Castletown Primary School

CASTLETOWN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 11 to 14 November 2002

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CASTLETOWN PRIMARY SCHOOL

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

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CASTLETOWN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. Castletown Primary School - 1

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Grange Road Castletown Sunderland

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The governing body

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Name of chair of governors: Mrs J Wilson

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: September 1997 Castletown Primary School - 2

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

2456 Mrs J Bell Registered inspector Information and communication technology What sort of school is it?

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Physical education The school’s results and pupils’ achievements. Areas of learning for children in the foundation stage How well are pupils taught?

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Education inclusion Citizenship What should the school do to improve further?

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

9511 Mrs A Longfield Lay inspector Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development. How well does the school care for its pupils? How well does the school work in partnership with parents? 21397 Mrs I Bradbury Team inspector Science How good are the curricular and other opportunities? Music Special educational needs 19289 Mr J Corn Team inspector Design and technology Geography History 10782 Mr H Moreton Team inspector Mathematics Religious education 27545 Mr A Scott Team inspector English How well is the school led and managed? Art and design Castletown Primary School - 3 Castletown Primary School - 4 The inspection contractor was:

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Eclipse Education (UK) Limited 14 Enterprise House Kingsway Team Valley Gateshead NE11 0SR.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE. Castletown Primary School - 5

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 5

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

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HOW HIGH ARE STANDARDS? 10

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Castletown Primary School is bigger than most primaries and admits pupils aged three to 11. The school moved to its purpose-built premises in 1996. It is situated to the west of the city centre of Sunderland and serves an area of mainly local authority housing, with some owner occupied homes or privately rented houses. The area is one of high unemployment although there is a range of regeneration initiatives. The school is part of an Education Action Zone (EAZ) that funds a range of initiatives to improve standards and has been successful in a bid to be part of ‘Surestart’ project, aimed at supporting pre-school and nursery children and their families. There are 418 pupils on roll, 187 boys and 185 girls in main school with 19 boys and 27 girls attending part-time in nursery. The school is popular and numbers are increasing. Children enter the nursery with a broad range of attainment but most have below and often well below average language, literacy, social and mathematical skills for

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

their age. There are 98 pupils eligible for free school meals; this is above the national average. The school has 82 pupils on its register of special educational needs, which is below average for a school of this size but nine pupils are supported through a statement of specific need and this is above the national average. Many of the pupils on the register are at an early stage of requiring support. However, the range of needs of those identified for greater support includes some with moderate learning difficulties, moderate to severe, and profound and multiple learning difficulties, including physical handicap. Twenty pupils joined the school at other than usual admission time and 22 left so there is some mobility.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

This is a very good school. Senior staff and governors ably support the very good leadership and management of the school by the head teacher. The very good work of the head teacher in developing and nurturing the very effective ethos throughout the school promotes very good relationships; pupils have very good attitudes, enjoy their work and behave very well. The high proportion of good and sometimes very good teaching and learning has improved pupils’ progress and enables them to achieve sound standards in English and science and good standards in mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT) by the age of 11. The head teacher, staff and governors have a shared commitment to raise standards and this is proving successful. The school provides very good value for money.

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What the school does well

• The head teacher provides very effective leadership and a clear philosophy for promoting the learning of all pupils; he is well supported by the deputy head teacher, senior staff, staff and governors. • The school has a very supportive ethos within which the high level of care effectively promotes pupils’ very good personal development. • Relationships are very good and so pupils develop very good attitudes to their work and behave very well. They enjoy the good range of learning opportunities provided by the school. • Teaching is very good in the foundation stage (nursery and reception classes) and is good and sometimes very good or excellent in Years 5 and 6. • The provision for the foundation stage is very good and ensures that these children make a very good start to their education. • Parents have a very high regard for the school. • The school’s provision and management in ICT are very good; together with the good and

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What the school does well

sometimes very good teaching they promote good standards by the end of Year 6. Castletown Primary School - 7

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What could be improved

• The consistent use of the day-to-day checks on pupils’ progress in lessons so that all teachers plan work that builds more closely on what pupils already know. • Teaching and learning in Year 4 to maintain and build upon on pupils’ earlier good progress. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

The head teacher, senior staff and governors have responded well to the previous inspection in 1997. The school has made good progress since then. Standards are steadily improving and there is more good, very good and excellent teaching. In most classes teaching styles have improved to include more opportunities for pupils to learn independently, to use investigational approaches and to apply their learning to solving new problems. The provision for pupils with special educational needs is good and all are well supported according to their needs. Opportunities for sustained writing have improved with sound opportunities to write in English and in subjects such as history, religious education, science and geography. The school’s provision for ICT has improved substantially; equipment and staff expertise are used well to ensure that pupils’ skills develop well and so they attain above average standards by

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

the time they transfer to secondary school at the age of 11. The school now has well established, useful assessment procedures to analyse a wide range of test results and to intervene to support individuals and groups of pupils to improve the standards they achieve. Although many teachers use the results of their day-to-day checks on pupils’ progress in lessons to modify their planning for the next lessons, this is not done consistently and in some lessons the same work is presented to all pupils, whatever their ability. The school has a very good partnership with parents and they support the school well. There is good commitment from staff and governors to continue to improve the school’s effectiveness.

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STANDARDS

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

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Key

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

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Key

The provision for children in the foundation stage is very good. Teaching and learning are mainly very good for these children. As a result they achieve very well and make very good progress from their often very low starting point on entry to the nursery. By the end of the reception year their personal and social development is often good and they attain the standards expected for their age in all the areas of learning with the exception of the language, literacy and mathematical areas, where attainment is still below that expected on entry to Year 1. The results for seven year olds in reading, writing and mathematics tests have improved over time and were broadly average in the 2002 national tests. However, standards were well above those attained in similar schools in reading and mathematics and above the average attained in these schools in writing. In the 2002 tests for 11 year Castletown Primary School - 8

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Key

olds, pupils’ results matched the national average in English and were above average in mathematics and science. The school does well in these subjects and is well above average when compared to the performance in schools with a similar level of free school meals. This reflects the good value added to the pupils’ learning by the substantial amount of effective teaching and the good range of opportunities and experiences that motivate pupils to want to do well. Over the past five years the school’s performance has improved at a similar rate to most other schools. It has set suitably challenging targets for this year and is on track to meet them. On the basis of the current work, pupils’ standards by the age of 11 are broadly average in English and science and above average in mathematics. The improved provision, good teaching and the good range of experiences provided throughout the school means that standards in ICT are improving rapidly and exceed those expected by the age of 11. Pupils

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Key

achieve well in their knowledge and understanding of religious education, and standards by the age of 11 are at the levels identified in the syllabus taught in local schools. Standards in other subjects are at least satisfactory; the pupils sing well and the choir’s performances are of a high standard. There is some good work in physical education where pupils achieve well in local football and netball tournaments. Pupils with special educational needs are supported well and so achieve well in relation to their ability.

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Very good. Pupils take a keen interest in lessons and are eager to learn. Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Very good. Most teachers manage pupils well and so behaviour is very good in lessons and when pupils go out to play. Personal development and relationships Very good. The very good relationships reflect the positive ethos in the school. Pupils show a growing maturity and respect for others. Attendance Satisfactory. Pupils like school and are punctual.

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Aspect Comment

Most pupils work well in groups and, when working independently, they readily take the initiative for their own learning. The oldest pupils show initiative and take their responsibilities seriously. They act as representatives on the School Forum and sensibly discuss with the head teacher the ideas for improvements presented by other pupils.

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Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

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

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Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

The quality of teaching is good overall, and includes some teaching that is very good or excellent. Teaching is often very good in the nursery and reception classes. Teachers in the foundation stage plan their lessons very well with nursery nurses and classroom support assistants and all staff have a very good understanding of the needs of these young children. As a result, children achieve very well, make very good progress and are well prepared for work in Year 1. There are examples of good and very good teaching in most year groups. Teaching is often good in Years 1 and 2 where teachers build Castletown Primary School - 9 on the good work done in the foundation stage and so pupils’ progress is good. There is more consistently good, very good or excellent teaching in Years 5 and 6. Pupils frequently achieve very well in their last two years in school and this is reflected in the improving standards by the time they

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Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

transfer to secondary school. Only a few lessons were unsatisfactory. These were in Year 4, where although some of the teaching is sound, it is unsatisfactory over time and pupils’ progress could be better. In this year group teaching and learning are less effective than in other year groups. The teachers do not build sufficiently on the pupils’ good learning in earlier years and so their progress slows. This often reflects the teachers’ too low expectations of pupils and the fact that they teach directly from written subject guidance and do not change their planning to build on what the pupils already know.

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Years 1 – 2 Years 3 – 6

In many lessons teachers provide interesting activities that encourage learning. The basic skills of literacy and numeracy are taught well and are reinforced effectively in other subjects. Teaching is good in ICT and leads to good learning so pupils’ achieve above average standards by the end of Year 6. The teaching of pupils with special educational needs is good. Activities are well matched to their age and the targets identified in their individual learning plans ensure work is matched well to their abilities. Support staff are deployed well and have a substantial impact on the good progress made by these pupils.

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum Good. Staff provide a stimulating range of experiences that promote pupils’ learning. They enhance pupils’ learning through well-planned visits to support the curriculum and the good range of extra-curricular activities. Provision for the foundation stage is very good. Provision for pupils with special educational needs Good. These pupils are well supported both in class and when withdrawn to receive extra help, either individually or in small groups. ‘Booster’ classes work well to improve literacy and numeracy skills. Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Good. Pupils’ personal development is given high priority and the provision for their moral and social development is very good. The school supports pupils’ spiritual development well and they have a good awareness of their own culture. The school does not sufficiently

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Aspect Comment

develop pupils’ understanding of other cultures and traditions. How well the school cares for its pupils Very good. The school provides a high level of care for its pupils. It has very good procedures for monitoring pupils’ behaviour and good procedures to check on pupils’ academic and personal progress.

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Aspect Comment

There are good procedures to track pupils’ progress over time and to intervene with well targeted support. However, information from day-day-assessments is not used consistently enough in all classes and subjects to ensure that work is as well matched to the pupils’ needs as it could be. The school’s partnership with parents is very good; they have very positive views of the school and provide effective support for their children’s learning.

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and Very good. The head teacher has an excellent understanding of good Castletown Primary School - 10 management by the head teacher and other key staff primary education and shares this successfully with all members of staff. He is very well supported by the deputy head teacher and other senior staff. How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Good. The governors have a good awareness of the strengths of the school and have the expertise and commitment to bring about further improvements. The school’s evaluation of its performance Good. The school analyses and uses a wide range of information to check how well it is doing. Staff review the success of initiatives and agree future needs. The strategic use of resources Very good. The school uses very well all resources to support pupils’ learning and achievement. Specific grants are used effectively for the purpose intended. The governors apply the principles of best value to

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Aspect Comment

all spending decisions to ensure the very best provision for the pupils. Castletown Primary School - 11 The accommodation is very good and is well looked after by the caretaker and cleaning staff. Staffing is very good and extra funding has been used well to provide extra support staff in classrooms. Resources for learning are good.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• The school is well led and managed. • The school expects children to work hard and do their best. • It helps them to become mature and responsible. • Behaviour in school is good. • Teaching is good. • The range of activities outside of lessons.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

Parents’ views were very positive at the meeting held before the inspection and in the responses to the questionnaire. Inspectors agree with all the positive views of the parents. The inspectors do not agree with the area parents would like to see improved. The school provides a good range of activities outside of the school day. Castletown Primary School - 12

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

1 The very good management and substantial amount of good teaching add value to pupils’ experiences and opportunities during their time in school. The school enables pupils to achieve well and standards are rising. The school does very well when compared with others with a similar intake of pupils. Children enter the nursery with a broad range of attainment but most have below, and often well below, average language, literacy, social and mathematical skills. Many have a limited knowledge of the world about them. The very effective teaching in the nursery and reception classes enables children to make very good progress. The good range of activities presented to the children means that they achieve very well from their very low starting point on entry to the nursery. Many are on track to reach the learning goals expected for their age in the creative and physical areas of learning, and in their knowledge and understanding of the world. The staff place a very high priority on

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

supporting children’s personal and social development and the children are already very settled in school and relate well to adults and each other. They are likely to exceed the standards expected in this area of learning by the end of the reception year. However, although teaching and learning are very good, many children are likely to be below what is expected in their language, literacy and mathematical skills by the time they transfer to Year 1.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

2 Over the past five years, standards in English, mathematics and science have improved at a similar rate to most other schools. Standards in the Year 2002 national tests for 11 year olds in English matched the national average and were above average in mathematics and science. The school does very well in these subjects when compared to schools with a similar level of free school meals. Standards in mathematics and science have improved well since the last inspection. The school has set suitably challenging targets for this year and is on track to meet them. There are few differences in the performance of boys and girls.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

3 In the national tests in reading for pupils aged seven, standards vary year on year and in the 2002 tests are typical of seven year olds nationally. The school’s performance was well above similar schools. In writing and mathematics tests pupils attained the standards expected by the age of seven. When compared with schools with a similar intake of pupils, standards were above average in writing and well above this in mathematics. Teachers’ assessments of pupils’ attainment in science was below that expected of seven year olds but was above that of similar schools. The school’s performance in the tests at the age of seven has improved since last year because more pupils are attaining the higher levels.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

4 There are several reasons why standards are improving by the time pupils transfer to secondary school at the age of 11. The school has a comprehensive programme for analysing results and tracks pupils’ progress in order to target particular pupils and to intervene to put in place a good range of initiatives to raise attainment. The teachers also carry out assessments throughout the year to check on progress and subject co-ordinators scrutinise pupils’ work to check against national standards. The National Strategies for Literacy and Numeracy are implemented effectively and all staff have been involved in running after hours classes to support pupils’ development of skills in these areas. Parents are very pleased with the improving standards in the school and feel that their children are given every opportunity to achieve well. The school is in its second year of running Family Literacy and Numeracy courses that are enabling parents to help their children. This is beginning to

