enhanced by visiting musicians and visits to the opera. A recording session at a local studio resulted in a CD being produced; this developed pupils’ Birkby Junior School - 45 musical skills and self-esteem. Pupils in the steel band have very good opportunities to develop their musical skills. A small number of pupils receive guitar tuition and about 50 pupils play recorders. A choir is formed for special occasions and the school is a strong supporter of the local festival of music. There is some use of ICT but it is inconsistent and therefore unsatisfactory.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

98 By Year 6, pupils’ attainment in physical education matches the expectations for their age and is in line with the standards found in the last inspection. In other years attainment is also in line with average standards. In dance lessons seen in Year 4 and Year 5, for example, pupils could move to the music using an appropriate range of positions, posture and gesture. In Year 4, pupils understand and can perform exaggerated movements involved in ‘getting ready’, such as over-stated tooth-brushing movements, and can put them together into a sequence in pairs. In Year 5, the teacher provided a good role model which pupils emulated appropriately to perform ‘funny walks’ in the style of Charlie Chaplin. In an outdoor games lesson taken by two visiting football coaches, other Year 5 pupils were beginning to learn or refine skills involved in football, such as dribbling and passing the ball. In Year 6, although the

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

small gym space restricted pupils from using their football skills effectively, they showed an average range of attainment in football skills. Some pupils in this lesson needed more practice in specific, discrete skills but all took part in the competitive phase of the game satisfactorily. Pupils in Year 4 and Year 5 now go swimming, but the pool usually used is currently out of action, so these opportunities are restricted at present. The majority of pupils could swim the recommended distance at the end of last year’s Year 6. Overall, across the range of physical education activities expected, pupils make satisfactory progress through the school.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

99 Pupils’ attitudes to physical education are positive and boys now join in dance with more enthusiasm. The careful selection of a dance scheme of work which appeals equally to boys and girls has been successful in improving these attitudes.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

100 Teaching and learning are satisfactory. Teachers have the confidence they need to teach the selected schemes of work and some provide good role models in their own performance. Additional provision of coaching by personnel from local centres such as the coaches seen teaching outdoor football, also provides useful opportunities to extend pupils’ skills. Extra-curricular clubs for sports such as table tennis enable beginners to learn the basics at one time during the week and experienced players to refine their skills at another. The school has made satisfactory emergency provision for swimming, but circumstances have reduced the availability of this aspect of physical education for the moment. The large fixed apparatus in the gym is reportedly damaged irreparably, needing either repair or replacemant. This currently restricts further an already small space, particularly where full classes of older pupils use this gymnasium. The hall is larger so more useful as a physical

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

education space, but lessons there suffer disturbance because the hall is a thoroughfare to all the other rooms in the school. Some smaller gymnastic equipment is old or worn, needing urgent replacement. Gym mats, for example, are too old to be used for their purpose. The range of apparatus for indoor activity, particularly for gymnastics, restricts the range of activity which can be undertaken.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

101 At the end of Year 6, attainment is below that described in the agreed syllabus for religious education. Pupils achieve unsatisfactorily. This is mainly because teachers do not give sufficient attention to pupils’ learning from the religions covered. No major differences in attainment between boys and girls were evident. Birkby Junior School - 46 102 By the end of Year 6, pupils have developed a basic knowledge of the main religions covered in the syllabus. Pupils in Year 4, for example, study creation stories from the main religions. Pupils in Year 5 study the Muslim festival of Ramadan and know the main principles behind the fasting traditions of the festival. Although there are examples of writing at greater length and depth, such as those done by Year 6 on the life of William Wilberforce, these are the exception, and pupils have very limited opportunities to write in a range of styles or in

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

greater depth. They do not, for example, regularly use stories from a number of faiths to understand what it is like to belong to a particular group or about the responsibilities that come with adulthood in such groups. Overall, teachers make unsatisfactory links with literacy because they do not provide consistent opportunities for pupils to practise extended writing in a number of styles. There is very limited evidence that teachers make use of ICT for pupils to edit and refine their work or to use software to improve their learning.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

103 The quality of teaching and learning in religious education is unsatisfactory. This is mainly because teachers concentrate too much on factual knowledge and not enough on the other aspect outlined in the agreed syllabus, which is about learning from religions in addition to about religions. This was clearly demonstrated in a Year 6 lesson about the life of Mary Seacole. Too much emphasis was placed on the facts of her life and her journeys to Crimea and London and too little on how her religious beliefs allowed her to challenge peoples’ prejudices at the time about women and about black people. Where teaching is at its best, the teachers carefully plan lessons to provide both a level of factual knowledge and challenging activities to make pupils think about the moral messages that underpin all religious beliefs. This was demonstrated in a very good Year 6 lesson on the moral messages contained in a number of Islamic stories and parables. The teacher gave pupils

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

time to discuss the stories and skilfully led a very good discussion where groups of pupils reported to the rest of the class on what they saw as the main principles in the stories.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

104 At the time of the previous inspection, resources for the subject were unsatisfactory. This has been corrected and there are now good resources available to develop pupils’ learning. The management of the subject is unsatisfactory. Monitoring of teaching has not been sufficiently rigorous to ensure that the agreed syllabus is adequately covered. Standards are now lower than at the time of the previous inspection and too little progress has been made since then.

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