Ravensbury Community School

RAVENSBURY COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 5 th – 8 th July 2004

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RAVENSBURY COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 Ravensbury Community School - 2 Crown copyright 2004

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RAVENSBURY COMMUNITY SCHOOL

This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

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RAVENSBURY COMMUNITY 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. Ravensbury Community School - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Type of school: Primary School category: Community Age range of pupils: 3 – 11 Gender of pupils: Mixed Number on roll: 341

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Tartan Street Clayton Manchester Postcode: M11 4EG

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Telephone number: 0161 223 0370 Fax number: 0161 231 9595

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: Governing body Name of chair of governors: Mrs Pam Evers

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: 15 th June 1998

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

Ravensbury Community School is situated in Clayton on the east side of Manchester. The new building was opened in 2000 to serve the educational needs of the community as well as providing primary education. There are training facilities and community rooms so that adult learning courses can be offered. The school has strong links with local and national agencies such as Sure Start and the Children’s Centre. It is larger than most primary schools and includes a 60 place nursery with provision for full-time and part-time children. There are currently 274 pupils on roll in full-time education and 67 children who attend the nursery part-time. The movement of pupils in and out of the school is high. The school serves a community with most pupils drawn from an area that is considerably economically disadvantaged. There are 73.1 per cent of pupils entitled to free school meals. This is well above average. There are 28 per cent of pupils with special educational needs,

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

which is above the national average. Most of these pupils have moderate learning difficulties. The percentage of pupils with a statement of special educational needs is broadly average. Overall, children’s attainments on entry to the nursery are very low. The school has 1.3 per cent of children learning English as an additional language in the nursery are at the early stages of learning English. This is slightly higher than most schools. The pupils’ first languages are African dialects, French and Portuguese. There are approximately 11 per cent of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. The characteristics are poorer than at the time of the last inspection.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

Nearly all pupils in Year 6 were participating in a transition project at a local secondary school at the time of the inspection.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

The school achieved a Schools Achievement Award in 2003, the Activemark Gold Award and the Investor in People Award in 2004. It is part of the East Manchester Education Action Zone (EAZ). Ravensbury Community School - 4

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Members of the inspection team Subject responsibilities

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

11608 Anna Dawson Lead inspector Mathematics Art and design Religious education English as an additional language 19365 Gordon Stockley Lay inspector 30823 Brenda Clarke Team inspector Science Information and communication technology Design and technology Geography Foundation Stage 7838 Alan Cross Team inspector English History Music Physical education Special educational needs

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

peakschoolhaus Ltd BPS Business Centre Brake Lane Boughton Nottinghamshire NG22 9HQ

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be made initially to the inspection contractor. The procedures are set out in the leaflet ‘Complaining about Ofsted Inspections’ , which is available from Ofsted Publications Centre (telephone 07002 637833) or Ofsted’s website (www.ofsted.gov.uk). Ravensbury Community School - 5

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED BY PUPILS 10

Standards achieved in areas of learning and subjects

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED BY PUPILS 10

Pupils’ attitudes, values and other personal qualities

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QUALITY OF EDUCAT ION PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL 14

Teaching and learning The curriculum Care, guidance and support Partnership with parents, other schools and the community

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS 36

Ravensbury Community School - 6 Ravensbury Community School - 7

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OVERALL EVALUATION

This is a good school with some very good strengths . The school is managed and led very well in challenging circumstances. The quality of the teaching is good, consequently, most pupils achieve well by the time they reach the end of Year 6. The school provides good value for money.

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The school’s main strengths and weaknesses are:

• The school is very well led and managed and governed well. • Pupils’ attendance is very low and punctuality is below average. • The pupils achieve well by the end of Year 6, but a small minority of average attaining pupils could attain better standards in Years 3 and 4. • Pupils with special educational needs achieve well. • Pupils’ personal development is very good overall. The school takes very good care of the pupils and consequently, the pupils enjoy school, have very positive attitudes to work and behave well. • The quality of the curriculum is good and enriched by very good provision for extra-curricular activities and visits to the local area. However, the library is not sufficiently resourced or used. • There is a good partnership with parents and very good links with the community and local schools and colleges.

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The school’s main strengths and weaknesses are:

The school has made very good improvement since the last inspection in 1998. The key issues identified in the last inspection have been resolved. The school has improved almost every aspect of its provision, especially in the leadership and management of the school, the quality of the curriculum, and teaching and learning. Consequently, standards have improved, especially in Years 1 to 2 and in information and communication technology (ICT) throughout the school. The school has improved its accommodation but the library is underdeveloped. Although there has been some improvement in attendance, this is still very low.

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED

Overall, pupils’ achievement is good. In the nursery and reception classes, most children achieve very well, particularly in language and social skills. The majority of children start with very low language, communication and social skills on entry to the nursery. By the time the children reach the end of the reception year the majority are working towards the nationally expected goals for children of this age. In the 2003 National Curriculum tests and assessments for Year 2 pupils, standards were very low: among the bottom five per cent nationally in reading and well below average in writing and mathematics compared with all schools. The pupils currently in Year 2 are attaining the national expectations in reading, writing, mathematics and science. This is very good achievement, considering pupils’ low starting points, and represents very good improvement from last year.

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED

all schools similar schools Results in National Curriculum tests at the end of Year 6, compared with: 2001 2002 2003 2003 English E E E D Mathematics E D D B Science E E E B Key: A - well above average; B – above average; C – average; D – below average; E – well below average Similar schools are those with similar percentages of pupils eligible for free school meals. Ravensbury Community School - 8 In 2003, results of the National Curriculum tests for Year 6 pupils show that compared to pupils in similar schools, the pupils achieved well in mathematics and science but attained below average standards in English. The current Year 6 pupils achieve well but standards overall are below the national average in English, mathematics and science. A small minority of average attaining pupils could do better in Years 3 and 4. Pupils with special educational needs achieve well overall. The few children in the nursery learning English as an additional language achieve well. Pupils from minority

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED

ethnic backgrounds achieve well. Pupils are doing well in ICT where standards are above average by the end of Year 2 and average by the end of Year 6. Very low attendance, pupils moving in and out of school, changes in staffing and the proportion of pupils with special educational needs, have a negative impact on pupils’ achievement in Years 3 to 6.

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Pupils’ personal qualities, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development,

are very good . Pupils are very keen to learn and behave well and there are very good relationships throughout the school. There are good opportunities for them to learn about the traditions and cultures of others. Attendance and punctuality are unsatisfactory. Attendance is very low and too many pupils arrive late after school starts despite the good efforts of the school. When pupils are not at school, learning is missed and this adversely affects pupils’ achievement.

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

The quality of education provided by the school is good. This is because the quality of teaching and learning is good overall. In the nursery and reception classes teaching is very good overall especially in communication, language and social skills and children get a good start to their education. It is very good in Years 1 to 2 and good overall with some that is very good in Years 3 to 6. Work planned does not consistently match the needs of a minority of the pupils in Years 3 and 4. This is mainly because the temporary staff do not know the pupils very well. The pupils with special educational needs are helped very well by their teachers and the teaching assistants and achieve as well as others towards their set targets. The quality of the curriculum is good and greatly enriched by the very good range of extra-curricular activities and visits to the local area. Although the accommodation and learning resources are very good overall, there are not enough books in the

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

library and it is not sufficiently used by the pupils. The school takes very good care of the pupils. There is a successful and improving partnership with parents. However, many parents do not give enough help to their children at home with their learning. The school has very good links with the local community and other nearby schools and colleges.

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LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

There is very good leadership and management of the school. There is a good governing body which works very well with the very able headteacher to meet the needs of the pupils and promote education within the community. The governors, headteacher, teachers and teaching assistants work very well together. Their roles are very well defined. Each member of the team is committed to moving the school forward and carries out his or her duties conscientiously. The governors have a good overall understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. There is a very well thought out focus for improvement in performance and provision. Statutory requirements are met. The headteacher demonstrates an enthusiastic vision for high standards and overcoming barriers to learning. The commitment of the headteacher in enabling all pupils to succeed is excellent and at present is achieving this very well.

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PARENTS’ AND PUPILS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

Parents think highly of the school. They are particularly appreciative of the teaching, the care taken of their children, their children’s personal development and the extra-curricular opportunities offered to them. Most pupils enjoy school. This is encapsulated in the remark made by one young pupil who was overheard to say “Everyone in this school is magic!” Ravensbury Community School - 9

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IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

The most important things the school should do to improve are:

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IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

• Continue to raise standards in English, mathematics and science in Years 3 to 6. • Extend the library provision and promote further a reading culture within the school. • Improve the attendance and punctuality of pupils. Ravensbury Community School - 10 Ravensbury Community School - 11

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Standards achieved in areas of learning and subjects

Overall, pupils’ achievement is good. Children in the Foundation Stage 1 and those in Years 1 and 2 achieve very well . Pupils with special educational needs, children learning English as an additional language and pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds achieve well . A small minority of average attaining pupils do not achieve as well as they could in English, mathematics and science in Years 3 and 4.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Children in the Foundation Stage and pupils in Years 1 and 2, considering their starting points, are doing very well. • Pupils with special educational needs achieve well because of the high quality help they receive. • Children learning English as an additional language and pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds achieve well. • A small minority of average attaining pupils in Years 3 and 4 could do better in English, mathematics and science.