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

have a positive impact on standards. Castletown Primary School - 13 5 Pupils make good progress throughout the school with the exception of Year 4, where progress is slower and could be better. The school’s own tracking systems in English and mathematics make clear that many of these pupils do not achieve as well as they could; the amount and quality of their work is not as good as that expected given their previous progress. This is because the teaching in this year group is unsatisfactory over time and, even where it is sound, teachers’ expectations of pupils’ work are too low. Their planning does not ensure that work matches the abilities of all pupils and learning is not consistently well managed.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

6 Pupils who have special educational needs make good progress, which is a good improvement since the previous inspection. The good progress is the result of the extra help they get from teachers and classroom assistants and good individual education plans, which support their progress well. These are regularly monitored and targets reviewed to take account of pupils’ progress.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

7 On the basis of the current work, pupils attain the standards expected of seven year olds in English, mathematics and science. By the age of 11 they attain the standards expected for their age in English and science but work is above average in mathematics. Standards in speaking and listening are satisfactory for pupils aged seven and 11. In Years 1 and 2 pupils are developing sound listening skills because teachers make lessons interesting. This encourages pupils to listen carefully so that they can join in all activities. By the age of 11, pupils also speak and listen satisfactorily. Their concentration levels are high but listening skills vary depending on the enthusiasm of teachers and their insistence that all pupils should understand new learning. In a few lessons, teachers spend too long giving pupils information and they have too few opportunities to join in discussions.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

8 Pupils have satisfactory skills in reading. By the age of seven, pupils enjoy reading simple stories and have sound strategies for tackling unfamiliar words. Lower attaining pupils, including those with special educational needs, have little confidence or fluency and sound letters to help pronunciation and use pictures to help them understand the story. Higher attaining pupils are better than average and can deal competently with unfamiliar words. By the age of 11 pupils enjoy reading a range of good fiction; they are quite fluent, understand the text and can talk sensibly about plots and characters. Lower attaining pupils are developing their words skills gradually. Higher attaining pupils read with good expression and are confident in using reference books.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

9 The school has identified writing as a key priority for improvement. Children often have a limited range of experiences and vocabulary when they start school. Staff work hard to broaden pupils’ opportunities through a good range of visits out of school and enriched experiences in school. This is beginning to be reflected in steadily improving standards. By the age of seven pupils have writing skills that match those expected for this age group. They are beginning to sequence sentences into simple accounts or stories and they remember to use capital letters and full stops when necessary. By the age of 11, pupils write effectively in a range of styles and they attain the standards expected for pupils at the end of Year 6. Spelling and punctuation are satisfactory.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

10 Pupils make good progress in all aspects of mathematics because of good teaching, supported by well developed planning. The school has made a positive intervention to improve standards and has been successful in targeting support for groups and individuals so that work for most groups of pupils is matched to their needs. By the age of seven pupils show increasing fluency and confidence in their use of numbers, have an understanding of number bonds and add and subtract single and two digit numbers accurately. Most recognise and name common two and three- dimensional shapes and are able to collect and present data in simple bar graphs. By the age of 11, many pupils have quick mental recall of number and multiplication facts, understand place value, select appropriate operations to solve problems and explain confidently how a problem is solved. They are Castletown Primary School - 14 beginning to apply their mathematical understanding to everyday problems. Pupils also handle data

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

using ICT to collate and present information using Excel and use computers to construct line graphs.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

11 Standards in science are steadily improving due to the consistently good teaching in Years 1 and 2 that builds on the very good work done in the early years. Teachers’ planning is now based on useful published guidance. This enables pupils of all abilities to gain knowledge and understanding across all areas of the science curriculum and provides more investigational activities. This and the good teaching in Years 3, 5 and 6, has contributed to the pupils’ good progress over time.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

12 Pupils achieve very well in ICT and standards are at the level expected for pupils aged seven and above those expected by the age of 11. The very effective leadership of the subject, improved provision and greater teacher confidence ensure a good range of experiences is provided throughout the school. Teachers use ICT well in their classrooms and in the well-equipped computer suite. The good work in ICT is enhanced by the very effective support for both teachers and pupils by the school’s technician and the technician funded by the Education Action Zone.

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The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

13 Pupils achieve well in their knowledge and understanding of religious education, and standards by the age of seven and 11 are at the levels identified in the syllabus taught in local schools. Teachers make good links with social and moral issues that support pupils’ personal development. Standards in other subjects are at least satisfactory; the pupils sing well and those in the choir reach a high standard. There is some good work in physical education and pupils achieve well in local football and netball tournaments.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

14 The pupils’ very good attitudes to learning, their very good relationships with others and their very good behaviour are strengths of the school. They usually display positive attitudes towards their work and school. They are eager to come to school, show interest in their work and are capable of sustained concentration. The school has maintained these strengths since the last inspection.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

15 Parents who returned the pre-inspection questionnaire agreed that their children like school and inspection evidence supports this. The pupils are willing to learn and are generally interested in the activities provided for them. They get on quickly with tasks and concentrate well. The Year 5 pupils enjoyed discovering the differences between Victorian and modern schools. They were especially interested in the information they found using their own school’s logbook dating from 1872. Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes only deteriorated in Year 4 classes when work was not well matched to their needs and was either too hard or too easy. In these two classes behaviour is not always managed well enough and this slows the learning of many of these pupils.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

16 The attitudes and behaviour of pupils with special educational needs are very good; they are enthusiastic and interested in all the activities in class. In all aspects of school life, pupils with special educational needs are fully integrated and relationships between all pupils are very good. The more able pupils help those with special educational needs, sometimes working in partnership during lessons, for example, when a pupil was late into the lesson she was immediately absorbed into the group, and the other pupils explained very naturally what they were doing.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

17 There are very good relationships throughout the school. The pupils interact very well with each other, with teachers and other adults. They are polite and courteous and talk readily to visitors. Any instances of unacceptable behaviour are dealt with quickly. There have been no exclusions in the school. The absence of litter, tidy cloakrooms and well-maintained resources are evidence that the pupils are proud of their school and care for property and resources. Castletown Primary School - 15 18 The pupils’ personal development is very good. They develop self-confidence and are willing to accept responsibility, carrying out duties in lessons and at other times. The Year 6 pupils take the opportunities given to them as monitors to show initiative and responsibility seriously. There is a School Forum consisting of four pupils from Years 5 and 6, who discuss items from the suggestions box with

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

19 Pupils’ levels of attendance are satisfactory and are in line with similar schools although a majority of classes regularly have weekly attendance of 100 per cent. The difference is due to a minority of pupils who are absent through long-term illness and whose parents take their family holidays during term time. Unauthorised absence is below the national average. Pupils are punctual and registration is completed quickly and efficiently before morning and afternoon sessions.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

20 The quality of teaching is good overall, and includes some teaching that is very good or excellent. Teaching has improved since the last inspection; the proportion of good and very good teaching has increased. There are examples of good and sometimes very good teaching in most year groups. The teaching is often very good in the nursery and reception classes and this ensures that these children achieve very well from their low starting point on entry. There is more consistently good, and very good or excellent teaching in Years 5 and 6 and this is reflected in the improving standards by the time pupils transfer to secondary education. Only a few lessons were unsatisfactory. These were in Year 4 and reflected the weak planning and organisation for the sessions, the poor match of work to the pupils’ abilities and limited strategies for managing the pupils.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

21 The high proportion of good and very good teaching in the nursery and reception classes ensures that children have a very good start to their learning and make very good progress. Teachers in these classes plan their lessons very well, with very clear aims and good links to longer-term plans. The nursery nurses and other adult support staff work very well with teachers to support the children’s achievement across all the areas of learning. These support staff take a full role in teaching and work very well with the children, particularly those who need extra help. All staff in the foundation stage have a very good understanding of the needs of these young children and how best to support their learning.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

22 Teaching is often good in Years 1 and 2. Teachers build on the good work done in the foundation stage and so pupils’ progress is good. This means that by the end of Year 2 pupils have achieved well from their very low starting point on entry to school and reach the standards expected for their age. The quality of teaching in Years 3 to 6 is good, with a significant amount of teaching in Years 5 and 6 where it is very good or excellent. This means that pupils frequently achieve very well in their last two years in school and this is reflected in the improving standards by the time they transfer to secondary school. In Year 3 teaching and learning are mainly satisfactory and sometimes good.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

23 Few pupils in Year 4 achieve as well as they should because the teaching is not consistently good enough. Although some teaching is sound it is unsatisfactory over time; the school’s own tests reveal that many pupils do not make as much progress in English and mathematics in this year group and some even lose ground. Teachers in these classes do not always explain new learning clearly enough and do not check to see whether pupils understand. This is because they often rely too heavily on the framework for lessons provided by national guidance or published schemes of work and do not Castletown Primary School - 16 adapt this sufficiently in all lessons to meet the age and abilities of their pupils. For example, in an unsatisfactory science lesson the teacher spent a long time giving pupils a lot of information about ways of characterising animals; some of the information was suited to much younger pupils and some

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

was too difficult. The main work presented to the pupils mainly required them to spend a long time copying out the names of animals in two groups; pupils had covered this work in their infant classes and so it lacked any challenge. The expectations of these teachers are often too low. Sometimes, they do not manage pupils well enough or value their contributions. This was evident in an English lesson where the teacher’s limited support for their efforts to cope with the difficult words on a worksheet meant that pupils easily lost heart. Even where the teaching is satisfactory in this year group pupils are presented with the same work, whatever their ability. In these lessons too little account is taken of the assessments other teachers have made of these pupils’ progress to plan work that builds on what they already know. This can slow the rate of pupils’ learning and impacts on their attainment by the end of Year 4 so more work is needed in Years 5 and 6 to enable these pupils to

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

24 In the many effective lessons, teachers use a good range of teaching methods. In these lessons, teachers are enthusiastic; they transmit this to pupils and so they are eager to respond. Many teachers provide good introductions to their lessons and stimulate pupils’ interest and so they listen well and are eager to take part. For example, at the beginning of an excellent Year 5 English lesson, the teacher’s expressive interpretation of the poem ‘Miller’s End’ transfixed the pupils. The poem was challenging but the teaching of new learning was so effective that pupils were quick to be involved. They quickly became confident in offering their ideas about the content and meaning of the text, and in their appreciation of the quality of the writing. In an excellent English lesson with Year 1 pupils, the teacher used very effective strategies, dressing up as a character from the story in order to stimulate

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

discussion. The story was very well read and the lesson was very well resourced with models of animals from the story. The teacher used a range of different versions of the same tale to enable pupils to make comparisons and to understand that the core idea remains the same.

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HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

25 Most teachers develop very good relationships with pupils, which helps them to manage pupils’ behaviour very effectively. In most lessons the pace is good and so pupils concentrate well. They often make good links between subjects in order to develop pupils’ wider understanding of how to apply what they have learned to new areas. This was evident in a very good ICT lesson with Year 3; a senior teacher, with responsibility for developing basic skills, taught the class. The teacher made good links with work in literacy and there was a very good balance between direct teaching of computer skills and opportunities for pupils to practise changing letter sizes, colours and fonts in order to type words in ways that reflected their meaning. For example, pupils responded well and matched the size of typing to words such as ‘small’ and ‘big’ or used different coloured letters for the word ‘colour’. The teacher made very effective use of demonstrations by pupils and they grew in self-

p.18

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

esteem. In many lessons teachers use encouragement and praise skilfully to boost pupils’ confidence. This enables many pupils to achieve well, whatever their ability. This is particularly positive for pupils with special educational needs who often lack self-confidence and have low self-esteem.

p.18

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

26 Literacy skills are taught well in English lessons and teachers often provide opportunities for these skills to be used and reinforced in subjects such as history, ICT and religious education. In the many good lessons staff provide good opportunities for pupils to enhance their speaking and listening skills through lively and interesting discussions. Good reinforcement is given, though not consistently, to key vocabulary in some subjects. For example in a Year 6 geography lesson pupils took part in a very good discussion on the differences between Sunderland and Keswick and used a good range of terms to describe human and physical features they had interpreted from maps and photographs of these areas. The teacher’s very effective questioning reinforced well their comparison of the two Castletown Primary School - 17 locations and the time at the end of the lesson was used well to check on what pupils had understood

p.18

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

as they eagerly discussed the advantages and disadvantages of living in these areas.

p.19

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

27 The teaching of numeracy skills is good. Most teachers make effective use of the three-part lesson structure recommended in the Numeracy Framework, and take account of the range of ability within each class. Teachers provide good opportunities within subjects other than mathematics to develop numeracy skills. Pupils have opportunities to learn to use a time line in history and to present their findings in science and geography, where they record numerical data in both bar and line graph form. They use measuring skills in design and technology and use computers to construct spreadsheets.

p.19

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

28 The teaching of pupils with special educational needs is good. This is an improvement since the previous inspection. Support staff are deployed well to work with groups of pupils to support their learning of basic skills in literacy and numeracy. They take a full part in the ‘booster’ classes held after the end of the school day. These classes have played a key role in enabling the school to improve the standards of targeted pupils. The contribution made by these classroom support assistants, particularly when supporting less able pupils and pupils with special educational needs, is significant in enabling them to make good progress. The teachers and support staff know their pupils well. Relationships are very good, enabling pupils to learn confidently. When teaching and learning are particularly good, work is set to meet individual needs, for example, in a geography lesson for seven year olds, the worksheets were carefully matched to the pupils’ abilities enabling them to record their

p.19

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

findings. In an excellent literacy lesson observed in Year 1, the support of the classroom assistant was very good; she asked questions very carefully and helped the pupils to understand and learn how to create simple sentences. However, not all teachers use the classroom support assistants as well as they could, and in a small number of lessons in Year 4 there was no specific planning to guide the assistants in what the teachers expected them to do to support pupils. Castletown Primary School - 18 29 At the time of the last inspection, the teachers lacked confidence in teaching design and technology and ICT. The school has ensured that staff have received useful training and the adoption of national guidance for design and technology has enabled staff to teach this subject with confidence. In ICT, all staff have taken part in well-planned training and have gained in confidence and expertise. The excellent leadership of the subject ensures there is good planning for ICT and teachers are

p.19

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

increasing their use of computers to support pupils’ knowledge in other subjects. Teachers make good use of the computer suite to develop and reinforce pupils’ skills and understanding. This has resulted in a substantial improvement in standards and enabled pupils to attain above the levels expected for their age by the end of Year 6, and to thoroughly enjoy their learning. In their classrooms teachers use data projectors linked to computers to reinforce their teaching in many subjects. They can quickly present examples, stimulate ideas and show pupils’ work; this has a very good impact on the pace of lessons and focuses pupils’ attention. Teachers have secure subject expertise in all areas of the curriculum. However, in a few lessons in Year 4, they rely too heavily on giving pupils information rather than organising practical lessons where pupils could take more responsibility for planning and

p.20

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

30 The school has established useful assessment procedures and uses these to analyse a wide range of test results. This information enables staff to intervene effectively to support individuals and groups of pupils to improve the standards they achieve. The teachers teach pupils in groups organised according to ability in English and mathematics and this enables work to be more closely matched to pupils’ previous learning. Many teachers also make careful checks of pupils’ progress in lessons and use the results of their day-to-day assessments of what pupils have learned to modify their planning for the next pieces of work. However, this is not done consistently throughout the school and in some lessons the same work is presented to all pupils, whatever their ability.

p.20

PUPILS?