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Commentary

1. Most children start in the nursery with very low language, communication and social skills. There are very few higher attaining children. The majority of children are working towards the goals that are set nationally in most areas of learning by the end of reception. The children achieve very well overall.

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Commentary

Standards in national tests at the end of Year 2 – average point scores in 2003

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Commentary

Standards in: School results National results Reading 11.9 (11.8) 15.7 (15.8) Writing 11.5 (11.7) 14.6 (14.4) Mathematics 13.9 (15.1) 16 3 (16.5) There were 34 pupils in the year group. Figures in brackets are for the previous year

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Commentary

2. Standards in the national tests in 2003 for pupils at the end of Year 2 in comparison with all schools were very low in reading, within the bottom five per cent nationally, and well below average in writing and mathematics. In comparison with similar schools, standards were well below average in reading and below average in writing and mathematics. Pupils did better in mathematics and writing than in reading. In all subjects very few attained at the higher levels and an average of 46 per cent of pupils attained standards below the expected levels. Approximately 20 per cent of these pupils had special educational needs, mainly for learning and language difficulties. There is very good improvement in standards from 2003 in the present Year 2. Most of these pupils are attaining the expected levels in reading, writing, and mathematics. There is a rise of between 14 and 20 per cent of pupils attaining the expected

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Commentary

levels, compared with the 2003 results. Most significantly this relates to the increased achievement of the boys. More pupils are now attaining at the higher levels. For example, in mathematics 30 per cent of pupils are working at the higher level 3, compared with 18 per cent in 2003. The majority of pupils achieve very well considering their low starting points.

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Commentary

1 The Foundation Stage refers to children of the nursery and reception classes. Ravensbury Community School - 12 Ravensbury Community School - 13 Standards in national tests at the end of Year 6 – average point scores in 2003

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Commentary

Standards in: School results National results English 23.9 (24.7) 26.8 (27.0) Mathematics 25.9 (26.4) 26.8 (26.7) Science 27.4 (26.9) 28.6 (28.3) There were 45 pupils in the year group. Figures in brackets are for the previous year

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Commentary

3. The results in the national tests in 2003 showed that, at the end of Year 6, pupils attained standards that were well below average in English and science and below average in mathematics when compared with all schools nationally. When compared with the results of pupils in similar schools, standards were below average in English and above average in mathematics and science. The overall results fluctuate between the year groups because of the differing attainments of the pupils taking the tests. In 2003, there were a significant number of pupils with special educational needs. The majority of pupils between Years 2 and 6 achieved well. This is still the case. The present pupils are attaining below average standards in English, mathematics and science but considering pupils’ starting points achievement overall is good. However, a small minority of the average attaining pupils in Years 3 and 4 are not

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Commentary

sufficiently challenged in their work and could achieve higher standards.

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Commentary

4. Several factors negatively affect standards and pupils’ achievement in Years 3 to 6 more than in Years 1 and 2. For example, between Years 3 to 6 there are a greater number of pupils entering with lower attainments when compared with the pupils who left to attend other schools. The pupils needing most help because they have special educational needs are in Years 3 to 6. Poor attendance of a minority has an adverse effect on achievement. The recent changes in teachers in Years 3 and 4 also faced the additional challenge of teaching in mixed age classes. This has resulted in work not matched as well as it could be to the needs of the pupils because the teachers do not know the pupils well.

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Commentary

5. Overall there has been very good improvement since the last inspection in 1998. Standards were lower then, particularly in Year 2. However, the overall attainments of the pupils on entry to the nursery were higher then than now. Since 2002, the trend for improvement has been above the national trend in Years 2 and 6. Pupils in 2003 won an Achievement Award because standards were improving. Challenging targets are set for improvement and this year they are exceeded in Years 1 and 2.

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Commentary

6. In ICT, pupils are doing very well to attain above the nationally expected standards by Year 2 and to meet the expected standards by Year 6. Standards are higher in ICT because the staff are very well trained, resources are very good and there are very good learning opportunities presented to the pupils.

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Commentary

7. There is a difference in the achievement of boys and girls. The girls tend to do better than the boys. Most of the pupils with special educational needs are boys. The teachers are aware of the need to improve the attainment of the boys and have been particularly successful in Years 1 and 2. For instance, compared with 2003 approximately 30 per cent more boys are attaining at the expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Commentary

8. Those children learning English as an additional language in the nursery achieve well overall. Those pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds achieve well. There is a good partnership with the parents and outside agencies. The staff are sensitive to their needs and their work is structured well to meet them. Ravensbury Community School - 14 9. The pupils with special educational needs achieve well because of the skilled help they receive. There are no pupils identified by the school as being gifted or talented and receiving specialist provision.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and other personal qualities

Pupils have very good attitudes to school and their behaviour is good overall. Pupils' moral and social development is very good and their spiritual and cultural development is good . Attendance is very low and punctuality is unsatisfactory.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils are very keen to learn. • The school promotes good relationships and racial harmony very well. Very high expectations are set for pupils' conduct. • There is very good provision for pupils’ personal development. • There are good opportunities planned for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. • The current level of attendance is too low and punctuality is unsatisfactory for some pupils.

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Commentary

10. Pupils are very enthusiastic about the school. They are happy in school and enjoy most of their lessons. They take part enthusiastically in the very good range of activities provided for them at lunchtime and after school. In lessons they are attentive and work well, often showing good levels of concentration. Discussions with pupils revealed that they generally get on well with their teachers and other adults working in the school. They said that teachers are helpful and they make the lessons fun. One pupil in Year 2 said, “Everyone in this school is magic!”

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Commentary

11. Overall behaviour is good in lessons and around the school. On many occasions during the inspection it was very good, particularly in the Foundation Stage and Years 1 and 2. The behaviour of the nursery children who attended an assembly during the inspection was excellent. Some of the older pupils have difficulties that sometimes cause them to behave in an unacceptable way. This is particularly noticeable when lessons are taken by temporary teachers or those whose class management skills are less strong because they do not know the pupils well. The school uses a range of good strategies to help these pupils, but sometimes finds it necessary to withdraw them from lessons or as a last resort to exclude them for a time. There were six fixed period exclusions involving four boys during the last academic year. The school places great emphasis on behaviour and relationships and as consequence pupils have

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Commentary

very good relationships with each other and with teachers and support staff. In the playground the pupils play well together and no unsatisfactory behaviour was seen during the inspection. Parents have few concerns about bullying or behaviour. Pupils respond readily to the opportunities provided for them to take responsibility. They carry out tasks such as operating the CD player in assemblies and taking the registers to the office sensibly and well. Older pupils are training to be ‘buddies’ so that they can help other children who have a problem or who are lonely.

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Commentary

12. Pupils respond well to the school's very good provision for personal development, an area given a high priority by the school. Assemblies and class discussion times often have a theme related to this area of the school's work, such as friendship or caring for others. Good opportunities are provided for pupils to develop their personal and social skills. These include operating the music in assemblies and undertaking a range of jobs to help teachers. Participation in performances such as the production of Beowulf at the Bridgewater Hall provides further opportunities for pupils to develop an appreciation of the arts and to learn about teamwork. Ravensbury Community School - 15 13. There are very good opportunities for pupils' spiritual development, allowing time for reflection in lessons and assemblies, and opportunities for pupils to be proud of their achievements. Pupils' successes in lessons, behaviour and sporting activities are celebrated each week in a special

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Commentary

assembly. There are now planned opportunities in the curriculum for pupils to look at great works of art and talk about their feelings, and to marvel at technological achievements by famous people such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Pupils gain a good appreciation of their own and other cultures through music, art and a range of visits and visitors to the school. During an assembly a group of pupils played a Russian tune on their recorders and the teacher told the pupils a little about the music so that they could appreciate it better. The music played in assemblies is often from another country. Pupils learn about some of the other major religions of the world and the school takes advantage of the wide range of other cultures represented in the city to broaden pupils' knowledge and experiences. The school's provision for pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is very good overall and has improved since

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Commentary

14. The attendance rate is very low when compared with other schools, and the unauthorised absence rate is very high despite the school’s efforts. The school does not authorise holidays in term time and these account for around half of the unauthorised absences. The school has good procedures for monitoring attendance and is working closely with the education welfare service in an attempt to boost attendance levels. However, many parents still do not give a high priority to their children's attendance and punctuality.

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Attendance

Attendance in the latest complete reporting year (%)

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Attendance

Authorised absence Unauthorised absence School data 6.6 School data 2.3 National data 5.4 National data 0.4 The table gives the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year.