31 The curriculum offered by the school is good, it is broad and balanced and enriched by a range of additional activities. It continues to meet the requirements to teach the National Curriculum and religious education and does so well. There has been good improvement since the last inspection. The school has adopted national guidance for the subjects, as well as effectively introducing the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies, which strengthen the curriculum, and gives the school a good structured framework for continued development and enables teachers to plan effectively. The good quality displays around the school reflect the richness of the curriculum and support pupils’ learning by reminding them about work they have done.

p.20

PUPILS?

32 The school’s makes very good provision for children in the foundation stage. This has improved since the last inspection and is a strength of the school. The staff in the nursery and reception classes work closely together to plan and provide a stimulating curriculum that includes a wide range of activities and first-hand experiences that ensure that the children get a very good start to their education. By the end of the reception year the children are well prepared for transition into Year 1.

p.20

PUPILS?

33 The provision for out of school activities is good, and these enrich the curriculum and are popular with the pupils; they include a breakfast club, homework club, sports activities such as netball and football as well as the choir and computer club. The school provides a good range of visits that enrich the pupils’ learning across the curriculum by giving them first-hand experiences of museums, wild life parks, local places of worship and historical sites, supporting, for example history, science and religious education. Visitors into the school also enrich the curriculum such as visiting authors and poets to support the pupils’ creative writing. Castletown Primary School - 19 34 A particular strength of the curriculum is the very good provision for pupils’ personal, social and health education, which has a high priority in the school. Lessons in personal, social and health education are well planned and supported by a commercial scheme of work. The pupils learn about a

p.20

PUPILS?

healthy lifestyle and diet, about how they develop as they grow, as well as about the misuse of drugs and tobacco. They also learn about how to be a good friend and consider the needs of others; this has a positive impact on their behaviour and relationships with others, which are very good. Good use is made of visitors to the school to support learning in personal, social and health education and these include the dental hygienist, water safety experts and teachers from road safety and drugs awareness programmes.

p.21

PUPILS?

35 There is good provision for equality of access and opportunity to the curriculum and it is part of the school’s very effective ethos that pupils of different abilities are included in all activities and get the same good deal from school. The provision for pupils with special educational needs is good and they have full access to the National Curriculum as well as the wider curriculum. Regularly reviewed individual education plans are in place for all pupils on the register of special educational needs. Targets in the individual educational plans are clear and well written supporting the pupils’ learning and good progress. The individual education plans or planned work in ability groups ensures that they are able to make good progress in all areas of the curriculum. Occasionally, pupils with physical disabilities do miss some classroom activities when they go for physiotherapy, however, the development and

p.21

PUPILS?

maintenance of their mobility outweighs the short sessions missed.

p.21

PUPILS?

36 The school is a valued part of the local community. The choir visits the local senior citizen’s home and has been invited to sing at local weddings. There are good relationships with other local primary schools and the receiver secondary school. The ‘Cross Liaison Policy’ ensures aims that parents and children are comfortable with the progression from home to school and going to secondary school. The links have been further strengthened through the EAZ work with the employment of the ICT technician.

p.21

PUPILS?

37 At the time of the last inspection the school was judged to be making good provision for pupil’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This remains good because there is a whole school approach to pupils’ personal development as they move through the school. The provision is good for pupils’ spiritual development and very good for pupils’ moral and social development. Provision for cultural development is satisfactory. Although the school ensures that pupils have a good undertsanding of their own culture, the provision for them to learn about the traditions and beliefs of other cultures is not as effective.

p.21

PUPILS?

38 Spiritual provision is good. It is evident through the school’s very good ethos in which all pupils are valued and encouraged to value each other. Religious education makes a valuable contribution to pupils’ spiritual development through discussions about the values and beliefs of major religions. Whole school, key stage and class assemblies feature acts of worship, which comply with statutory requirements, and include the spiritual element that allows pupils’ time for reflection. The good range of opportunities within the curriculum ensure that pupils’ spiritual development is enhanced in subjects such as music. Visits out of school, including the residential visit for the oldest pupils, ensure a good awareness of, and response to, the beauty of the natural environment. The very good range of learning opportunities for children in the foundation stage supports their spiritual development very well.

p.21

PUPILS?

For example, children visited a farm and wondered at the young animals and how they are cared for and enabled to grow. Art and design has not been a recent focus for development in the school and there are few opportunities for pupils to reflect on feelings inspired by good artwork. Castletown Primary School - 20 39 Provision for moral development is very good. Classes have an agreed set of rules and pupils are able to develop the skills and understanding required to make increasingly complex moral decisions, as they move from one year group to the next. The caring ethos of the school successfully emphasises the difference between right and wrong in a fair and balanced way. From the time children enter the school they are taught to take turns, listen and share equipment with each other. Teachers and support staff have high expectations of the pupils. The very good relationships between adults and pupils help to contribute to pupils’ understanding of each other’s needs. A house points

p.21

PUPILS?

system is used to encourage pupils to act responsibly and work hard in Key Stage 2.

p.22

PUPILS?

40 The school makes very good provision for pupils’ social development. Everyone in the school works hard to foster a sense of community and pupils are encouraged to work co-operatively whenever possible. Pupils are polite and friendly and eager to be of assistance. Pupils are given opportunities to become responsible and to develop their independence. Lunchtimes contribute to pupils’ understanding of socially accepted behaviour. The breakfast club is also a civilized gathering, with many pupils benefiting from the opportunity to meet up in school before the working day begins.

p.22

PUPILS?

41 The school’s provision for pupils’ cultural development is satisfactory overall. There are good links with the community and the school uses the culture of the locality well to enhance pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the society in which they live. Pupils in all years benefit from visits to many places of interest, and also from many visitors. However, pupils do not share in the celebrations, festivals, events and practices of the major religions. They do not visit the places of worship of these religions and so do not develop a broad understanding of the richness and diversity of cultures and traditions that are part of life in Britain today. In this, the school has not made enough progress since the last inspection.

p.22

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

42 The standard of care provided by the teaching and non-teaching staff is very good. Clear procedures are in place for identifying and controlling risks to health and safety. Effective child protection procedures are in place and there is a designated person who has received training. All the teaching and non-teaching staff are aware of their responsibilities and are kept up to date with child protection issues. There are two members of the staff who have received first aid training and pupils know who to go to if sick or injured. Staff have also received specialist medical training to help with the care of the disabled pupils. There are regular fire drill and fire notices with the location of the assembly points, which are clearly marked on the playground, displayed around the school.

p.22

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

43 The school has good measures in place for monitoring and improving attendance. The school, together with the Educational Welfare Officer, works hard at reminding parents about the need for good attendance.

p.22

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

44 The school has a positive approach to behaviour through the good behaviour policy; as a result the standards of behaviour in the classrooms and around the school are very good. Any bullying is dealt with quickly and sympathetically. Most members of staff monitor behaviour and present a united approach in dealing with discipline problems when they arise. This is less well done in Year 4, where the management of pupils is not always good enough and their behaviour slips. The pupils and parents know the rules, know what is expected of the pupils and the sanctions that are applied when necessary. There are very good relationships between the pupils, teachers and other adults in the school. Most class teachers use their knowledge of the pupils to monitor their personal development effectively. Castletown Primary School - 21 45 The teachers demonstrate a good knowledge and understanding of the needs of the pupils;

p.22

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

they are alert and responsive to the pupils’ needs. Personal and social issues are dealt with in classes during personal, social and health education lessons. The pupils who have a specific problem or emotional need know that all staff will support them sensitively.

p.23

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

46 The provision for pupils with special educational needs is good and the use of the new Code of Practice is effectively working to support the pupils’ progress. Individual education plans are in place for all pupils on the register of special educational needs, written by the class teachers with the support of the two special educational needs co-ordinators, and they have a positive impact on the pupils’ learning because they focus on specific needs well. Reviews take place each term with parents who discuss their children’s progress and the new targets.

p.23

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

47 Assessment was identified as an area of weakness in the last inspection and there has been sound improvement in many of the whole school procedures for assessing and monitoring pupils’ attainment as they move through the school. Information from a wide range of tests identifies individuals and groups of pupils who could benefit from extra support in English and mathematics. Their progress through the school is tracked and expected attainment is recorded. These procedures include the analysis of pupils’ answers in tests that provides valuable information about areas of learning that could be improved. The school has started to use some good procedures for tracking pupils as they begin Year 3. At the end of Year 2 the results of their end of Key Stage 1 assessments are analysed and pupils who are identified as being above or below expected levels are targeted for additional support in lessons and through a range of ‘booster’ classes. This procedure is yet to be

p.23

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

formalised and the potential value of targeting specific pupils is clear to most staff but its use is inconsistent in Year 4. The results of national tests for pupils leaving Year 6 are also analysed and shortfalls in their performance are identified with a view to selectively enhancing parts of the curriculum so that pupils can benefit in the future. This has begun to have a positive impact on standards.

p.23

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

48 There are strengths in the use of the information from the assessment of children in the foundation stage, where staff check to discover the extent of each child’s abilities and personal development and plan appropriate work for them; as a result they make good progress. In lessons in English and mathematics, the school groups pupils in Years 1 to 6 according to their ability. This means that work is often matched appropriately to the abilities of the pupils in each group. The non-class based deputy head teacher is deployed to good effect to support less able pupils in their acquisition of basic skills and this has a positive impact on their achievement. However, the use of teachers’ day-to- day checks on what pupils have learned in lessons is not consistent within all classes and subjects. With the exception of English, mathematics, science and ICT, assessment in other subjects is mainly based on annual teacher assessments or assessments at the end of a topic. However, the use of day-

p.23

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

to-day assessment information to modify the planning of the next day’s work is done well in some classes, particularly in Years 5 and 6. The use of ongoing assessment is often unsatisfactory in Year 4 where, with the exception of some work in literacy and numeracy, the same work is often presented to all pupils whatever their age or ability. Although most teachers are beginning to evaluate and record information on pupils’ ongoing progress, in these classes teachers are often unclear what their pupils have learnt and the progress they have made. As a result the needs of some pupils, especially the higher attainers, are not well catered for.

p.23

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

49 The school’s partnership with parents is very good and contributes well to the pupils’ attainment and personal development. The parents have very positive views of the school and the Castletown Primary School - 22 replies to the questionnaires and responses given at the parents’ meeting show that they have a high level of confidence in the school and the staff.

p.23

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

50 The quality of the information provided for parents is very good. The school prospectus contains all the necessary information for new pupils joining the school. Parents have termly opportunities to discuss their children’s progress and these are well attended. Pupils’ annual progress reports clearly inform the parents what their children know, understand and can do; they include targets and areas for improvement. Reports for the younger children are very detailed. There is a special literacy newsletter for Year 6 parents giving them advice on how to support their children. The school, together with the local education authority, organises courses for the parents of Year 1 children to work with them on literacy and numeracy projects. These courses are in their second year and have had a good effect on the way parents support their children at home. Although there is no newsletter parents are kept well informed of school events. The Governors annual report to parents is

p.24

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

comprehensive and provides them with a good account of life in the school during the previous year.

p.24

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

51 Parents’ involvement in their children’s learning is good. Support at home is well promoted and valued by the school and parents are welcomed and encouraged to play an active part in school life. Several parents make a valuable contribution to the quality of pupils’ learning by helping in the classrooms on a regular basis, with the breakfast club and on educational visits. The homework and reading diaries provide a two-way communication between school and home. The Friends of the School organise fund raising events and organised the ‘Toy and Talk, Talk’ sacks, which are enjoyed by the younger children and their parents.

p.24

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

52 Parents are informed on a regular basis about their children’s progress towards their individual targets and links with parents are very good. There are opportunities each term for the parents of children with special educational needs to come into school to discuss their child’s progress and a high number of parents attend.

p.24

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

53 The leadership and management of the school are very good. The head teacher has an excellent philosophy for how children should be educated and shares this successfully with all members of staff. His strength of character combined with an eagerness to involve all members of the school, encourage a mutual respect from staff, pupils and parents. As a result, there is a very positive and caring atmosphere in the school, together with a common sense of purpose. The head teacher promotes not only the well-being of pupils but also their sense of achievement. He has a very clear vision of what the school needs to do to continue developing.

p.24

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

54 The head teacher has managed the transition to the new school premises very efficiently and improved the school well since the last inspection. Assessment procedures are much improved and give a better picture of how pupils are progressing. There are now more opportunities for investigative work in subjects like science, and more scope for pupils to develop their writing in all subjects. Support for pupils with special educational needs has become much stronger. The school now makes excellent use of computers and other technological resources, such as in the recording of attendance in classes.