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Attendance

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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Attendance

Categories used in the Annual School Census No of pupils on roll Number of fixed period exclusions Number of permanent exclusions White – British 298 6 0 White – any other White background 1 0 0 Mixed – White and Black Caribbean 16 0 0 Mixed – White and Black African 5 0 0 Mixed – White and Asian 1 0 0 Mixed – any other mixed background 1 0 0 Asian or Asian British – Pakistani 1 0 0 Asian or Asian British – any other Asian background 1 0 0 Black or Black British – African 9 0 0 Black or Black British – any other Black background 1 0 0 Any other ethnic group 7 0 0 Ravensbury Community School - 16 The table gives the number of exclusions, which may be different f0rom the number of pupils excluded. Ravensbury Community School - 17

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL

The overall quality of education is good . The good teaching and a good curriculum enriched by very good extra-curricular activities and visits contribute to pupils’ very good attitudes to work and good achievement. The school takes very good care of the pupils and gives them very good guidance and support. There is a good partnership with the parents and very good links with the community and with local schools and colleges.

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Teaching and learning

Teaching and learning are good overall. At times they are very good and occasionally excellent. There has good improvement in teaching and consequently learning since the last inspection. The procedures for assessing pupils’ attainments and achievement are overall very good and staff make good use of assessments to plan work for pupils.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Teaching and learning are generally very good for the children in the Foundation Stage and in Years 1 and 2. • There is very effective support to help pupils with special educational needs. • The teachers use ICT very well in their work. • The school has very good systems for assessing pupils’ achievement and the teachers make good use of these assessments to plan work for pupils. Occasionally, however, the work set does not sufficiently challenge the average attaining pupils in Years 3 and 4.

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Commentary

15. Most of the teaching is good or better. The majority of Year 6 pupils were attending a transition programme at a local secondary school during the week the school was inspected. Although learning is evident from their past work, there is too little evidence to assess the quality of teaching. In the Foundation Stage there are particular strengths in the teaching of language and social skills as most children start with very low attainments in these areas of learning. The staff continually reinforce the use of correct vocabulary and extend the children’s learning through discussion. The development of the children’s social skills is a constant priority in all teaching. For the first time, there are four children in the nursery who are at the early stages of learning English as an additional language. They are achieving well. The children are helped well and the staff are undergoing further training to help them in their teaching. Pupils continue

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Commentary

to achieve very well in Years 1, 2 and 5 because the quality of teaching is very good. Teachers are confident and have very good subject knowledge overall. As a result their questioning of pupils is precise and explanations given to correct mistakes or aid learning are succinct. The teachers know the pupils very well and match work very well to their needs. However, in a small number of lessons, mainly in Years 3 and 4, the teaching and learning are satisfactory. This is because the marking policy is inconsistently applied and the work is not as well matched as it could be to pupils’ abilities. As a result some average attaining pupils do not always know their next learning steps and are not always sufficiently challenged. For example, in some science lessons, pupils of differing abilities work at the same level. This results in a minority of pupils not being stretched.

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Commentary

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection in 51 lessons

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Commentary

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very poor

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Commentary

The table gives the number of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about lessons; figures in brackets show percentages where 30 or more lessons are seen. Ravensbury Community School - 18 16. Pupils with special educational needs learn well and some learn very well as a result of the high quality intervention of teachers and teaching assistants. Teachers were observed throughout the school to be very skilful in including pupils with special educational needs in all activities. Classroom teaching assistants play a major role in catering for these pupils. They provide intensive high quality support for the development of social skills and basic skills of literacy and numeracy. Two pupils, for example, were observed in one of a series of highly valuable sessions on phonics. These pupils, whose overall attainment in English was well below national expectations, achieved very well and were delighted with their increasing knowledge of

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Commentary

letter sounds. The teaching assistants play a major role in working with small groups of pupils on intervention programmes such as the Additional Literacy Support or the ‘Word Detective’ Programme.

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Commentary

17. Most teachers make very good use of ICT to aid learning. Many of the classes have interactive whiteboards or access to them. As part of the Education Action Zone (EAZ) 2 initiative, the teachers and the teaching assistants have had additional training in ICT skills. They use these skills effectively to teach their pupils. Most staff are confident in using the whiteboards or the computers in class or in the ICT suite in their teaching. Consequently the pupils achieve very well throughout the school. For example, teachers often display the learning objectives on the whiteboards and use them for their initial introductions to learning. Teachers are confident in demonstrating what is to be learned and teachers are involving pupils in using the boards correctly to demonstrate learning and to correct mistakes. The teachers and teaching assistant use specialist programs successfully to help pupils with special educational needs learn basic

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Commentary

skills in literacy or numeracy. This boosts the confidence of pupils and motivates them to learn.

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Commentary

18. The school has very good systems for assessing pupils’ attainment and achievement, especially in English, mathematics and science. The majority of teachers take care to consistently meet the needs of all the pupils. The teachers use well the information gained from these assessments to plan pupils’ work and set targets for their future performance. The activities planned match the abilities of the pupils in the classes well overall. Any pupil who needs an extra boost in learning is quickly identified and an intervention programme is put into place to ensure he or she quickly get back on track. However, this is not always the case in Years 3 and 4. In these year groups there are temporary staff who do not know the pupils very well. Consequently, lessons planned do not always sufficiently challenge the average attaining pupils, who could do better.

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The curriculum

There is a good curriculum. The school provides good opportunities for pupils’ learning and very good opportunities for enrichment through activities outside lessons. There is a good level of staffing. The accommodation and learning resources overall are very good .

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Provision for pupils with special educational needs is very good. • There is very good provision for pupils’ personal, social and health education and citizenship. • There is very good extra-curricular provision, especially for participation in sport. • The curriculum is planned well to link subjects together under broad topic headings. • The indoor accommodation is excellent and the learning resources are generally very good. However, the library is underdeveloped.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

2 Education Action Zones are government initiatives which aim to raise standards in areas which face challenging circumstances in terms of underachievement or disadvantage. Ravensbury Community School - 19

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Commentary

19. The school curriculum is designed very well with pupils with special educational needs in mind. Consequently, the provision for pupils with special educational needs is very good. Individual education plans for these pupils are of a high quality with a full range of needs identified and small steps evident in the strategies and reward systems used. The plans include differentiated activities in English and mathematics and teachers further develop these in lessons in particular response to pupils’ needs. The support within school and from outside is organised into three categories depending on the degree of need. Plans are carefully monitored by the teaching assistants, class teachers and the experienced special educational needs co- ordinator. Because the progress of pupils with special educational needs is rigorously and carefully tracked, the intervention strategies put into place for learning basic skills in literacy and

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Commentary

numeracy are successful in helping these pupils to achieve as well other pupils. ICT is used well to help pupils with special educational needs to access the full curriculum.

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Commentary

20. The provision for personal, social and health education and citizenship is very good. There is a clear policy with a comprehensive scheme of work that includes satisfactory arrangements for sex education and the attention to the misuse of alcohol and drugs. Teachers deliver personal, social and health education through other subjects and as a discrete subject. For example, classes have ‘Circle time’ 3 timetables so that pupils can share their concerns and celebrations and feel secure. Work on keeping healthy through the ‘Healthy Eating Week’ and the ‘Healthy Schools’ Initiative promotes the importance of healthy eating and taking exercise. The pupils in Year 1 learn how to say safe on the roads as they practise their ‘kerb-craft skills’ with the help of local authority specialists and parent helpers. Older pupils in Years 5 and 6 develop their personal safety skills further from the visit by the ‘Crucial Crew’. In Year 6, pupils take part in a

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Commentary

‘Crime and Community’ Project and learn how crime affects members of the community. Older pupils take on a range of responsibilities such as helping other younger pupils to read, arranging the hall for assemblies and helping to organise games for the younger pupils to play in the playground. Pupils participate in fundraising for charities such as ‘Comic Relief’ and taking care of the environment through, for example, recycling and bulb planting projects.

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Commentary

21. There is very good participation in a range of sports, including activities such as hockey, tennis, basketball, football, athletics, dance, karate and squash. The partnership with the nearby sports stadium means that pupils can continue these activities in their leisure time and when they become older if they wish. The school also provides tuition in playing stringed instruments and the recorder for all pupils from Year 2 onwards. This contributes well to their music skills and personal development. The curriculum is enriched by a good variety of visits and visitors linked to the topics pupils study. For instance, pupils visited the ‘Lowry Centre’, to study the paintings of L.S. Lowry. Some pupils have visited Castleton in Debyshire as part of their geography project. Others visited Styal Mill to improve their knowledge of history.

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Commentary

22. The curriculum has improved since the last inspection with better planning for all subjects and a sharper focus given to the development of basic skills in literacy and numeracy and providing specialist intervention programmes to meet the pupils’ needs. ICT established well in the school is used well by the staff and pupils to support their learning. A number of innovations have been made to link subjects together under broad topics. This helps pupils to understand the parameters of subjects and their relevance to other subjects. Teachers draw on pupils’ experiences when they can and encourage them to empathise and understand the cultures and traditions of others. For example, Year 2 pupils study the Gambia. English, geography, art and design and ICT were successfully combined during the lesson. The pupils researched facts about the country using ICT, role-played booking a holiday to Gambia in the ‘Ravey Travel

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Commentary

Agency’, used textiles to sew and create Gambian pattern and design and compared the similarities and differences between their own experiences and those of a Gambian pupil.

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Commentary

3 Circle time refers to class lessons when pupils discuss personal and social matters that concern them. Ravensbury Community School - 20 23. The indoor accommodation is excellent and is shared with the community. For example, there is a crèche facility, and meeting room and training facilities so that adult education courses can be provided. The ICT suite is at times used independently of the school within and outside of school hours. The accommodation is maintained to a high standard by the premises staff. Both pupils and the community take pride in the school and appreciate the education on offer. The building incorporates a lift ensuring full access to those who are physically disabled. The colour scheme has been carefully chosen. For instance, the colours and patterns have been chosen to accommodate the needs of a visually impaired pupil. The outdoor facilities are very good with play structures, hard surface areas and basketball courts designed for community as well as

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Commentary

school use. There are plans for the development of the grassed areas. Learning resources are very good in quality and quantity, apart from the library. There are insufficient books in the library and it is underused by the pupils.

p.20

Care, guidance and support

The school provides a very good standard of care and looks after pupils very well. It provides pupils with very good support and guidance, and involves them well in the work of the school.

p.20

Main strengths and weaknesses

• There is very good guidance and help to enable pupils succeed. • Health and safety has a high priority throughout the school. • Child protection procedures are very effective. • There are good arrangements to ensure that new pupils settle in quickly and easily. • Pupils’ views are taken account of and acted upon.

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Commentary

24. The school has a very positive ethos. Adults and children get on very well together and pupils know that teachers respect them and value their contributions. Teachers regularly praise pupils' efforts and successes, which raises their self-confidence. Pupils feel comfortable about sharing their worries and concerns with their teachers. Very good assessment procedures ensure that most teachers know their pupils' strengths and weaknesses well. This enables them to identify and make appropriate provision for specific needs in academic and personal areas of the pupils’ development. Learning objectives are shared with pupils so that they are aware of what they need to do to improve their standards. The marking of class work and homework shows the majority of pupils clearly whether they have succeeded or whether there is further work to do. This area of the school's work has improved since the time of the previous

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Commentary

inspection. The school provides effective homework clubs each week where pupils can obtain guidance and support with their work, including use of the Internet. The school is very proud of its homework clubs, which were awarded a national Certificate of Distinction.

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Commentary

25. Health and safety matters are given a very high priority. The whole site is very well maintained and looked after and all necessary checks are carried out at appropriate intervals. Pupils are reminded about safety in practical lessons. In a physical education lesson during the inspection the teacher took great pains to ensure that the children understood how to lift and move the apparatus safely. There are appropriate procedures to safeguard pupils' use of the Internet.

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Commentary

26. The school takes very good care of its pupils and they feel valued and safe. There are very effective child protection procedures and all staff have taken part in training so that they know what signs to look out for and what action to take if they have any concerns. The school, recognising that some children do not have an adequate breakfast at home, organises a breakfast club before school each morning. It is sponsored by a local bakery and there is no charge for children to attend. Ravensbury Community School - 21 27. A high percentage of pupils join the school at times other than the normal admission time, especially in Years 3 to 6, and the school makes good provision to help them to settle in quickly and easily. The pupils and their parents have a detailed discussion with the headteacher about the pupils’ previous education and the new pupils are allocated a ‘buddy’ to show them the daily

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Commentary

routines and to help them make friends amongst the other pupils.

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Commentary

28. Although there is currently no school council, the ethos of the school is such that all pupils feel comfortable in sharing their views and opinions with the staff, knowing that their concerns and ideas will be listened to and taken seriously. Pupils' views on a range of issues are sought through discussion on a regular basis and where feasible their suggestions are carried out. Recently pupils have raised matters such as the quality and quantity of school meals and playground activities.

p.21

Partnership with parents, other schools and the community

The school has a good partnership with parents. Links with the community and with other schools and colleges are very good . A good range of additional services is provided by the school.

p.21

Main strengths and weaknesses

• The school provides parents with good quality information to help them to support their children's learning. • The vast majority of parents do not respond to the school's efforts to involve them more in their children's education. • The school-based outreach worker and home-school liaison worker provide very good support to pupils and families. • There are very good arrangements to help pupils move to their next school. • The school has very good links with the local community.

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Commentary

29. The school provides a good range of information to help parents to support their children's education. Some of this is in written form such as an attractive prospectus and termly pamphlets setting out, for example, details of future work, homework expectations, and visits planned. Other information is given in discussion at the termly parent/pupil conferences where both parents and pupils can discuss progress and concerns with the teacher. The written annual reports on pupils' attainment and progress are of good quality. They show in detail what the pupils can and cannot do and the amount of progress they have made. Some of the language used in the reports is quite technical, but those parents who attend the meeting with the teacher can have anything they do not understand explained to them.

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Commentary

30. The headteacher is passionate about many aspects of her work. Partnership with parents and the community are two such aspects. The school has developed good links with parents and is working very hard to involve parents more in its work and in the education of their children. It puts on sessions for parents about the national tests that their children will have to take and provides training sessions in using the ‘Story Sacks’ that are available for parents to use at home with their children. The school has difficulty in retaining parent governors because many resign when they discover the amount of commitment expected of governors these days.

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Commentary

31. Additional support for parents is provided through the very effective outreach worker and home- school liaison worker. These two workers give much needed assistance, advice and support, particularly to parents and families who are facing a range of social difficulties and need additional support. They help, for instance, by running parent groups in school, obtaining support from other agencies, arranging language tuition and escorting pupils to and from school. Ravensbury Community School - 22 32. Pupils moving on to their next school benefit from a very good transfer programme which includes a four-day special induction session at the local secondary school, where they get to know their new teachers and take part in some lessons. This ensures that they are very well prepared for their next school. 33. The school has a very good understanding of local needs and opinions. It uses this knowledge and these contacts very well to improve and extend what it provides for its own pupils and the

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Commentary

community. The recently appointed community worker, funded by and shared with the local community association, is currently seeking views and ideas about what additional community facilities local people want. The intention is that some of these additional services will be provided at the school and extend the good range of provision already available there. The school makes its facilities available to the community for a range of activities for adults and young people. These include, for instance, computer training for parents and other adults, delivered by a local training organisation, parenting sessions, and play sessions in the nursery, as well as providing opportunities for pupils to enhance their skills through a range of sporting and other events during school holidays. The school's links with the community have greatly improved since the time of the last inspection.

p.22

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

The school is governed well . The leadership of the headteacher is very good . The overall management of the school is very good . The school is very successful in overcoming pupils’ barriers to learning.

p.22

Main strengths and weaknesses

• The governors effectively carry out their responsibilities. • The school is very well led and is achieving its aims of meeting the needs of all the pupils very well. • There is rigorous and accurate self-evaluation. • There is very good professional development for staff. • The EAZ initiative has had a positive impact on school performance. However, raising attendance remains a priority. • There is very good financial management.

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Commentary

34. The governing body fulfils its statutory duties. The governors work well as a team with the school’s staff. For example, subject leaders are regularly invited to governing body meetings to update governors on the progress towards the objectives set on the school development plan. This is coupled with frequent visits to the school by governors to view progress at first hand. The headteacher ensures that governors receive very good information about school developments. This enables the governors to get a very clear understanding of the strengths of the school and areas for improvement and helps them to set new objectives. Meetings are frequent and purposeful and governors keep themselves very well informed of current initiatives. The school development plan is appraised at each meeting. The development of community education is ongoing and a standard item for discussion. The focus on community education is benefiting pupils as well as the community. For example, the governors have

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Commentary

incorporated adult and staff training for ICT which is indirectly benefiting the learning of pupils in school. Many parents took advantage of the offer to buy computers and printers under the regeneration plans for the community. As a result, some parents trained to develop their ICT skills. When learning is shared at home this contributes to pupils’ very good achievement and results in parents learning new skills.

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Commentary

35. The headteacher leads the school very well with commitment, drive and enthusiasm and a clear sense of direction. The whole school community, including parents, know the school aims. These are to raise standards, to give pupils a broad education, to maintain high Ravensbury Community School - 23 academic standards, particularly in mathematics and English and to ensure that all the pupils are fully included in all aspects of school life. The commitment to educational inclusion is excellent. This is being achieved very well. Ravensbury Community School - 24 Example of outstanding practice

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Commentary

The commitment to meet the needs of the pupils is excellent. The commitment and the culture of the school to meet the needs of all its pupils are excellent and the school is achieving this aim very well. The work and energy of the school, despite challenging circumstances, are channelled towards helping all its pupils to succeed. The school’s inclusion strategies are of very high quality. The school’s inclusion manager is very knowledgeable about the pupils and their individual needs. There are successful intervention programmes for the teaching of personal and social skills as well as basic skills in English and mathematics. Improvements to provision are continually sought. New programmes are trialled for their effectiveness as well as to meet pupils’ individual needs. There is very good liaison with support services and other organisations. Consequently, there is a high level of support for pupils and members of staff.