p.24

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

55 There is a very effective management structure. The head teacher works closely with the deputy head teacher to oversee a smooth day-to-day running of the school. The deputy head teacher is very effective especially in analysing the school’s progress to highlight strengths and areas for further improvement. All members of the senior staff monitor classroom teaching objectively and knowledgeably and offer valuable advice. This has certainly helped to strengthen the quality of Castletown Primary School - 23 teaching in most classes. All the teachers who are responsible for a subject are increasingly having the opportunity to observe lessons and monitor pupils’ progress.

p.24

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

56 The school is skilful at identifying its own strengths and weaknesses. All co-ordinators analyse their subjects carefully every year and suggest what needs to improve. The head teacher ensures that there is full and frank discussion of these and other issues, such as playground equipment or pupils’ behaviour. An action plan is then finalised for each subject area and aspect of the school. These are well focused and appropriate. For example, in art and design, the co-ordinator intends to build up a portfolio of pupils’ work to monitor the quality of pupils’ work as they progress. Having consulted the governors, the head teacher and senior staff then prioritise the most important issues for the school. The whole school impetus that follows works well. For instance, teachers have improved pupils’ writing by maximising opportunities in other subjects. However, the school has not been successful in raising the quality of teaching in Year 4 despite a large amount of support and advice.

p.25

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

57 The governing body does a good job. There is no shortage of volunteers to serve as governors, which shows how keen many people are to support their local school. Governors have regular contact with the school and are kept well informed of events by the head teacher. On occasions, teachers present information about specific subjects to the governing body, so that governors gain at first-hand a better picture of how well the school is doing. The governors are not directly involved in the creation of the school’s development plan but systematically evaluate the priorities. In the same way, they ensure that the plans are linked to sensible expenditure. However, the governors do not always query the school’s plans vigorously enough to double-check that the school is taking the right option. Governors are keen to undergo training to support their roles and several governors have useful links with the school for literacy, numeracy and special educational

p.25

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

58 The school has excellent financial planning. The annual budget is carefully considered to reflect the changing needs of the school. The head teacher and senior teachers weigh up carefully the needs and the money available to see whether the school’s plans for improvement are cost-effective. Moreover, the school is very active in seeking extra funding to help pay for its improvements. For example, the school uses the money available from the local EAZ to expand the number of support staff to support pupils’ speaking and listening in reception and Year 1. This funding is also used in part to fund technical support for the computer suite, which ensures that all the resources are always ready for use. The school is able to support its priorities financially and still produce a small surplus each year. This then enables the school to buy extra resources for the school like the outdoor adventure

p.25

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

area. The administration of the school’s finances is very efficient. A recent audit showed that all- important systems were firmly in place. Any minor concerns were quickly put right by the school.

p.25

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

59 The leadership and management of special educational needs are good. There is a useful policy to guide the teachers in identifying and helping pupils with special educational needs and supports the inclusion of all pupils in all aspects of school life. The two special educational needs co- ordinators, one for each key stage, work very well as a team and have a good development plan for the support of pupils and development of staff expertise. The very well informed governor responsible for special educational needs understands the pupils’ needs and when necessary challenges the local education authority about funding to help the pupils. Resources to support the teaching and learning for pupils are good and there is a newly purchased computer program to help teachers in writing individual education plans. They track the progress of pupils with special needs regularly and liaise on a regular

p.25

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

basis with other professionals, for example, the physiotherapists, and speech and language therapists to support the pupils’ individual education plans. Castletown Primary School - 24 60 The number, qualifications and experience of teaching and support staff are satisfactorily matched to the needs of the curriculum. Curriculum areas are generally well led and managed and co- ordinators make a good contribution to the development of their subjects across the school. The skills of all teachers are systematically developed through the schools’ clear performance management programme. Teachers are set agreed personal targets for improvement and these, in addition to any needs identified in the school development plan, form the basis of the schools’ in-service needs.

p.25

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

61 Support staff ably assist and relieve teachers and help pupils by providing targeted literacy support. The school also benefits from good quality technical support. Staff here maintain the computer suite and support learning across the curriculum. The school administrators are very efficient and use information technology appropriately to support the day-to-day running of the school.

p.26

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

62 There are no formal induction procedures for new staff and newly qualified teachers, however, the school employs an effective peer-mentoring scheme, which ensures that new staff are well supported. The welcoming entrance is an example of the very good range of accommodation, which includes a new computer suite and an adventure playground for the younger pupils. There are very good facilities for the care of the disabled pupils. The premises are well maintained by the caretaker. The lack of graffiti and litter show how the pupils respect their school.

p.26

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

63 Learning resources are good. Classrooms are well equipped. Resources to support learning are effective in supporting literacy and numeracy, and for pupils with special educational needs. They are very good in ICT. There are no significant shortfalls or deficiencies in any subjects. Resources are well cared for, and are well used. Castletown Primary School - 25

p.26

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

64 In order to improve further the head teacher, staff and governors should;

p.27

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(1) Further improve the systems for assessing and recording pupils’ progress by: - • ensuring that the information gained from the day-to-day assessments of progress in lessons is used by all teachers to plan work that builds more precisely on what pupils have already learned; • ensuring that pupils are clear about what they are going to learn, how well they are doing and how they can improve. (Paragraphs 30, 47, 48, 108, 110, 114, 123)

p.27

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(2) Further monitor and support teaching and learning in Year 4 to ensure that in all lessons it enables pupils to sustain the good progress made in earlier years by:- • ensuring that teachers adapt the written guidance for lessons to ensure the planned work matches the abilities of all the class; • ensuring that work is sufficiently stimulating to interest pupils and to promote their concentration; • developing teachers’ strategies to manage pupils’ learning and behaviour; • ensuring teachers have sufficiently high expectations of their pupils, whatever their ability, and value their contributions in lessons. (Paragraphs 5, 15, 20, 23, 29, 44, 47, 56, 94, 96, 108, 116)

p.27

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

65 In addition to the issues above, the governing body should consider the following less important issue when drawing up its action plan;

p.27

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

1. Improve the opportunities for pupils to gain a greater understanding of the traditions of other cultures. (Paragraphs 37, 41, 114, 123, 139, 148) Castletown Primary School - 26

p.27

Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 40

p.28

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory 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 more than one percentage point.

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils on the school’s roll Nursery YR – Y6

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 46 372

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 0 98

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Special educational needs Nursery YR – Y6

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 2 7

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 2 82

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 0

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 20

p.28

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 22

p.28

Attendance

School data 5.2 School data 0.0 Castletown Primary School - 27 National comparative data 5.4 National comparative data 0.5

p.28

Attendance

Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Castletown Primary School - 28

p.29

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

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 1 for the latest reporting year 2002 28 23 51

p.30

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

National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics

p.30

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

Boys 22 21 25 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 23 19 23

p.30

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

Percentage of pupils School 88% (91%) 78% (85%) 94% (96%) at NC level 2 or above National 84% (84%) 86% (86%) 90% (91%)

p.30

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

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

p.30

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

Boys 21 24 25 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 19 23 20

p.30

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

Percentage of pupils School 78% (89%) 92% (96%) 88% (96%) at NC level 2 or above National 85% (85%) 89% (89%) 89% (89%)

p.30

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

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

p.30

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 31 22 53

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 27 25 30 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 17 15 19

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

Percentage of pupils School 83% (69%) 75% (60%) 92% (88%) at NC level 4 or above National 75% (75%) 73% (71%) 86% (87%)

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

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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

Boys 24 23 30 Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 15 16 19

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

Percentage of pupils School 74% (67%) 74% (60%) 92% (76%) at NC level 4 or above National 73% (72%) 74% (74%) 82% (82%)

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

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year. Castletown Primary School - 29

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

White – any other White background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Mixed – any other mixed background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British - Pakistani 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black or Black British – Caribbean 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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

p.31

Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 17.7 Financial year 2001-2002

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 24.8:1

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Education support staff: YR – Y6 Total income 924,045

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 14 Total expenditure 909,150

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 373 Expenditure per pupil 2,220

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Qualified teachers and support staff: nursery Balance brought forward from previous year 27,595

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 1 Balance carried forward to next year 42,490

p.31

Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 46

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 1

p.31

Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 35 Castletown Primary School - 30 Number of pupils per FTE adult 23

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Recruitment of teachers

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

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 2

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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) 1.0

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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. Castletown Primary School - 31

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

Percentage of responses in each category

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

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

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

My child is making good progress in school. 55 42 3 0 0

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

Behaviour in the school is good. 53 44 0 0 3

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 39 53 6 1 1

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 56 39 3 1 0

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 68 29 1 2 0

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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. 74 26 0 1 0

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school works closely with parents. 51 45 4 1 0

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Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school is well led and managed. 65 33 1 1 1

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 60 39 1 0 1

p.33

Results of the survey of parents and carers

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 39 36 10 1 14 Castletown Primary School - 32

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

66 The school’s provision for children in the foundation stage is very good and is a strength of the school. It has improved since the last inspection. The staff in the nursery and reception classes work closely together to provide a stimulating curriculum and wide range of activities that ensure that the children get a very good start to their education. There is a caring and supportive, yet challenging atmosphere that encourages the children’s learning and enables many of them to make very good progress. By the end of the reception year the children are well prepared for transition into Year 1.

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

67 Children enter school with a broad range of attainment but many have had a limited range of experiences to support their learning. When children join the nursery they are below, and often well below, the standards expected for their age in language, literacy, number and social skills. The children spend at least a year in the nursery and there are two open-plan reception classes. The children are organised well in four ability groups and move between the class bases for literacy and numeracy sessions where each teacher works with two groups. All staff have a very good awareness of the learning needs of young children and plan work that takes account of their ages and abilities. This is a key factor in the very good provision throughout the foundation stage. The quality of teaching in the nursery and reception classes is often very good. This ensures that children of all abilities achieve very well in their skills and understanding across all the areas of learning. Staff make careful

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

assessments of the children’s progress and use this information effectively to ensure that activities build on what the children already know and to provide extra support or challenge for those who need it. Children with special educational needs are very well supported in both their group and individual activities. They are encouraged to take a full part in all activities at a level where they are confident. Teachers, nursery nurses and classroom assistants support these children very well and so they make substantial gains in their personal and social skills.

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

68 All learning resources are deployed and managed very well to provide good opportunities for children to gain independence as they take responsibility for getting out and returning their own equipment. Staff often use resources very imaginatively to develop exciting role-play areas. For example, role-play areas are changed frequently and staff often involve the children in creating stimulating areas such as space capsules, a toyshop, a health clinic, a restaurants and the current ‘jungle’. These areas are exciting and show innovative use of different materials and equipment. Staff establish good links with parents and the induction of children into the nursery and reception classes works well and includes visits before they start nursery or move into the reception class. The well-presented, useful written guidance helps parents to prepare their children for school. Many parents feel that these very supportive first links with the school make them feel welcome and give

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AREAS OF LEARNING FOR CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

good guidance on how best to help their children. The co-ordinator manages effectively the provision for children in the foundation stage; she works well with her colleagues and provides a clear direction for the organisation and development of the children’s learning.

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Personal, social and emotional development

69 These areas are taught very well and the provision for the children’s personal and social development is very good; from starting in the nursery they are encouraged to be independent. The children in the nursery have only just begun their second term in school but they are already secure, confident and well settled into school routines. The children who have transferred to the reception classes have settled well to full time education. In both the nursery and reception classes, children move confidently about their classrooms and the wider areas of the hall and playground. The children Castletown Primary School - 33 in the reception classes are already very confident when they move into different groups and change teachers for literacy and numeracy. The staff ensure that children’s personal, social and emotional development are given a high priority and promote the children’s learning very well by providing good

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Personal, social and emotional development

opportunities for them to make choices from the range of activities on offer, to identify where they plan to work and to talk about the work they have done. The children enjoy their activities, respond well to adults and are eager to learn. They gain in confidence within the supportive environment provided and many are keen to ask and answer questions. In whole school assemblies, reception children behave well and respond well to the older pupils. In both the nursery and reception classes, the staff manage the children very well; their high expectations and the exciting programme of activities means that children are engrossed in their tasks and so behaviour is very good.

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Personal, social and emotional development

70 Relationships are excellent and promote very good attitudes to learning. Children gain independence and quickly learn to get out and return equipment, and to show initiative. For example, the nursery children enjoy physical activities outside and, at the end of the session, they sensibly help to put away some of the more manageable apparatus. By the time they transfer to the reception classes the children work well together, learn to take turns and to share equipment. For instance, they worked well in small groups to programme a floor robot. They talked eagerly together to decide how many moves would be needed to cover the coloured squares on a floor mat, helped each other with directions and waited patiently for a turn.

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Personal, social and emotional development

71 There is a good programme for developing the children’s personal, social and emotional development and this is taught very sensitively. In a very well planned session with nursery children, the teacher effectively used ‘Dansi’, a puppet, to teach children how to stay safe when playing. They were quick to volunteer ‘We don’t play in the road’. Good reference was made to not touching needles and pills that they might find outside. The session promoted very well the dangers of talking to strangers and reinforced the need to stop and think and to tell school staff or parents of any concerns. The children’s spiritual and moral development is promoted through stories, and is reinforced within the activities linked to the areas of learning. For example, they have rich experiences from visits out of school, for example, to a local farm and the Wildfowl Park. They gain a good awareness of how young animals and birds need to be cared for. By the end of the their time in the foundation stage, the

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Personal, social and emotional development

children understand the importance of co-operation, kindness and caring for others. They are well on course to exceed the early learning goals identified for their age in this area of learning by the time they move into Year 1, and will go on to become confident, considerate members of their classes.

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Communication, language and literacy

72 The teaching of early language skills is often very good throughout the foundation stage. This enables children in the nursery and reception classes to make a very good start in language and literacy work. However, many children are unlikely to attain the early learning goals for language and literacy that are identified for their age at the end of the reception year. Many children have limited speaking and listening skills when they start in the nursery. In response to this identified problem within local schools that are part of the EAZ, foundation stage staff from these schools have prepared ‘Listening Bags’ and ‘Play Bags’ to extend opportunities for parents to reinforce these skills at home. These have been well received and are beginning to have a positive impact in giving parents the confidence to work with the school to develop their children’s vocabulary. Staff rightly set a high priority on the development of early speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. They plan well

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Communication, language and literacy

together to provide opportunities for children to practise these skills in all activities and in particular reinforce children’s speaking and listening skills. The children respond well to the careful and purposeful questioning in both the nursery and reception classes, and to the opportunities for discussion provided by the staff. In the nursery they begin to listen well to each other, learn to take turns when speaking, follow directions carefully and are developing a suitable range of vocabulary. The staff in Castletown Primary School - 34 the reception classes build effectively on these skills within all areas of learning and widen the children’s experiences to prepare them well for literacy work in the National Curriculum.

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Communication, language and literacy

73 In both the nursery and reception classes the children quickly gain confidence through well- planned opportunities to ask and answer questions when working with adults and when showing their work or sharing ideas with other children. Role-play is used well to promote the development of language and social skills and children respond imaginatively as they act out different situations. Sometimes adults join in and stimulate dialogue in these areas. For example, nursery children made good progress as they worked in the ‘jungle’ and acted out the roles of animals using the very well chosen dressing up clothes and masks. In the reception classes children were well supported as they worked in pairs to talk about their pets and volunteered sensible ideas on how to care for them. They took their ‘pets’ to visit the ‘vet’, who studied ‘x-rays’ and carried out a range of careful examinations of toy animals. The ‘vet’ diagnosed ‘I think his leg’s broke’, and quickly fixed it!

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Communication, language and literacy

74 Throughout the foundation stage children listen carefully to stories and know many action songs and rhymes by heart. In the nursery they listened carefully to a story linked to their topic on ‘Colour’ and enjoyed the antics of a toddler who spread different coloured paints throughout the house as his parents decorated. The teacher read the story expressively and they eagerly followed the story through looking at the pictures and quickly learned phrases that they could repeat. Most children take books home each week to share with their families. In the nursery they know how to use books and are aware that pictures and print in books go from left to right. They know that print conveys meaning and that pictures give clues to what is written. By the time they are in the reception classes, children are beginning to discriminate between different letter sounds. Teachers use the time at the start of

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Communication, language and literacy

each day to work on letter sounds and wisely turn these sessions into ‘games’ where the adult puts a word on the whiteboard and children identify the initial letter sound. Many children are aware of the initial letter sounds in many commonly used words. About half can match a letter to its sound but many are less secure when blending together the sounds of two letters.

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Communication, language and literacy

75 Most children recognise their names from their name cards and can find these readily. From starting nursery children learn to make choices from the wide range of activities available and place pictures of their choice beside their name. Children in the reception classes are beginning to recognise a number of commonly used words, which are reinforced by the clear labels and captions around the classrooms. They accurately retell stories in their own words and, when sharing a book with an adult, can describe the roles of the author and illustrator. In one lesson with a reception class, the teacher took children into the school library and used the books they had chosen to reinforce terms such as ‘title’ and to encourage children to care for books. Her very expressive reading of ‘Fergus Big Splash’ had the children engrossed in the action and they eagerly volunteered ideas such as ‘If they rock the boat they will all fall in but it won’t matter for the ducks-they can swim.’ They related well to

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Communication, language and literacy

the humour of the story. A few children recognise familiar words from their early reading books. They make good progress in the whole class sessions at the start of literacy lessons when they share a book with teachers. These sessions are used well to enable children to develop their knowledge, and use of letter sound that will help them read, write and spell.

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Communication, language and literacy

76 Children in the nursery are beginning to act as ‘writers’ and make attempts at their own writing, ranging from ‘play’ writing to emergent writing where letter shapes are recognisable. In the reception classes, children write over or copy the teachers’ script to add captions to their pictures or tell stories. Most form recognisable letters and show sound control of pens and pencils for their age. A few children write their name and several simple words, using well-formed letters. Children are eager to write and many of the children attain well and make good progress in letter formation and early writing. However, many children have a long way to go and are therefore unlikely to develop the writing skills expected for their age by the end of the reception year. Castletown Primary School - 35

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Mathematical development

77 Teaching is good in both the nursery and reception classes and children make good progress over time. They are taught mathematical skills through opportunities to play well-chosen games that enable them to sort, count and create sets of objects by colour, shape and size. For example, children were delighted with their efforts in creating coloured ‘necklaces’ and made a good attempt at keeping to the patterns of alternating colours. There are good opportunities for children to access lively programs on the computer and work well in pairs to match shapes or play counting games. In the nursery the staff encourage children’s counting skills and reinforce their understanding of the match of numbers to objects in a wide range of activities. In a carefully planned activity the children in the nursery class joined in enthusiastically to sing a counting song. Five children each had a fluffy toy duck

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Mathematical development

and one had the ‘mummy’ duck, and almost all the class successfully held up five fingers and showed a reducing number as each ‘duckling’ sat down. Children are developing their understanding of the relationship between numbers and objects. As they sang ‘Five Little Speckled Frogs’ many children recognised the pattern of reducing numbers from five as each ‘frog’ jumped into a ‘pool’. Other adults are deployed well and work productively with different groups. Castletown Primary School - 36 78 The reception class teachers build on the work done in the nursery and this enables the children to consolidate their counting. Most can count to 10 and in a well planned activity with one class, the teacher effectively reinforced the need to listen carefully as children sat in a circle and took turns to add the next number up to 10. Many children counted accurately and knew which number came next in the sequence. Only a few were insecure in their counting but coped with adult help.

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Mathematical development

Most children in the reception classes recognise the written numerals to 10. In a lively game many could hold up the correct number cards when the teacher asked for a particular number but some found six and nine difficult because they did not know which way up to hold the card. The children responded well to the challenge of making a simple number line with a series of squares into which they drew the correct number of dots, ordering them from 1 to 10. Children enjoy their activities and the teachers use well the oral sessions at the start of lessons to reinforce counting and recognition of numbers through well-resourced number rhymes, games and activities. The very good pace to the lessons and wide range of activities reinforce well the children’s basic number skills through first-hand experiences. The well taught lessons enable children to work with three-dimensional shapes and they show a growing awareness of the names and properties of cubes, spheres and cuboids. Staff

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Mathematical development

reinforce children’s understanding and use of mathematical language in all activities so that they know terms to such as ‘large’, ‘small’, ‘short’ and ‘long’. In a good lesson using ICT, the reception children responded enthusiastically to the teacher’s demonstration of a floor robot, the ‘Roamer’ and they quickly became more accurate in predicting the commands needed to programme the robot to cover a given number of coloured squares on the carpet. The activity reinforced their awareness of space and helped develop terms such as ‘forward’, ‘backward’, ‘left’ and ‘right’.

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Mathematical development

79 Throughout the foundation stage, children are developing their understanding of volume through practical activities that enable them to use sand, water, beans, pulses and counters to fill different shapes and sizes of container and to compare how much each will hold. They are beginning to use vocabulary such as ‘full’ or ‘empty’ and understand the terms ‘more than’ and ‘less than’. In free choice activities, many children make patterns with beads, cubes and shapes and are beginning to repeat them. Many of the children recognise the main primary colours of red, green, blue and yellow. Children’s mathematical skills and understanding are developing well and they achieve well from their low starting point on entry to the nursery. Many children make good progress in their number skills in the nursery and reception classes but are on course to still be below the early learning goals expected for their age by the time they transfer to Year 1.

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

80 The nursery and reception staff plan very well together to provide a good range of experiences that will enable the children to gain a greater knowledge and understanding of the world about them. The children learn quickly through the many first-hand experiences provided by staff. These activities provide a good foundation for the children’s future learning in science, design and technology, history, geography and ICT. They practise skills using computers, listening centres and tape recorders to support their learning. Children learn to bake and in a well-planned lesson a parent helper was deployed well to work with nursery children to make ‘pizza faces’. The parent helper’s clear demonstration ensured all the children were clear about the task and she reinforced well the need for hygiene and ensured the children understood how she took great care when handling a knife to spread the topping. She encouraged the children to make careful observations of each other’s faces

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

so that they knew how to place features in the correct places on their pizzas. The children had very clear ideas about their choices of foods to create the eyes, nose, mouth and hair on their pizzas and the parent enabled children to develop their speaking skills and discuss their choices. ‘I don’t like tomato sauce’ said one child and when the adult smeared a small amount on the pizza decided firmly ‘I’m not eating that’. The children showed sound manipulative skills as they spread sauce, sprinkled cheese Castletown Primary School - 37 and placed tomato and ham to create features. The children behaved very well and responded well as they built on experiences from out of school to talk about favourite pizza toppings.

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

81 The staff in the foundation stage plan a rich and interesting range of activities to broaden children’s understanding of the world about them. Children plant seeds and bulbs in the outdoor area and make careful observations of how they grow. They grow plants in the classrooms and learn what is needed to enable them to thrive. In work that is planned effectively to provide a basis for future work in geography the nursery children receive cards and follow ‘teddy’ as he travels in Scotland. In the reception classes, children observe the weather and can describe what is happening and choose the correct symbols for different conditions such as cloud, fog, rain, snow and sun. In their current topic on the ‘Jungle’ children learn about animals and where they live. Children in the reception classes show a sound awareness of the work done by the ‘vet’ and ‘staff’ in their ‘Animal Clinic’ as they bring sick and injured ‘pets’ in to be treated. Staff encourage children to discuss their ideas and

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

promote learning with well-timed questions such as ‘Why do people take dogs for a walk?’ Children answer sensibly and often use their own experiences. In response to a question about the ‘pets’ ‘Why are they getting injections?’ they suggested a range of reasons such as illness or ‘to stop them getting ill’, a response based on children’s awareness that injections can be given to prevent illnesses such as measles. They created ‘x-ray’ pictures using white chalk on black paper and one child described these as ‘a picture of all his bones. I saw them at the hospital.’

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

82 Children in the reception classes gained experience of early science concepts as they practised with magnets. They achieved well in their game as they learned that the magnet would attract a range of metal objects. There was great enthusiasm as they then experimented with objects around the classroom to test their ideas. In one lesson the teacher’s very good understanding of each child’s needs enabled her to plan a science based activity that built on the children’s interests and earlier learning. The lesson was very well resourced with toys brought in by the children. Many toys had an on/off switch but were powered in different ways. The teacher understood that the children’s first response would be to play with the toys and she wisely allowed time for the children to investigate and find out how the toys moved. This enabled them to decide which toys had a switch and a winding device, which needed a battery for electrical power and which toys moved in response to a push or

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

83 Children have good opportunities to use computers and by the time they are in the reception classes, many show good control as they use the mouse to manipulate cursors and move pictures on the screen. In one group they confidently used the mouse to click onto the correct icons to find pictures on a CD-ROM. Staff ensure that programs reinforce basic skills in literacy and numeracy. For instance, children match colours and shapes and count objects to match numbers. Teachers plan well to ensure that computers are used well in classrooms to support the children’s learning and also provide a good range of wider opportunities for children to use the school’s computer suite and use programs to draw and colour pictures or create patterns. Staff balance well their direct teaching with good opportunities for the children to practise and develop their skills in using the keyboard and mouse. The children work well in pairs and help each other. The very good teaching ensures that children are

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

on course to attain the early learning goals by the end of the reception year.

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Creative development

84 Standards of attainment in creative development are on target to meet the expectations for children by the end of the reception year. Teaching is good throughout the foundation stage and the wide range of well-planned and resourced activities mean that children achieve well. Staff ensure that creative activities are available on a daily basis and children have free access to paint, paper and collage materials at all times. They enjoy painting pictures, and use a range of colours and brush sizes. Castletown Primary School - 38 Children are enthusiastic and keen to take part in all activities. In art and design activities, they explore colour and texture using a range of materials to create pictures, collages, prints and patterns. For example, in the nursery, children painted recognisable pictures of different animals and cut them out for their collage of ‘Noah’s Ark’. They have contributed effectively to create a collage about ‘Elmer The

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Creative development

Elephant’. Reception children successfully learned to mix colours to make green. They have made careful representations of fruits, using tissue paper and created a collage of imaginatively patterned fish. The staff carefully mount the children’s work and displays in the class bases are of good quality. They represent a wide range of areas of learning and promote the children’s self-esteem.

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Creative development

85 Children have frequent opportunities to create three-dimensional models in clay and ‘junk’ modelling materials. In the reception classes, children work in the construction area of ‘Bob the Builder’ and many show good manipulative skills using large blocks and ‘fix’ broken models with their ‘tools’. They explore and use malleable materials such as play dough to experiment with texture. For example, children used play dough to make letter shapes and rainbows. Many children competently use a variety of techniques such as cutting, folding and sticking paper, fabrics, foil and feathers. Children regularly experience musical activities; in the nursery and reception classes, they memorise counting and action songs and learn to sing in tune. The staff join in and demonstrate well the actions and movements and this encourages the children to take part. The children sing tunefully and quickly learn new words, actions and tunes. In the nursery, when making their choices for a session, the

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Creative development

children will choose music making and have access to a range of percussion instruments, which they ‘play’ enthusiastically. In the reception year, children have good opportunities for music making. They clap rhythms to songs that they know and confidently take the role of ‘leader’ and others follow the actions quickly and sensibly. The children recognise and name correctly percussion instruments such as bells, triangles, and castanets, and one successfully identified maracas. Children have frequent opportunities for imaginative play in their role-play areas. These are linked well to the topics for each term and are used well to support the children’s imaginative play and speaking skills. There is a good balance between the children working independently in these areas and opportunities for adults to be involved to initiate imaginative scenarios and reinforce vocabulary. Children also use small toys to

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Creative development

create a range of environments such as roads, camps and houses.