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Commentary

36. Procedures for self-evaluation are rigorous. The platform for improvement is the school development plan. This involves a continuous process of review and planning to improve pupils’ learning. There is a very good structured planning and reviewing process involving all the staff and governors. This enables the school to take stock of what has been achieved and plan for further improvements. There is a conscious determination among staff to enable all pupils to reach their full potential both academically and personally. Because the vision and aim for improvement are clear and communicated to staff and governors, morale in the school is high and reflected in their unity of purpose and their pupils’ improving standards.

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Commentary

37. The school is managed very well. The leading role is taken by the senior management team who also teach classes as well as hold responsibilities for the curriculum and inclusion. There is very good management of special educational needs. Teaching, teachers’ planning and pupils’ work are carefully monitored. The teaching assistants are very effectively deployed. The outcomes of any review are shared with the staff in order to support the drive for improvement. The curriculum is reviewed and monitored to create cross-curricular links between subjects. The senior management team are very good role models for both their teaching and management skills. They make a significant contribution to the school in their support of the headteacher and their teamwork with the staff. Subject leaders for English and mathematics manage their subjects very well. In other subjects, leaders have audited their subject, know

p.24

Commentary

how well the pupils are achieving and have developed useful action plans to take their subjects forward.

p.24

Commentary

38. Staff training is very well managed. There is a strong commitment to improve the professional development of staff. Professional development of the staff is linked well to the school priorities and personal training needs. The teaching assistants are fully involved in all aspects of school life and have developed into an invaluable and highly trained team. They help individuals and small groups of pupils needing most help. For example, all staff are trained very well in the use of ICT. As a result, teachers are confident and successful in using the interactive whiteboards and the computer programs. There are good induction procedures for new staff and students. There is a good partnership for training teachers.

p.24

Commentary

39. There have been positive benefits from the support given by the East Manchester EAZ. The biggest impact has been the help given with resources and staff training to help raise standards in ICT. Teachers and teaching assistants are confidently using the interactive whiteboards and computer programs and as a result standards have risen. In supporting the drive to raise standards in literacy, a core skills worker has successfully supported the teaching of basic literacy skills. The initiative to raise attendance has been less successful. The home-school liaison worker works closely with the education welfare officer and other agencies and is diligent in responding to attendance issues. However, although there has been some improvement in pupils’ attendance, the success is limited as attendance is still in need of improvement.

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Commentary

40. The management of the finances is very effective both in the longer term and on a day-to-day basis. Expenditure is very well thought out and is matched to achieve the objectives set for the Ravensbury Community School - 25 school. The school seeks best value for money in its expenditure and provides good value for money. Ravensbury Community School - 26

p.24

Financial information

Financial information for the year April 2003 to March 2004

p.26

Financial information

Income and expenditure (£) Balances (£) Total income 1098896 Balance from previous year -20852 Total expenditure 1077523 Balance carried forward to the next 521 Expenditure per pupil 3402 Ravensbury Community School - 27

p.26

AREAS OF LEARNING IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

Provision for children in the Foundation Stage is very good .

p.27

AREAS OF LEARNING IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

41. Children start nursery with very poor levels of attainment. Overall, their speaking and listening skills are poor and many have immature social skills. There are two reception and two nursery classes, one of each catering for the younger children in the year groups. The accommodation is very good. Connecting doors between classes enable flexibility in organisation and teaching. Staff work well together, planning activities corporately and sharing ideas and expertise. Classrooms are organised well to provide good quality learning activities for all children. The outdoor provision lacks structure and the school is currently investigating ways of developing this facility. There is rightly a key emphasis on developing children’s speaking, listening and personal and social development. Teaching and learning are very good in these areas, enabling children to make very good progress over time and to achieve very well. There are very good

p.27

AREAS OF LEARNING IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

systems of recording and checking children’s progress. This enables teachers to provide learning opportunities at exactly the right levels and to carefully track children’s progress over time.

p.27

AREAS OF LEARNING IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

42. A well-organised induction programme develops good links with parents and carers, supporting young children very well on their entry to nursery. The nursery teachers also provide half-termly homework packs that support children’s learning. These are well received by a significant number of parents. Children learning English as an additional language achieve well overall, and those with special educational needs receive very good support tailored to their individual requirements. Leadership and management are very good. There is comprehensive planning for all areas of learning. The curriculum is well organised to ensure that children experience a broad range of activities. There is good improvement in the provision since the last inspection. Staff plan a good range of enriching visits to interesting places and welcome a variety of visitors to extend children’s learning. Well-trained teaching assistants are empowered to take leading

p.27

AREAS OF LEARNING IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

roles, for example teaching computer skills or supporting groups of children. They are well briefed and very clear about their roles. This ensures that children receive very good support from adults in many aspects of their learning

p.27

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Provision in personal, social and emotional development is very good .

p.27

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Relationships are very good and the very good teaching of personal and social skills underpins all aspects of children’s learning. • Children are strongly encouraged to become independent learners. • Teachers have very high expectations of children’s behaviour so that children learn to behave well and develop very good attitudes to learning.

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Commentary

43. This area of learning has a very high teacher focus in the Foundation Stage. Children enter nursery with very low skills. Many are unable to concentrate in whole-group sessions, requiring one-to-one involvement for them to focus on a small task. Socially, they have difficulty sharing and in listening to others. By the time they leave reception, over three quarters of the children either attain or exceed the early learning goals in this area of learning. This indicates very good achievement and is a strength of provision. By the time they leave reception, most listen Ravensbury Community School - 28 attentively to their teacher and others, behave very well in a variety of situations, and persevere for good periods of time. 44. All staff have high expectations of children’s behaviour and ensure that classrooms are very orderly environments. The strong focus in the nursery on developing independence helps

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Commentary

children to choose activities with confidence. Teachers take time to resolve conflict, discussing children’s actions and how they may improve. Good behaviour and good deeds are celebrated in a variety of child-centred ways; for example, to celebrate good actions, nursery staff place children’s names on the ‘Proud Cloud’ chart. Children are taught to respect the views of others and to play fairly. By the end of reception, most children act appropriately in a range of situations, but many still have difficulty concentrating for long periods of time. It is for this reason that the more structured literacy and numeracy hours have not been introduced in full. Instead, teachers appropriately plan sections of the hour interspersed throughout the day.

p.28

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Provision for children in this area of learning is very good .

p.28

Main strengths and weaknesses

• The teaching rightly focuses on the development of children’s skills in speaking and listening. • In reception classes there are too few planned opportunities for children to read to an adult and there are insufficient reading books to support learning at home and school. • Assessment is used well to guide teaching and learning.

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Commentary

45. The very good quality teaching and learning bring about a very good level of achievement for children though few are on course to attain the early learning goals in this area by the end of reception. Adults work effectively with small groups to provide plenty of opportunities for speaking and listening to others. Teachers plan a variety of situations to extend children’s speaking skills. For example, in the nursery role-play area, children telephone ‘Bob the Builder’ to come and repair the house. They begin to name the tools he uses and ‘write’ invoices for work undertaken. When using tape recorders in reception classes, teachers encourage children to extend their answers from one word to a phrase or sentence. From an early age, children learn to take turns and listen to others. Adults show much respect for each other and children’s comments, and are driven to improving children’s talk. The way the curriculum is

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Commentary

organised provides children with lots of experience around a single topic, enabling them to learn new vocabulary and have lots of opportunities for using it. Children are developing a love of books through a concentration on rhymes and songs in nursery and listening to Big Book stories in reception. Nursery children begin to learn the sounds that letters make, and progress very well in this area. Using the interactive whiteboard the teachers provides a very good range of activities, such as finding hidden sounds, identifying sounds that animals make, or using a feely bag to reinforce learning. Children continue to make very good progress in reception because of daily practice and reinforcement, so that by the end of reception many are beginning to use letters in their emergent writing, and a significant minority can correctly spell simple three-letter words. Reception teachers do send reading books home, but many parents

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Commentary

do not give their children enough help in learning to read. There are insufficient good quality books.

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Commentary

46. Skills of pencil control are poor and children’s first attempts at writing are very underdeveloped and mostly unrecognisable. Teachers provide good opportunities for children to practise their skills in a variety of situations, for example writing healthy food menus in the reception class ‘sports centre’. By the end of reception, children have made good progress, writing simply for many purposes, although still requiring a good amount of adult support. Ravensbury Community School - 29 47. Teachers regularly assess children’s learning and set new targets for them to achieve. This is used well to inform teaching and learning. The reception classes combine for one literacy lesson each week. Children are split into small ability groups and receive intensive help. This increases the progress they make.

p.28

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Well-planned activities make learning fun. • Good teaching enables children to make good progress and achieve well.

p.29

Commentary

48. Teaching and learning are good. Children enter nursery with low numeracy skills and achieve well over time, although few are on track to attain the early learning goals in this area of learning. Children make good progress in counting skills and recognising numbers. By the end of reception, most order numbers to 10 and high attaining children use numbers to 20. Underdeveloped language skills impact significantly on children’s ability to understand and solve simple mathematical problems. Teaching is consistently good because teachers plan interesting activities and all staff make good use of these opportunities to develop children’s understanding. Nursery children learn to count by singing rhymes and counting sets of objects in a variety of situations. For example, when reading ‘The Birthday Cake’ , children count the differing number of candles and then use a model cake, placing real candles to represent their

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Commentary

ages. This reinforces learning well. Teachers encourage children to use correct mathematical language when playing a marble game, emphasising terms such as ‘more than’ and ‘fewer’. The curriculum for this area is broad and balanced, and children have good opportunities to measure as in the reception ‘How tall are you?’ growth chart, or printing and naming shapes in the nursery.

p.29

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Provision in knowledge and understanding of the world is good .

p.29

Main strengths and weaknesses

• The school uses visits to places of interest and visitors well to develop children’s understanding of the world around them. • The curriculum focuses on very practical tasks that suit the children well.