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Physical development

86 In the nursery, the children develop confidence and control of the way they move through opportunities for outdoor play where they have opportunities to control and manoeuvre wheeled vehicles or play a variety of imaginative games. Teaching is often very good in both the nursery and reception classes. Adults are deployed well; they intervene with well-timed questions and provide very good support for less confident children. When one child said ‘There’s a nasty giant in the play house,’ the adult called another child to affirm that ‘We only have nice giants in the nursery!’ During their physical education lessons in the school hall, the staff effectively reinforce the children’s confidence in using space. In a well-taught lesson in the hall the nursery teacher’s very good knowledge of the learning needs of young children ensured that they understood the need to work safely and to warm up their bodies. The children used space very confidently and thoroughly enjoyed the warm-up game.

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Physical development

One little girl laughed aloud as she wobbled as a ‘jelly bean’. The children showed good control as they jumped in and out of a hoop or walked around the inside of the hoop. In the reception classes, staff build effectively on the good work started in the nursery and children develop good co-ordination and find different ways to travel across the benches, boxes and mats. They develop sound ball skills for their age. The children are developing sound hand and eye co-ordination and learn to handle tools and equipment safely. Many children are well on course to meet the early learning goals identified for their age by the time they transfer to Year 1.

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ENGLISH

Castletown Primary School - 39 87 The attainment of pupils is in line with national expectations by the age of seven. This is a distinct improvement since the last inspection. By the age of 11, pupils’ attainment is also average, although some higher attaining pupils do not always write as well as they should. This is similar to the findings of the last inspection but an improvement on the years in between. The subject has moved forward well since the last inspection because the school has scrupulously analysed areas of concern and has actively sought a broad range of measures to overcome them. The National Literacy Strategy is implemented well and the EAZ funding enables the deputy head teacher to work effectively throughout the school to develop pupils’ basic skills. In English lessons, the school groups pupils according to their ability and this enables work to be more closely matched to their needs. The quality

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ENGLISH

of teaching has remained good, although pupils do not make enough progress in Year 4.

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ENGLISH

88 Pupils’ speaking and listening by the age of seven is satisfactory. Their listening skills are stronger because teachers make lessons interesting. Pupils are, therefore, eager to understand new learning and concentrate hard. For example, in a Year 1 lesson, pupils were readily able to understand the teacher’s questions about the story of ‘The Little Red Hen’, because they loved the story and wanted to know more. Pupils’ speaking is not so confident and pronunciation is not always sharp, but pupils are clear in their meaning. For instance, pupils in Year 2 could recall occasions when they had been brave, as when receiving their first ‘jab’. They do not have a broad vocabulary and lower attaining pupils, including those with special educational needs, confuse words like ‘brave’ with ‘afraid’. Higher attaining pupils, on the other hand, have a richer vocabulary and use words like ‘anxious’ instead of ‘afraid’.

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ENGLISH

89 By the age of 11, pupils also speak and listen satisfactorily. Their concentration levels are high but listening skills vary. In the best lessons, the enthusiasm of teachers and their insistence that all pupils should understand new learning produce good levels of listening. In a discussion about journalistic writing, pupils in Year 6 were able to appreciate what kind of questions a journalist would need to ask to find information for an article. In less effective lessons, teachers talk too much at the pupils so that their attention wanders and they do not know what to do in their writing task. Pupils speak reasonably clearly and relevantly. Pupils in Year 5 can describe the gist of a poem and define its rhythmic pattern, whilst higher attaining pupils can explain its ghostly element. Lower attaining pupils are also clear but more simplistic in speech. When offering an idea for a comment in a school

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ENGLISH

report, one Year 6 pupil suggested, ‘Ginger is good at his work.’

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ENGLISH

90 Pupils have satisfactory skills in reading. By the age of seven, pupils enjoy reading simple storybooks. They are familiar with nursery rhymes and can recite their favourites. Pupils are comfortable reading familiar text. They pause at the end of sentences and handle dialogue sensibly. They are aware when they make mistakes but cannot yet decipher new words effectively. Lower attaining pupils, including those with special educational needs, have little confidence or fluency. They are starting to sound letters to help pronunciation but rely heavily on their memory of the shape of words and information in pictures. Higher attaining pupils are better than average and can deal competently with unfamiliar words, although their expression is not well developed.

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ENGLISH

91 By the age of 11, pupils enjoy reading a range of good fiction by authors like Roald Dahl and J K Rowling. Pupils are quite fluent and expressive and have the skills to deal with tricky new words. They understand the text and can talk sensibly about plots and characters. Lower attaining pupils are not so smooth or expressive but are developing their words skills gradually. Higher attaining pupils read more varied books, such as science reference books. They are really expressive and enjoy the chance to bring dialogue alive. Castletown Primary School - 40 92 Pupils have average writing skills by the age of seven. They are beginning to sequence sentences into simple narratives or factual accounts. For example, they can re-tell stories like ‘The Magic Harp’ and write instructions on how to clean their teeth. Their vocabulary is not broad and this restricts good expression. One lower attaining pupil in Year 2 struggled to think up suitable adjectives

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ENGLISH

to describe a lady beyond ‘fat’! Their spelling is fine and they remember to use capital letters and full stops when necessary. Lower attaining pupils, including those with special educational needs, are not so competent. They do not write clear sentences without help, and spelling and handwriting are weak. Higher attaining pupils are clearer in expression and are beginning to write longer sentences.

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ENGLISH

93 By the age of 11, pupils write effectively in a range of styles. They can write a letter to a local council arguing the case for a pedestrian zone in a town centre. They can outline the plot for a play based on ‘Beowulf’. They can use bullet points for impact as when listing school rules. Sentences are increasingly complex and spelling is mainly accurate. However pupils are not particularly creative when writing, because their own experiences are often limited. As a result, they do not have a wide vocabulary. Lower attaining pupils are not so good at structuring their writing and spelling is not up to scratch. The extra help given to higher attaining pupils boosts their achievement and helps them reach higher levels in the national tests.

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ENGLISH

94 The teaching of English is good, but it is not a uniform picture. There are distinct weaknesses in the teaching in Year 4, but it is especially good in Years 5 and 6. In nearly all classes, teachers create a positive working atmosphere. They present new learning clearly so that pupils understand it easily and they try to make learning fun. As a result pupils enjoy the subject and work hard. In one Year 5 lesson, the teacher had enthused the pupils so well with her appreciation of poetry that all pupils, even the boys, were thrilled to be looking at a new poem. The sight of their teacher dressed up as ‘The Red Hen’ in the story they were reading tickled Year 1 pupils. Teachers ensure that pupils are directly involved in the learning process by using good questions to make pupils think about what they are doing. This also gives teachers the opportunity to check how well pupils have understood. Teachers make very good use of devices like overhead projectors and computerised

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ENGLISH

projection in darkened rooms, which succeed in focusing pupils’ attention.

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ENGLISH

95 Teachers teach basic skills effectively. They teach pupils how to plan their writing, for example by drafting. They explain the rules of spelling skilfully and show older pupils how to use paragraphs. However, teachers are less secure about the teaching of phonics. Teachers still allow pupils to sound out letters phonetically even by Year 4, instead of weaning them off during Year 2. This slows the fluency of their reading. Generally, though, teachers’ expectations of pupils are good. The teacher of a Year 2 class demanded and got accurate spelling from the lower attaining pupils in a whole class activity. In these situations, teachers warmly praise pupils’ efforts so that pupils become more confident in themselves. Teachers do not, though, expect enough from higher attaining pupils. They do not plan their lessons thoughtfully enough to allow these pupils to progress at their own speed.

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ENGLISH

Consequently, these pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

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ENGLISH

96 Few pupils in Year 4 achieve as well as they should because the teaching is not good enough. The school’s own tests reveal that many pupils do not make much progress in reading and writing during the year, and some pupils even regress. Teachers in these classes do not always explain new learning clearly enough and do not check to see whether pupils understand. The expectations of these teachers are too low. Sometimes, they do not value pupils’ contributions at all and do not have a supportive manner. As a result pupils find difficulty with the tasks set and easily lose heart. In one lesson, pupils made slow progress, because they were confused about how to brainstorm ideas and could not read some of the words on the worksheet like ‘dialogue’ and ‘character’. Castletown Primary School - 41 97 Overall, the school has made good progress in developing English over recent years. The subject is managed well; there has been a concerted effort, spearheaded by the enthusiastic and very

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able co-ordinator, to raise standards. There are good systems of tracking pupils’ progress through the school, which help to pinpoint both strengths and weaknesses. The co-ordinator has analysed very thoroughly these areas of concern and used all means to improve matters. For example, in order to improve the quality of pupils’ writing, the school has brought in expert guidance from the local authority, earmarked money from the EAZ to fund extra staff and purchased a new writing course. These actions have had positive results.

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MATHEMATICS

98 The school’s provision in mathematics is good. Pupils’ attainment on entry to the school is below average. By the age of seven pupils achieve well in comparison to their low starting point on entry to school and standards are as expected for their age at the end of Year 2. By the age of 11 pupils achieve very well and make good progress, especially in Years 5 and 6. They attain above the standards expected for their age at the end of Year 6.

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MATHEMATICS

99 Pupils’ good progress is due to good teaching, especially in Years 5 and 6, supported by well developed planning which ensures thorough coverage of all aspects of the subject. There is a very positive drive from the school’s managers to raise standards. The co-ordinator for mathematics has worked hard to ensure that provision for most groups is matched to the needs of pupils. As a result, pupils of all attainments are interested in mathematics and they have very good attitudes towards the subject. The National Numeracy Strategy has been introduced effectively, as has intervention to address the needs of individual pupils. Pupils with special educational needs are well provided for and make good progress.

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MATHEMATICS

100 By the age of seven pupils are gaining increasing fluency and confidence in their use of numbers, with a secure understanding of the number system. They add and subtract single and two digit numbers well, usually write numerals correctly, and develop an understanding of number bonds and sequences. They recognise and name common two and three-dimensional shapes and name different angles. Pupils understand the language of estimation, make simple tables and use them to record information. They know the value of coins and solve problems involving money. Teachers ensure that pupils develop their understanding of how to write their workings in a logical way. Sometimes they are not discriminating enough in the use of aids such as beads and number squares, especially by the higher ability pupils.

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MATHEMATICS

101 By the age of 11, pupils develop their understanding of the number system and use their knowledge of place value to multiply. Many pupils have quick mental recall of number and multiplication facts, benefiting from the emphasis given by teachers to instill good mental strategies. For example, in Year 5 the higher ability pupils confidently double from 2 to 256. As a result they select appropriate operations to solve problems, and develop confidence in explaining how a problem is solved. The use of approximation, calculators and different methods to apply their mathematical understanding to everyday problems is developed. Pupils are introduced to many shapes, recognise and name them. By Year 6 the lower ability pupils recognise reflective symmetry in two-dimensional shapes, reflections and translations, while the higher ability pupils have a good understanding of the concept of probability. Pupils also handle data and make sound use of ICT to collate and present

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MATHEMATICS

102 Standards in numeracy are good. Pupils in Year 6 are attaining above the nationally expected standard. They are developing a quick recall of number and multiplication facts and have a good understanding of the number system. The National Numeracy Strategy has been introduced Castletown Primary School - 42 effectively. Lesson activities are planned to meet the pupils’ learning needs, which allow pupils to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding through progressively more difficult tasks. This targeting is more effective as pupils move through the school.

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MATHEMATICS

103 The quality of teaching is good overall. There is very good teaching in Year 5 and mainly satisfactory teaching in Year 4, with good teaching in all other year groups. The main factor for effective teaching is the quality of the relationships between most teachers and pupils, enabling pupils to be relaxed and so able to respond well. This is well developed in Years 5 and 6. The teachers plan to meet the individual needs of pupils. The subject co-ordinator, for example, is careful to pitch the work set to match the needs of individual pupils within a higher ability grouping. This includes more challenging tasks and homework for the more able pupils. Most teachers make effective use of the three-part lesson structure recommended in the Numeracy Framework. In most classes teachers intervene quickly to help solve problems and deal with difficulties. Pupils’ learning is helped by their very good behaviour and positive responses to mathematics. Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly

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and give them clear directions about how they can improve the standard of their work, placing great importance on the standard of presentation. The teachers effectively use the good range of resources available. The contribution made by the classroom assistants, particularly when supporting less able pupils and pupils with special educational needs, is significant in enabling them to make good progress.

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MATHEMATICS

104 Leadership and management are very good, with rigorous monitoring of standards. The use of assessment data is used to place pupils in classes determined by their ability, which suits them well because they are given the attention they need. Pupils are given good guidance on their progress. The assessment of pupils’ progress is documented and recorded in detail. The older pupils take pride in their achievements, with many pupils benefiting from special ‘booster’ support to ensure they achieve their potential.

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MATHEMATICS

105 The school has been successful in developing the subject since the last inspection, with the result that standards continue to improve. The subject is managed well; the very able co-ordinator has worked well with staff to improve provision and to raise standards.

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SCIENCE

106 Standards in science are at the levels expected at the end of Year 2 and Year 6. This is a good improvement since the previous inspection when pupils at the end of Year 2 were below the standards expected for their age. The improvement is due to the consistently good teaching in Years 1 and 2, building on the very good work done in the early years. Nearly all the pupils reach the levels expected at the end of Year 6, again due to the consistently good teaching in Years 3, 5 and 6. The introduction of a commercial scheme of work, which covers all areas of the science curriculum as well as including more investigation activities, has contributed to the pupils’ progress, which is good. Pupils with special education needs make good progress, and are fully included in all aspects of the subject. The overall good teaching helps them to learn well through the good use of support staff, which enables the pupils to explain what they understand even if they find recording difficult. The pupils’

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SCIENCE

work shows that they develop skills in investigating over time as well as gaining increasing knowledge and understanding across all areas of the science curriculum over time.

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SCIENCE

107 In Year 2, the pupils learn about healthy living, which supports their learning in personal, social and health education, as well as other aspects of science. They were able to wire a simple circuit and teaching was effective in arranging activities, along with a good range of resources, allowing the pupils to experiment and learn through experience. They recorded their findings using the correct symbols to represent batteries, leads and bulbs; they did this with care and accuracy. The teacher’s very clear explanation of what they were going to do and good questioning about previous Castletown Primary School - 43 lessons ensured pupils had a good recall of what they had learned. For example the pupils remembered the word ‘conductor’ and know that electricity is dangerous and ‘can cook your body’ according to one pupil! The pupils were very enthusiastic and worked very well in pairs in creating simple circuits,

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SCIENCE

and there was real excitement and pleasure when the circuits were completed and the light came on. The more able pupils were then encouraged by the teacher to extend the circuits and light more than one bulb and this led to effective learning. The pupils concentrated well, and learned to apply the terms ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ to the different terminals on the battery when the teacher had explained, and this helped them to succeed in their task.

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SCIENCE

108 The consistently good teaching in Years 1 and 2 ensure that pupils make good progress. This is then built on successfully in Key Stage 2. In Year 3 pupils investigate the behaviour of magnets supported by good questions by the teacher asking them to speculate about how they could test the strength of a magnet. The pupils are enthusiastic about sharing ideas and answer questions well and confidently. Teaching is unsatisfactory overall in Year 4; the planning has only tenuous links with the programme of study, information given to pupils is not consistently at the right level for them to understand and the written work given lacks challenge for all pupils. The very slow pace of lessons with long teacher led introductions, inconsistent expectations for behaviour and many interruptions mean that there is no time at the end of lessons to share what the pupils have learned and to check on progress made. This results in limited learning and pupils do not sustain the good progress from earlier

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SCIENCE

109 In Year 5, the teaching is consistently good and pupils continue to develop their understanding of sound, recalling experiments on vibrations and sound sources. The pupils are eager to volunteer information and the teachers use good questioning to encourage the pupils to develop their answers and understanding. The pupils use a ‘sound sensor’ linked to a computer, plan, and develop a fair test to discover which materials insulate against sound most effectively, supporting their learning through direct experience. They work well in small groups, with the more able pupils working supportively with those who need more help. As in Year 5, the teaching and learning in Year 6 are consistently good. The pupils build on previous work and learn to write from personal experience about what they think is happening especially during an experiment. Teachers’ planning is good ensuring that the pupils have access to the breadth of the science curriculum with good opportunities to

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SCIENCE

work on problem solving activities. For example learning about how resistance affects items moving through water and air, recording their experiments and results in both writing and diagrams. The more able pupils learn to measure with accuracy, complete experiments and understand the reasons for things happening. For example, in one lesson the very good questioning by the teacher, encouraged the pupils to hypothesise why the diagrams of a circuit were wrong and why the circuit would not work. The pupils applied their previous learning to solve the problem and the encouragement given by the teacher helped the pupils to think the problem through well. Pupils of all levels of attainment enjoy their science lessons. They work with enthusiasm, take pride in their written work, co-operate very well with each other in groups and paired work, sharing ideas and discussing what they are doing with great interest.

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SCIENCE

110 The leadership and management of science are good. The co-ordinator monitors teaching and learning in the subject well through observing lessons and looking at all the pupils’ science books, giving her a good understanding of the progress, which the pupils are making. A recently carried out audit of the resources has identified where additional resources would enhance the pupils’ learning and support the teaching of the subject. There is a good subject development plan, which rightly highlights the need to formalise day-to-day assessment in science to help teachers to plan lessons with greater accuracy to meet the needs of all pupils and to track all pupils’ progress.

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ART AND DESIGN

Castletown Primary School - 44 111 Pupils attain the standards in art and design expected for their age at the end of Year 2 and Year 6. This is similar to the findings of the last inspection.

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ART AND DESIGN

112 By the age of seven, pupils are starting to draw with a reasonable sense of proportion and awareness of colour. For example, pupils in Year 2 have drawn good pictures of special people, which clearly feature mums, dads and other family members. They can paint simple pictures of landscapes and understand that backgrounds are often lighter than foregrounds. Some still-life pictures of fruit showed effective use of pastels. Pupils in Year 1 know how to crumple paper to embellish pictures of faces. Pupils in Year 2 make good use of a computer drawing package to make coloured designs in the style of Mondrian.

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ART AND DESIGN

113 By the age of 11, pupils have competent skills but lack a broad knowledge of art and design. Pupils in Years 3 and 4 know how to make repeating patterns using mathematical shapes of different colours. Some pupils in Year 4 attempt to paint their dreams and succeed in portraying their idea of ‘Frogland’, ‘Money Pot’, ‘Rainbow and Me’ and ‘Friends Go Shopping’. Year 5 pupils have worked with textiles to produce imaginative tableaux featuring parts of ‘The Cauld Lad of Hylton’. Pupils in Year 6 can draw suitable expressions on faces to demonstrate feelings like happiness and sadness. Those who chose envy, found the task quite daunting. Year 6 pupils also know how to smudge pastels in pictures of vehicles to give the impression of speed, but they are not very skilful.

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ART AND DESIGN

114 Although the curriculum is satisfactory, the school could do more to promote pupils’ knowledge of and skills in a wide variety of art. Pupils do not produce much three-dimensional work and work enough with textiles. There is not much evidence that pupils are influenced by the work of famous artists. There is too little provision for the different abilities of pupils because teachers do not make enough use of ongoing assessments of pupils’ progress in art and design. As a result lower attaining pupils produce untidy work while higher attaining pupils miss opportunities to broaden their skills. Sometimes teachers do not build carefully enough on pupils’ learning. For example, pupils make repeating patterns in Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 without much expectation to develop ideas beyond basic alternating colours. The school clearly does value pupils’ work in art because they frame it to display around the school. The leadership and management of art and design are sound. However,

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there has not been a significant whole school effort to develop art and design in recent years. Pupils have some opportunities to learn about art and design of their own culture but there are too few opportunities for them to learn about non-western artists and traditions.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

115 Standards match what is expected for seven year olds by the end of Year 2 and are above the levels expected for 11 year olds by the end of Year 6. The best work is in Years 3, 5 and 6.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

116 Pupils at the end of Year 2 can make a wandering toy using a winding mechanism made from a number of different components including, bobbins, sticks, straws and elastic bands and can organise their work with the help of structured design briefs, which they are encouraged to complete. Pupils can use tools with increasing skill and confidence for example when they make puppets. In Key Stage 2 a good range of work is covered. For example, pupils in Year 3 look at packaging, safety signs, kitchen hazards and sandwiches and they are encouraged to evaluate their work saying how it could be improved. A range of work is completed at a good standard. In Year 4 pupils undertake work on ways to water plants but work here is at a more basic level. The work pupils are expected to do does not challenge them sufficiently or develop the skills of design, making and evaluation that are better developed in other classes. Consequently, pupils’ progress slows during their time in Year 4.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

Pupils in Years 5 and 6 undertake a range of projects including, designing and testing moving toys, Castletown Primary School - 45 making bread and instruments, and in so doing, develop social skills by working in groups, research skills using the Internet to acquire information and conduct research and are encouraged to evaluate and modify their work. In Year 6 pupils design and make bus shelters, test how waterproof different materials are, recording what they do through carefully made notes and make load-bearing structures that will support weights of over one kilogram. They also begin to look at computer-controlled technology and how programming through ‘command strings’ will ensure that models will perform a series of linked actions. Pupils show great care and initiative when devising command strings and are keen to improve them when the model they are trying to control fails to perform as it should.

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117 Teaching is satisfactory overall, with some good teaching in Years 5 and 6. Teachers prepare well and take time to teach basic skills. They help less able pupils to play a full part in lessons by planning work that is well matched to their ability. Teachers encourage pupils to structure work, develop thoughtful designs, make models using the correct tools safely and evaluate what they do. As a result pupils make satisfactory progress. They concentrate and help each other perform difficult tasks such as threading an elastic band through a bobbin and a bead.

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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

118 The subject is led and managed well. A well considered policy provides the context for teaching and learning in design and technology and a clear improvement plan outlines how the co- ordinator and senior staff see the subject developing over the coming year. Resources are good and so the pupils have opportunities to work with a wide range of materials.

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GEOGRAPHY

119 Only one lesson of geography was seen in Key Stage 1 during the inspection but evidence from that lesson, pupils work in books, on display and interviews with teachers and pupils show that standards are in line with those expected for their age at the end of Year 2.

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GEOGRAPHY

120 By the age of seven pupils have looked at houses and can name different parts of them. They have looked at holiday destinations, the distribution and nature of hot and cold places throughout the world and have followed the travels of Barnaby Bear. They can describe different environments, use maps and atlases to locate places and understand a simple key. Many display considerable knowledge of local seaside places and features such as Saltburn and Marsden Rock and have a good knowledge as to where they are and how to get there.

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GEOGRAPHY

121 By the end of Year 6, pupils attain the standards expected of 11 year olds. There is a good progression in skills in Years 3 to 6 and so pupils make sound progress. Year 3 pupils make passports, use street maps to help them study local places and are beginning to understand the differences between physical and human features. They are able to say how different route ways are represented on a map using symbols and can describe how they would travel from a farm to a village using simplified maps. By Year 5 pupils carry out investigations into how water might be cleaned, look at the process of the water cycle, water in the environment and the nature of settlements. Their work is well organised and many geographical skills including map work is developing appropriately. By the end of Year 6 pupils look at mountain environments and compare them with Castletown. They show considerable skill in locating features on maps, using evidence from photographs, giving directions and

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using scale. They use more advanced geographical vocabulary. Pupils, including those with special needs, make sound progress throughout the key stages.

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GEOGRAPHY

122 Teaching is at least satisfactory and is good in Years 3, 5 and 6. Most teachers have a good knowledge of the subject, prepare a range of stimulating and relevant resources and deliver lessons confidently. In a Year 6 lesson pupils were given a range of resources including; maps, photographs, worksheets and images projected onto a screen that supported a school visit to Keswick many of the Castletown Primary School - 46 pupils had made. Pupils were impressed by the materials they were presented with and were keen to use them to find places they knew in the town.

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GEOGRAPHY

123 The leadership and management of geography are sound. The subject benefits from a policy and improvement plan, which describes how the co-ordinator and senior staff feel that the subject should develop over the next year. As yet there is no formal monitoring of pupils’ progress in geography throughout the school and no system for modifying the curriculum that is taught to the pupils to ensure it closely matches their needs. As a result progress is satisfactory rather than good. Resources are generally good but more local maps at different scales would help pupils in their local geography. The school enhances pupils’ experiences through a good range of visits that enable them to gain first-hand experience of the local and extended environment. For example the residential visit for pupils in Years 5 and 6 enable them to learn about an area in the Lake District; they contrast it with their own built up coastal area and learn about reasons for settlement and how the land is used. This

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also reinforces their awareness of their own cultural heritage.

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HISTORY

124 Pupils’ attainment is in line with that expected for their ages and the end of both key stages. This is similar to the last inspection. By the age of seven pupils in a lesson looking at the ages of domestic artefacts enjoyed trying to decide which, from a number of clothes pegs, were the oldest, older, newer or newest. They showed good reasoning skills and imaginative observations when making their decisions such as; ‘It’s old because its rough’ and ‘they invented wood before they invented plastic so its older’ and so were developing some idea of chronology. They recorded their observations by matching pictures and statements.

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HISTORY

125 There is a good range of topics covered in Key Stage 2 where pupils study ancient Greece and talk about the archaeological dig at Sutton Hoo and the variety of artefacts found on the site. They consider the different uses the artefacts would have been put to and speculate as to the kind of person they may have belonged to. Year 5 pupils visit Beamish Open Air Museum, adopt the role of Victorian children at school and display the photographs taken on the school’s website. By the end of Year 6 pupils are able to talk about the fickle and selfish nature of the Ancient Greek gods and goddesses and display good research skills by scanning and underlining words and sentences that describe the relationship of the gods to the Greek people long ago.

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HISTORY

126 Teaching is satisfactory and enables pupils to make sound progress. There is an emphasis on teaching historical skills through artefacts and sources of evidence in all year groups. Teachers use such resources well and so pupils gain a sound understanding of the importance and reliability of different kinds of source materials. It is to the credit of some teachers in Key Stage 1 that they try to bring the subject alive for pupils. A good example was in Year 1 where teachers encouraged pupils to hang out newly washed Victorian clothes on a clothesline and to test different clothes pegs for strength. They then led a lively discussion about the difficulties of trying to dry clothes in front of an open fire. In Key Stage 2 teaching is more factually based and teachers enthuse pupils well so that they understand and gain an empathy for people of earlier times. For example, Year 5 teachers provided pupils with opportunities to learn about first-hand about children’s lives in Victorian times.

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HISTORY

Teachers show good subject knowledge and a desire to make work interesting to their pupils.