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Commentary

49. Teaching and learning are good, and children achieve well, although few are expected to attain the early learning goals in this area of learning. This is because many begin school with very few experience of the world around them and lack the appropriate language to describe their experiences. Teachers plan interesting activities to bring children to a better understanding of the natural and technological world. For example, nursery children had previously visited a farm, sent a fax asking the animals to visit and, during the inspection, some of the animals came to school. Children showed awe and wonder and great care as they handled them, and by the end of the session many could name the animals and the sounds they made. Role-play is used well to support children’s discovery, to practise new skills, and to increase vocabulary. For example, in ‘Bob the Builder’s’ house, children use a metre tape to measure radiators,

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Commentary

handle a range of tools and write messages for ‘Wendy’ . Staff have good computer skills and Ravensbury Community School - 30 are good role models for children. Teachers use interactive whiteboards in many lessons and encourage children to manipulate items on the screen, to enlarge and reduce pictures and to add colours. Hence children develop confidence in using computers and many reception children spend good periods of time persevering to complete the program. Ravensbury Community School - 31

p.29

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Provision in physical development is good .

p.31

Main strengths and weaknesses

• The teaching of skills in the reception class physical education lessons is good. • The planning for outside play is not as good as in other aspects of the curriculum.

p.31

Commentary

50. The quality of teaching and learning is good, and children achieve well. There are good opportunities for children to develop fine movements of their hands through using a range of tools such as paintbrushes and woodworking tools and using the mouse in computing activities. Because many children start from a very low base, few reception class children have confidence when drawing, colouring and painting and still need reinforcement of how to hold utensils correctly. In well-planned lessons, reception children show good control of body movement as they run, jump and twist. Many combine a range of movements on the apparatus. Most confidently climb high on the wall bars. Teaching is good in this aspect. Teachers have very good behaviour management skills, enabling children to listen carefully in exciting situations. Good organisation in lessons results in time being used well overall. Activities are

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Commentary

carefully planned so that new skills build carefully on earlier learning. The planning for outdoor provision, however, does not provide challenge at an appropriate level for the range of children’s attainment. It is not consistently tailored directly to the children’s stages of development, to extend and reinforce learning. As a result, children make satisfactory gains but are at times under-challenged by the tasks.

p.31

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Provision for creative development is good .

p.31

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Children are taught well and their achievement is good because they experience a broad range of materials and activities.

p.31

Commentary

51. Teaching is good and children achieve well overall. Most are not on course to attain the early learning goals in this aspect due to poor writing and drawing skills. These limit children’s ability to express themselves creatively. There are ample opportunities for children to take part in role- play activities such as working in the pet shop or answering the telephone. Teachers interact well with children at these times, extending the scope of play and developing children’s speaking and listening skills in a different situation. Children sing tunefully and enjoy playing musical instruments. Teachers provide a broad and interesting range of activities, enabling children to experience many materials and to develop new skills, for example making collage ‘touchy, feely’ shapes, combining paint, feathers and sequins, or drawing carefully to develop close observational skills. A good range of other activities is planned, such as building three-

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Commentary

dimensional houses from boxes, or exploring the use of blow pens. Ravensbury Community School - 32

p.31

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils achieve very well by the end of Year 2 and well by the end of Year 6. However, boys’ achievement is lower than the girls. • The school does not sufficiently promote reading. • Pupils with special educational needs receive very good help, particularly from the teaching assistants, and achieve well. • The quality of teaching is good overall and at times very good, particularly in Years 1 and 2. • The leadership and management of the subject are very good. • The monitoring of pupils’ achievements and the use of assessment information is good.

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Commentary

52. The achievement of most pupils is very good by the end of Year 2 and achievement is good by the end of Year 6. Pupils are attaining the expected levels by the end of Year 2 and in all aspects of English; standards are close to the national average. This is very good improvement from the results of 2003 considering that pupils start with very low language and communication skills in the nursery. The standards in the present Year 6 show improvement since last year and the last inspection but remain below those expected nationally in all primary schools. Whilst they compare more favourably with schools with a similar proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals, standards are still below expectations. Overall, girls achieve better than the boys. The majority of pupils with special educational needs are boys. Standards are affected by the poor skills of a high proportion of pupils joining the school, low attendance

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Commentary

rates, the high proportion of pupils with special educational needs, the low proportion of high attaining pupils and recently a number of changes of teachers, owing to illness for example, for classes in Years 3/4.

p.32

Commentary

53. In their speaking and listening skills, pupils achieve well overall but speaking skills are not as well developed as listening skills in Years 3 to 6. Most pupils respond well to opportunities to talk about experiences that have interested them. The pupils start school in the nursery with variable but overall very low attainments in basic literacy skills. The school is very active in the nursery and reception classes in developing their skills. Pupils’ achievement in English is very good in Years 1 and 2 where a high proportion of pupils make very good progress from a low base. Years 1 and 2 teachers have good questioning to prompt pupils to answer at length and give explanations and reasons for what they have to say. Consequently, most meet the expected standards. By the end of Year 6 standards are overall below those which would be expected nationally. While pupils’ speaking and listening skills are generally lower than national

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Commentary

expectations the pupils show greater capacity to listen, which they do attentively in lessons and in, for example, assemblies. They listen and pay attention to instructions and presentations by their teachers, other pupils and visitors, including visiting authors and poets. Pupils are willing to speak to one another, the staff and visitors but responses are typically short and lack fluency.

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Commentary

54. Pupils are achieving very well in reading in Years 1 and 2. The teaching of basic skills is systematic throughout the school. Pupils read simple texts fluently and at the expected levels. A higher than expected proportion of pupils, however, have yet to develop a strong reading habit. The school focuses well on sound letter relationships and as a result pupils are able to break words down into sounds. However, pupils often lack fluency and an understanding of what they are reading. Pupils can identify the author, illustrator, title page, index and glossary. They can often talk about the purpose and use of these. A number of pupils were observed to mishandle books demonstrating a lack of respect for books. Generally in school pupils read in groups Ravensbury Community School - 33 within literacy lessons but have insufficient opportunity for sustained reading of a personal reading book carefully selected to provide sufficient enjoyment and challenge. The habit of

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Commentary

taking a reading book home to read alone and with others is not established with all pupils. Several pupils interviewed reported little or no reading at home. Reading books taken home are not always returned to school. The school lacks a well-resourced and organised school library which can be regularly visited by pupils. Sets of reading books in classes are not of a sufficient number, quality or range to provide stimulation for reluctant and average or higher attaining readers. An after-school reading club has assisted a number of individual pupils to establish a reading habit. This club has access to a small collection of good quality books and makes visits to the local library. The leadership has promoted activities such as a ‘Readathon’, a ‘book week’ and some children have listened to Michael Morpurgo, a well-known children’s author, speak. However, these activities have had a limited impact in encouraging pupils to read more.

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Commentary

55. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 achieve very well in writing. The attainment of boys in writing reflects the national trend and has been a focus for the work of the school. There has been a 30 per cent improvement for boys by the end of Year 2 from last year. Most pupils reach the expected standards by the end of Year 2 and are writing fluently and a small number are working at the higher level. However, there is still work to be done in Years 3 to 6. Attainment in writing in Years 3 to 6 lags behind recent improvements in reading. Pupils are often inconsistent in their use of punctuation and grammar but are proud of their writing. The school has ensured that writing activities are motivating for boys, has monitored the progress of boys, established a boys’ reading club and purchased books which would interest boys. Whilst there have been improvements in boys’ achievement their attainment is still below that which would be expected

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Commentary

nationally. The handwriting of pupils is too often untidy and below that expected nationally. The school requires pupils to use joined up writing early enough to establish individual style and skill. The writing of the boys remains a concern as many pupils, particularly boys, are reluctant to write. The pupils respond to those lessons in which teachers make writing fun, sometimes involving games such as word staircase. In lessons pupils are often more enthusiastic about writing but lack confidence in their skills.