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HISTORY

127 Teaching is well supported by a range of interesting visits for example to Fountains Abbey, Eden Camp the Roman Wall and various different local museums. Local elderly people are often invited into school to talk to younger pupils about the past. These opportunities reinforce pupils’ understanding of their own culture. Resources are good overall and the school is currently trying to Castletown Primary School - 47 build up its stock of artefacts. The subject is led and managed satisfactorily and guided by a well- developed policy and improvement plan which will help the subject move forward over the next year. Castletown Primary School - 48

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

128 Standards are at the expected levels by the time pupils are seven and are above those expected for pupils at the age of 11. This shows a substantial improvement on those reported in the last inspection. Since then the school has made a great investment in establishing a well-resourced computer suite, buying new computers for each class and obtaining a wide range of software. This has been extended by the provision of extra hardware and software funded through local EAZ initiatives. This funding also supports a technician shared between the partner schools; he provides very good support in ensuring that all equipment is serviced and always available to support teaching and learning. Teachers are now more confident due to well-planned training, some provided by the co- ordinator for ICT. The school also has its own ICT technician who provides very effective support to teachers and pupils in lessons in the computer suite. This improved provision and staff expertise

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

ensures that all equipment is used to good effect. This has enabled the school to raise standards and to ensure that all strands of the ICT curriculum are now taught in sufficient depth.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

129 All pupils have access to the computer suite and this time is used well to enable pupils to develop and practise their computer skills and also to enable them use computers to support their learning in other subjects. In all lessons the support staff and technician were deployed well in the computer suite and provided very effective support to individuals and groups of pupils. This ensured that all pupils, whatever their level of confidence or competence in using computers, were very well supported in their learning and made good progress.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

130 The co-ordinator has rightly identified the need to use ICT to support work in other subjects as a key priority for development and teachers are increasingly identifying these links in their planning. For example, in a very well taught lesson in the computer suite a senior teacher worked with a Year 3 class to explore how they could use the functions of a computer program to support their work in literacy. The activity was very well planned to enable pupils to use the features of the Word program to enable them to write words and to edit them so that the appearance of the words reflected their meaning. The teacher made effective use of a computer linked to a whiteboard to demonstrate how pupils could type in their words and use the mouse to select and apply different functions of the program. This enabled pupils to competently change the font type and size, change the colour of the letters or whole word to create different effects to match their chosen words. For example, some

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

pupils chose the word ‘colour’ and used the icons to select different colours for each letter. The very good teaching ensured that pupils learned quickly and they confidently applied what they knew to changing the font size to match the meaning of words such as ‘big’ and ‘little’. Pupils changed font style to show words such as ‘scary’.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

131 Teaching is good throughout the school and is sometimes very good in Year 6. The substantial amount of good teaching ensures that pupils of all abilities achieve well and make good progress as they move through the year groups. It stimulates pupils and so they develop very good attitudes to their work and behave very well. By the age of seven pupils have sound basic keyboard skills and know the function of different keys, such as ‘shift’ and ‘spacebar.’ They use these to good effect when writing sentences and short stories. Most pupils control the ‘mouse’ correctly and this enables them to ‘click and drag’ when using programs. They know how to word process their work and to print it. Pupils know how to log on to the computer, access their class and personal files, save their work and log off. Pupils sometimes need help to get started but quickly learn how to carry out these tasks.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

132 In Years 1 and 2, teachers plan good classroom based lessons that use computers linked to a large screen or whiteboard to promote pupils’ learning of basic skills on literacy or numeracy or to prepare pupils for what they will learn in the computer suite. In a Year 1 lesson the teacher made a Castletown Primary School - 49 clear link between work in art and design and the planned use of a painting program in the computer suite. Very clear questioning elicited from pupils their ideas of the ‘tools’ such as different sizes of brush, paints, palette and paper that they would use to paint a picture in the classroom. After they had completed pictures painted in the outlines already printed on their worksheets the teacher led a good discussion about the problems encountered. Pupils were quick to suggest that they felt that the proposed painting of a picture using a computer would have distinct advantages. In a good class based

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

lesson with Year 2, the teacher used the computer and projector to reinforce pupils’ basic skills in literacy. The pupils were motivated well by the teacher’s strategy of typing in sentences with deliberate mistakes and enjoyed opportunities to put right the sentences by adding capital letters at the start, full stops to end the sentence and separating words that were typed without spaces. The computer was used effectively to make good teaching points with the whole class pupils and pupils were quick to understand these real-life applications of ICT to more easily edit their work.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

133 Pupils make good progress throughout Years 3 to 6. At the time of the last inspection pupils had limited opportunities to acquire a wide range of skills to match the demands of the curriculum. The good provision and effective teaching in most classes means that any gaps in previous learning have been filled and so standards are rising rapidly to enable pupils to attain well by the end of Year 6. The good balance between the direct teaching of skills and opportunities for pupils to practise enables them to make good gains in their learning. The teachers organise the lessons well and the pace of learning is good. Support assistants and the ICT technicians are deployed well and use their good expertise to support less confident pupils. Pupils are very eager to learn and some build well on skills developed at home and share these with those less confident. For example, pupils in Year 6 are working on creating their own multimedia encyclopaedias and one boy used what he had learned to

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

create his own computer game as ‘homework’. Pupils are broadening their experience and their competence in using PCs for finding information. Pupils use the Internet and CD-ROM to support work across the curriculum. In a good lesson a Year 6 teacher used ICT well in his music lesson and pupils worked well together to compose their own pieces of music and their learning was extended by their work on using a music program to create rhythms and to play them back for others to listen to and evaluate.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

134 The very good and sometimes excellent work in Year 6 ensures that these pupils work very confidently in ICT. In an excellent lesson a Year 6 teacher, who is also the co-ordinator for ICT, provided very good opportunities for pupils to show the pages they had already created as part of their multimedia encyclopaedias about animals to be used by younger children. His skilful and very pertinent questioning enabled pupils to share why they had used a particular format and to show their awareness of the audience as they described why certain images had been downloaded from the Internet or CD- ROM. Many pupils were very clear about how and why they had created their own hyperlinks between pages. Pupils confidently added in and edited text and changed and improved their slideshows ready to copy their encyclopaedias onto CDs ready to show to younger children in the school. The teacher’s very good subject expertise meant that he challenged pupils very well by

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

requiring them to evaluate their work and to question why they had made certain choices and to question for example, the value of using a voice-over or introducing different sounds.

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

135 The co-ordinator has very good expertise and provides a very good lead for staff. He is enthusiastic and works hard to support other staff. He has a very good grasp of priorities to further develop the subject. Resources are very good. All pupils enjoy a much wider range of good and well- managed experiences than four years ago. The school has good procedures to safeguard pupils’ use of the Internet.

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MUSIC

Castletown Primary School - 50 136 By the ages of seven and 11, standards in music are broadly in line with the levels expected and these standards are the same as in the previous inspection. All pupils make good progress, including those with special educational needs, particularly in singing and performing. The pupils learn well through the wide range of musical experiences, which are planned for over time. The school choir is very good and pupils from Year 3 upwards are able to join. They sing in tune, with expression and enjoyment, which reflects the enthusiasm of the teacher who leads them and the school has every right to be proud of them, and their performance. The pupils sing particularly well during assemblies and this has a positive impact on their confidence in performing.

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MUSIC

137 By the age of seven, pupils can sing in time and in unison and can accompany their songs with simple percussion. They learn to phrase pauses, sing in rounds and in harmony with expression. They can chant in time and unison and sustain a constant rhythm. Teachers’ good revision at the beginning of lessons reminds pupils about earlier work. In one Key Stage 1 lesson, pertinent questioning ensured pupils recalled the meaning of ‘pulse’ and then they listened to a tape and learned to tap their feet in time to the beat. The teacher then developed their skills further by challenging them to clap the rhythm at the same time. However, not all pupils were able to keep the beat as they clapped but began to learn what they had to do. The pupils, although some had more difficulty with co- ordination than others in sustaining the beat and rhythm, were eager to join in and worked hard. The good teaching helps the pupils to develop their skills with confidence. In a Year 1 class, a good display

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MUSIC

of pictures by the pupils showed musical instruments, such as triangles, Indian bells and maracas. This supported the pupils’ learning in music through the teacher’s good questions about the properties of these instruments. For example, pupils successfully identified which instruments are best for making quiet or loud sounds.

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MUSIC

138 By Year 6 the pupils feel ‘they learn things because the teachers make it fun’ and the teaching and learning are good overall. The pupils learn to compose raps through the very good use of ICT; using a computer they work well in pairs to ‘lay down a track’ after careful and precise instructions by the teacher. In a lesson, the good explanation by the teacher enabled the pupils to learn about accented notes and the value of notes in a four beat bar. They then used this knowledge in their compositions. In Year 5, the teachers’ good planning creates opportunities for them to listen to and appreciate different types of music, such as Holst’s ‘Planet Suite’ linked to work in science on the solar system. Pupils use simple notation and learn about the values of notes such as quavers, crotchets and semibreve. They able to follow a conductor when singing, understand adding rhythm to words and can explain in detail about a rhythm and how it relates to the words in a piece of music. Most pupils

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MUSIC

know and understand a range of musical terms, such as, ‘ostinato’ and the majority are able to read simple standard musical notation. They can order rhythms to their own arrangement and read the rhythms written above the words very well.

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MUSIC

139 The curriculum for music is good, closely linked to the National Curriculum and national guidance for the subject, supported by a commercial scheme, which ensures that all areas of learning are included. The leadership and management of music are good and the co-ordinator monitors teachers’ planning as well as observing lessons on a regular, although limited, basis. The need for more formal assessment of the pupils’ learning of key skills to support teachers’ planning is an area for development and is included in the subject action plan. Music makes good contribution to the pupils’ social development, when they learn to take turns to play musical instruments and listen to others. Through performances, particularly in the choir, they learn to work as a team. Music also contributes to pupils’ spiritual development as they listen to music and respond to the feelings it inspires. Pupils learn about music that reflects their own culture but there are too few opportunities for them to learn

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MUSIC

about music from non-western traditions.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Castletown Primary School - 51 140 During the inspection it was only possible to observe gymnastics and games skills. Discussions with the co-ordinator, other staff and pupils, plus the examination of planning and teachers’ records demonstrate that all strands of the physical education curriculum are taught according to the season. It is evident that by the ages of seven and 11, pupils attain the standards expected for their age, with a few pupils who attain more highly. This is similar to the findings of the last inspection. The school’s provision has improved and there is a good range of extra-curricular sports opportunities including football and netball plus other sports as appropriate to the season and sessions linked to initiatives such as ‘Fit For Fun’. The school has developed useful links with Sunderland F.C and pupils have visited the club and had training opportunities. The school’s football

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

and netball teams compete very successfully against other schools and this has a very positive impact on the self-esteem of all pupils. All pupils in Years 3 to 6 learn to swim and by the age of 11 all pupils swim the 25 metres as required by the National Curriculum for physical education; many exceed this and successfully take part in a swimming gala hosted by the receiver secondary school for pupils from the local primary schools. After school clubs are well attended and older pupils have the opportunity to take part in a residential visit where they enjoy outdoor activities such as orienteering, hill walking and canoeing. In Year 5, pupils have good opportunities to learn orienteering and canoeing and learn simple ski-ing techniques at a dry-ski run. Castletown Primary School - 52 141 Teaching is at least satisfactory throughout the school and this ensures that pupils achieve well and make sound, and sometimes good, progress in relation to their ability and stage of physical

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

development. Lessons are planned well to build on what pupils have already learned. Teachers ensure that lessons include a warm-up at the start of activities and make sure that pupils gain an understanding of the importance of this and the impact of exercise on their health. Throughout the school, teachers emphasise the need for pupils to develop control and to move safely. In the most effective lessons, teachers reinforce their expectations for pupils to aim for high quality in all their movements. In a good gymnastics lesson in Year 1, the teacher planned a vigorous warm up that ensured that the pupils joined in enthusiastically. Clear instructions ensured that pupils knew what was expected as they developed a sequence that included a controlled balance. There was a good balance between direct teaching and opportunities for pupils to practise their sequences on different sets of apparatus. Most pupils responded well as they found imaginative ways to balance on different parts of

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

the body, climb onto apparatus and end their movement with a controlled jump. Many showed improved control by the end of the lesson and only a few boys still showed uncontrolled movements and jumps.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

142 By the age of 11, pupils have sound ball skills. There are good opportunities for pupils to practise a wide range of ball skills and apply them to formal games of football and netball. Many of the pupils belong to the school’s sports clubs or clubs in the town and apply the expertise they have gained to improve their performance in games lessons. The good skills developed in out of school clubs and coaching sessions are used well to enhance performance in lessons. Teachers make good use of pupils’ demonstrations and this enhances the performance of others in the class. Pupils with physical disabilities are supported well in lessons and are able to take part in all activities at a level at which they feel confident. Staff liaise well with physiotherapists and other specialist support staff to ensure work is matched well to the needs of these pupils.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

143 The teachers have sound and sometimes good subject expertise and work hard to support pupils in training linked to initiatives such as ‘Sport for All’. They are beginning to widen the range of music to further develop opportunities in dance. The co-ordinator has recently taken on the role and is ably supported by the previous co-ordinator and the subject is led and managed well. The school has good resources for physical education.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

144 The pupils make satisfactory progress in religious education and at the age of seven and by the time they leave the school their attainment is in line with the expectations of the locally Agreed Syllabus. Satisfactory progress has been made since the last inspection.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

145 The school’s scheme of work enables the required areas of study to be covered throughout the key stages. There is a good balance in the time allocated for each topic to allow for major religions of the world to be studied in sufficient detail. Alongside Christianity, pupils study Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. Throughout the school the pupils have an appreciation of the importance of faith and ritual across a number of different religions and are beginning to make comparisons between them and their own lives. Pupils are encouraged to discuss moral and social issues as part of the religious education curriculum. All pupils, including those with special educational needs, are given equal opportunities and overall they make satisfactory progress.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

146 By the end of Year 2, pupils know that all religions have some factors in common. They know about places of worship such as churches and mosques and that people go to these places to worship together. Pupils know that religions have special books that are important. They know about some of the major festivals such as Christmas and Diwali. By the end of Year 6, pupils build on their Castletown Primary School - 53 experiences and start to study in more detail, beginning to learn more about the traditions of the various religions. They appreciate that people’s beliefs affect the way in which they live.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

147 The quality of teaching is satisfactory overall. The teachers have a sound knowledge and understanding of the scheme of work for religious education. They make good use of the moral and social issues surrounding them. There is an appropriate range of resources including books, posters and artifacts that are used to promote the pupils’ knowledge of different faiths. Assessment of pupils’ work is regular through teachers’ marking.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

148 Opportunities for spiritual development and reflection are available in the regular assemblies, and all pupils respond to these very positively. However, there are too few opportunities to link with local places of worship of faiths other than Christianity and the teachers do not use the expertise of religious leaders in the wider community enough. This impacts on pupils’ first-hand understanding and knowledge of the beliefs and traditions of people of other faiths.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

149 The leadership and management of the subject are sound and staff are supported well. Resources are good and there is a good range of artefacts that stimulate pupils’ interest and support their learning.

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