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Commentary

56. The achievement of pupils with special educational needs in English is good overall and for some it is very good. The pupils respond to the high quality teaching and support which interest them and which respond to their needs. Teaching assistants and other support workers make a very positive contribution to teaching. Under the guidance of teachers they tailor activities and intervention to the specific needs of pupils. They encourage pupils to participate through speaking, listening, reading and writing and make a very good contribution to their learning. The school employs a range of very effective strategies to improve pupils’ literacy skills, especially those of the boys. These include the reading recovery, Additional Literacy Support and other basic skills programmes which have helped to raise standards in reading and writing.

p.33

Commentary

57. The overall quality of teaching is good and sometimes very good. The school acted as a pilot school for the National Literacy Strategy which is successfully employed and enhanced by the school. As a result, teachers are knowledgeable about English and how to teach it, which is reflected in their planning. The very good, lively teaching in Years 1 and 2 means that the pupils achieve very well in all aspects of their work. However, in Years 3 to 6, disruptions in staffing and inconsistencies in the level of challenge have led to a small minority of average attaining pupils in Years 3 and 4 not achieving as well as they might. Pupils’ achievement in Years 3 and 4 is satisfactory overall as teaching and feedback to pupils in English are less sharply focussed on individual needs. Teachers in the Year 5/6 classes have particularly high expectations and make very good use of resources for teaching such as computers and electronic whiteboards.

p.33

Commentary

There is good teaching for the pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. Staff take care to present lessons visually and frequently check their understanding of difficult vocabulary. Useful feedback is given to pupils in all lessons but pupils were not always clear about what they had done well and what they had achieved in lessons. The best lessons utilised a range of teaching methods including creation by older juniors of multimedia presentations on, for example, the Victorians. Ravensbury Community School - 34 58. Leadership and management of English are very good. All the staff including senior managers and the subject leaders give the subject a high profile in the school. The curriculum has been adapted to suit the pupils; for example, short, word-based, game-like activities often precede literacy lessons. These grab the pupils’ attention, especially that of the boys, and raise the motivation of all the pupils for the coming lesson. The school carefully monitors pupil

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Commentary

achievement and attainment in English through a sophisticated system of tracking their progress. Information gathered is put to good use through the regular review and deployment of resources. The subject leaders ensure that colleagues receive relevant training in order to keep them up to date with developments. A recent example was a workshop for all staff on speaking and listening.

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Language and literacy across the curriculum

59. Teachers are successful in emphasising correct vocabulary and the development of basic skills in all subjects. This approach is most successful when the teaching targets in subject lessons include literacy targets. In one excellent lesson pupils used their plans and text from a previous lesson as the basis of a promotional package for a local area they had visited in the Peak District. They researched the area further on the Internet, and downloaded text and pictures into a coherent clear summary of the local amenities and areas of beauty. Pupils in the same class painted pictures in response to this stimulus.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Most pupils achieve very well by the end of Year 2 and well by the end of Year 6. • Pupils with special educational needs are helped successfully by the teaching assistants and achieve well. • A small minority of average attaining pupils in Years 3 and 4 could do better. • The quality of teaching is very good in Year 1 and 2 and good overall in Years 3 to 6. • The subject is very well led and managed, and assessment is used rigorously to accurately match work to the pupils’ abilities.

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Commentary

60. The achievement of most pupils is very good by the end of Year 2 and achievement is good by the end of Year 6. Standards are broadly average in Year 2 and close to the national average but below average in Year 6. This represents very good improvement for pupils in Year 2 considering their very low starting points and good achievement for pupils in Year 6. At the time of the last inspection standards were below average by Years 2 and 6. However, the context of the school has changed and the overall attainments of the pupils entering the school are poorer than they were because there are more pupils with special educational needs. Other factors in Years 3 to 6, such as an above average proportion of pupils entering the school with generally poorer attainments than those who leave, the poor attendance of some and several changes of temporary teachers, have a negative impact on pupils’ achievement and their overall

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Commentary

attainments. Despite these factors pupils still achieve well by the time they leave and the overall trend for improvement has been above the national trend over the past two years throughout the school.

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Commentary

61. In Year 2 standards are broadly average and have significantly improved from 2003 as more pupils are reaching or exceeding the expected standards. For instance in 2003 there were 18 per cent attaining at the higher level 3 compared with 30 per cent this year. This is because the school assesses the strengths and weaknesses in pupils’ attainments thoroughly and puts strategies into place to overcome them. Teaching and consequently learning are very strong in Ravensbury Community School - 35 Years 1 and 2. The teachers are very skilled in consistently challenging the pupils to improve. The entire curriculum is covered and number calculations are strongly represented. The initial discussions during the first part of the lesson are a strength. This is because the teachers consistently check on pupils’ understanding by their questioning and by asking pupils for explanations to finding solutions to problems. As pupils move into Years 3 and 4, fewer

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Commentary

demands are made on the average attaining pupils. This is mainly because these year groups have suffered disruptions in teaching. The classes are taught mainly by temporary staff who, because they do not know the pupils well enough, do not consistently challenge pupils well enough and work is sometimes too easy. This results in learning that is mostly good but sometimes satisfactory. By Years 5 and 6, pupils’ achievement is greater because of more challenging teaching but overall by the time the pupils leave their achievement is good overall. By Year 6, with more complex problems to solve, the average and below average attaining pupils find it particularly difficult to read and interpret word problems. Although the National Numeracy Strategy is followed well, the pupils’ abilities to apply what they know to working out solutions to problems are below average and compounded by their below average language

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Commentary

skills. Over one third are working at below the expected levels and there are very few higher attaining pupils. However, those pupils that are higher attaining achieve well.

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Commentary

62. Pupils with special educational needs achieve well overall and sometimes very well. There is no significant difference in the achievements of these and other pupils. This is because there are challenging targets set and skilled help is given, particularly by the teaching assistants. The intervention Springboard programmes to ensure that pupils’ learning of basic skills is secure are successful. Work is tailored well to enhance the pupils’ personal and social needs as well as their mathematical skills.

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Commentary

63. Those from minority ethnic backgrounds achieve as well as most other pupils. The good partnership with parents, some of whom help in school, puts the parents in a better position to help their children at home. The teachers use visual methods and resources to help the pupils to understand mathematical vocabulary.

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Commentary

64. The quality of teaching is good overall, with very good teaching in Years 1 and 2. ICT is used well by the teachers and the pupils. The teachers have been well trained in using the interactive whiteboards and are confident in using them in their teaching. The visual presentations and the way that pupils are invited to use them holds the pupils’ attention well especially at the start of lessons. Individual programs for meeting needs of all groups of pupils are successful. For example, those with special educational needs work on their basic skills. Others use programs to reinforce their knowledge of odd and even numbers in Year 1 or sorting shapes in Year 2. Pupils’ response to mathematics is very positive. Younger pupils are very keen to learn. When the older pupils were asked about their favourite subjects, their enjoyment of mathematics featured strongly.

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Commentary

65. The subject is very well led and managed. The results of tests are closely looked at to identify weaknesses and strengths and are used effectively to set targets and plan work for individual and groups of pupils. The subject leader has a very clear idea of what needs to be done to further improve mathematics. There are very good procedures for assessing pupils’ overall achievements and intervention Springboard programmes are used to boost pupils’ attainment when needed. The checks carried out on teaching and learning by the staff and pupils’ achievements carried out thoroughly and weaknesses acted upon. There has been very good improvement in the subject since the last inspection.

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Mathematics across the curriculum

66. Mathematics is planned well into most subjects. There is some good practice, particularly in geography. The younger pupils, for example, record the cars in the car park and make simple graphs to record their results to find out the popularity of the colour of cars. Older pupils build on their previous skills as they research their local area to find out about economic activity as part of their geography topic. Pupils use the digital camera to photograph significant features of Ravensbury Community School - 36 a traffic survey and devise a spreadsheet to record their results. Pupils draw tables and graphs in science and use ICT well to represent their data. Ravensbury Community School - 37

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Most pupils achieve well by the end of Year 6 and very well by the end of Year 2 because the quality of teaching is good. However, a small minority of pupils are insufficiently challenged. • Good leadership and management of the subject have contributed positively to the good improvements made since the last inspection.

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Commentary

67. Pupils achieve well by the end of Year 6 and the majority of pupils achieve the expected standards. Factors that adversely affect pupils’ standards are the high rates of pupil mobility, pupils’ below average oracy skills, and above average levels of pupil absence. Year 2 pupils also achieve very well. Whilst slightly below national averages, most are attaining within the National Curriculum expected standards, indicating very good achievement from their starting points. Pupils enter the school with very low speaking skills. The school does much to extend pupils’ vocabulary and confidence in speaking as they move through the school, but many Year 6 pupils still experience difficulty expressing thoughts and ideas. Their below average ability to explain scientific ideas or to write clearly about the scientific processes they have used, impacts significantly on their outcomes in national tests.

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Commentary

68. The quality of teaching and learning is good. The school’s introduction of a comprehensive curriculum plan enables teachers to plan science that shows clearly what pupils will learn in each class. Teachers use this effectively to build on earlier learning so that pupils learn in a consistent way. Teachers explain the lesson’s objectives in clear, simple terms so pupils understand the purpose of their learning. Teachers develop skills of investigation through practical activities that engage and excite pupils. For example, Year 3 and 4 pupils researched the differing habitats of mini-beasts in the community garden, displaying high levels of interest in the creatures they found. Teachers plan science topics in concentrated blocks of time over a few days. This enables pupils to build new skills and knowledge consistently, because there are fewer gaps between lessons. Teachers plan a broad and relevant science curriculum. They

p.37

Commentary

expect pupils to work hard and cover a good amount of work in a lesson. This is aided by the good use of ICT in teaching. The visual presentations help the pupils with special educational needs and those learning English as a second language to understand what is taught. A good proportion of time is given to scientific investigation with appropriate emphasis on most aspects of the subject, but there is limited focus on physical processes such as forces. Consequently, pupils’ knowledge and understanding of this aspect are less secure.

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Commentary

69. Scrutiny of pupils’ work in Years 3 to 6 indicates that teachers carefully differentiate activities to meet the needs of less able pupils. Because average and the few high attaining pupils cover the same activities, a small minority of average and the higher attaining pupils, mainly in Years 3 and 4, do not always write more fully or evaluate their findings more deeply than other pupils. This limits the progress they make. Because teachers frequently mark pupils’ work with a tick only, pupils do not always know how to improve. Pupils are insufficiently challenged to correct incorrectly spelt scientific vocabulary.

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Commentary

70. The subject is well led and managed. There are very good systems to assess pupils’ attainment and to track pupils’ progress as they move through the school. This information is used very effectively by most teachers to analyse strengths and weaknesses in provision, and effective subject planning is devised to address issues. This has contributed significantly to the good improvement since the previous inspection. There are satisfactory opportunities for pupils to apply their ICT and numeracy skills in science lessons. Ravensbury Community School - 38

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Provision for information and communication technology is very good .

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils achieve very well and standards in ICT are higher than those expected of pupils by the end of Year 2. • Teachers and teaching assistants have very good expertise in the subject. • ICT is used well to promote learning in many subjects. • Pupils are enthusiastic about the subject.

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Commentary

71. By the end of Year 2, pupils reach standards in ICT that are higher than those expected for their age, and achievement is very good. Pupils demonstrate skills, knowledge and understanding, which indicate they are now working above the level expected nationally. During the inspection pupils were able to demonstrate their confidence in using the keyboard, mouse, and CD- ROMs. They used their skills effectively to support learning in other subjects, finding information on Africa in geography, or using a drawing program to generate prototypes in design and technology. Pupils’ standards are in line with expectations at the end of Year 6. Most Year 6 pupils were not in school during the week of the inspection, but scrutiny of their work demonstrates a developing range of skills such as manipulating text and researching independently using the Internet and CD-ROM. High attaining pupils use their developing skills

p.38

Commentary

to produce effective multimedia presentations. Pupils achieve very well to reach the expected standards overall. This indicates good improvement since the last inspection. Scrutiny of pupils’ work indicates an improving picture and that standards are rising across the school.

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Commentary

72. The quality of teaching is very good overall. Teachers give clear instructions and teach new skills in a systematic way. This enables most pupils to work confidently with a good degree of independence. The state of the art computer suite enables effective whole-class teaching for pupils every week. The school has invested time and energy in training staff. As a result, teachers and teaching assistants are very good role models for pupils, using ICT confidently in many aspects of their work. Hence, pupils receive very good support and show real enthusiasm and commitment in lessons. Most teachers use interactive whiteboards in whole- class lessons, successfully engaging pupils and impacting very positively on teaching and learning. Because many teaching assistants have good computing skills in ICT they give very good support to pupils with special educational needs, both in the ICT suite and when following

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Commentary

73. The subject leader is new to this role but already has a good understanding of provision in ICT. Good assessment procedures enable the co-ordinator to chart pupils’ attainment and progress and to address strengths and weaknesses via a detailed action plan. There is a comprehensive subject plan that enables ICT to be taught in a consistent, progressive way. The curriculum is broad and balanced, but there are too few opportunities for older pupils to use ICT for control purposes. The school welcomes community initiatives enabling others to benefit from the very good ICT provision.

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Information and communication technology across the curriculum

74. Teachers very effectively link ICT to other subjects, making it an integral part of learning. For example, in geography, Year 5 pupils designed pamphlets advertising Castleton, importing digital photographs and consolidating word-processing and literacy skills. ICT is used very well to support learning in science and mathematics as pupils present their data in graphs and spreadsheets. Ravensbury Community School - 39

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HUMANITIES

75. No judgements on provision are made in geography or history as too few lessons were observed in each subject. These subjects were sampled during the inspection. Evidence was gathered from observations of pupils’ work and discussions with staff and pupils.

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HUMANITIES

76. In history pupils in Years1 and 2 classes talk about the present, recent and significant points in their past lives and those around them. They compare toys they play with the toys and games of the past. They can describe the main aspects of historical events such as the Great Fire of London in personal terms. For example pupils wrote an account of waking up on the morning of the fire. These were illustrated by pictures of the city burning, drawn by the pupils using computers.

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HUMANITIES

77. In Years 3 to 6 pupils study other periods of British history including the Tudors and the Victorians. This includes studies about clothing and housing, and short books written to describe the day in the life of a Victorian child. They can talk about famous Victorians they have studied such as Queen Victoria and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Older pupils use multimedia software well to prepare and make a multimedia presentation with text, pictures, sound effects and links to websites. Pupils respond well to history particularly when a resource such as a video film or artefact is available for them to observe. Visits made by pupils to a local hall give them valuable experience of Georgian times including dress and dance. Whilst the school is well resourced for several historical periods, for example the Victorians, it is less well resourced for others such as the Tudors. The school’s commitment to cross-curricular linkage

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HUMANITIES

is evident in the pupils’ writing. The pupils’ basic skills benefit from the stimulation of historical topics. Teachers make effective use of ongoing assessment of pupils’ skills and understanding in history. This is used effectively to inform teachers’ planning. The subject leader is very enthusiastic. Any difficulties identified in monitoring are quickly dealt with through appropriate changes to the historical units taught. Training is provided for staff including a recent day spent exploring literacy links.

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HUMANITIES

78. In geography , scrutiny of pupils’ earlier work and that on display around the school indicates that pupils appear to attain average standards in relation to national expectations by the end of Years 2 and 6. They learn well because teachers plan effectively for a rich curriculum that includes visits to interesting places. For example, Year 5 and 6 pupils visited Castleton enabling them to contrast effectively the similarities and differences with Clayton. Pupils use their computer skills very effectively to support geography work. For example, Year 2 pupils used CD-ROMs to research the African country of the Gambia. In addition, they make good progress when learning about environmental issues such as pollution. Discussions with the subject manager indicate good use of the assessment of strengths and weaknesses in provision, and a subject development plan that addresses these issues.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Provision for religious education is satisfactory .

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• There are good links with themes for collective worship and pupils’ personal and social education. • Links with faith communities are underdeveloped.

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Commentary

79. Through their study of major world faiths and reflection on their values and beliefs, standards for the majority of pupils match the expectations of the locally agreed syllabus by the end of Years 2 and 6. Pupils’ achievement is satisfactory. In lessons and through the daily assemblies and worship there are good links made to pupils’ personal and social education. For instance, Ravensbury Community School - 40 during collective worship, pupils find out about religious celebrations of the major world faiths such as Easter, the Passover and Diwali and stories from sacred texts such as the Bible and the Qur’an. Pupils in Year 1 respond sensitively to stories such those of Rama and Sita and know that others have different religious beliefs. By Year 2, pupils reflect in more depth on issues of what is right and wrong through Bible stories such as the story of Noah, and, drawing from their own experiences and feelings, discuss the consequences of actions have on others.

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Commentary

By Year 6, pupils have a more mature understanding of the similarities and differences between their beliefs and those of others. For instance, they make comparisons about the similarities and differences between places of worship and holy books of the major world religions. Pupils learn what being part of a community means and understand that different groups of people have different beliefs, traditions and interests. The subject makes a good contribution to pupils’ moral, spiritual and cultural development as they learn for example about the meaning of friendship and feelings of happiness and sadness. Moral values such as taking responsibilities for actions are taught appropriately through Bible and religious stories and assemblies. Teachers encourage pupils from other cultural backgrounds and religions to share their experiences with others.

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Commentary

80. In the few lessons observed, the quality of teaching and learning was good. Teachers use ICT well, for example to demonstrate the meaning of a community, and pupils use ICT to research other faiths. Pupils respond well in lessons and are interested in finding out about the beliefs and traditions of other religions. There is good emphasis given to building on the pupils’ experiences and feelings. When pupils have a good understanding of their own feelings and behaviour, they are then able to appreciate and empathise with those with different experiences and traditions from their own

p.40

Commentary

81. The subject is well led and managed. There has been good improvement since the last inspection. The subject leader has improved the quality of the curriculum in linking religion with other subjects. For example, pupils study how Christianity and Islam are represented in art. There are good links to the local church and pupils have visited a Buddhist Centre and a mosque. However, links to different faith communities are underdeveloped.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

82. No judgements on provision are made in art and design, design and technology, music or physical education as too few lessons were observed in each subject. These subjects were sampled during the inspection. Evidence was gathered from observations of pupils’ work and discussions with staff and pupils.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

83. In art and design pupils’ observational drawing is a strength. In Year1, pupils study the form and movement of cats. The pupils’ work shows detail of cats’ features and positions which is better than the expected standard. By Year 2, pupils study abstract artists such as Mondrian and Kandinsky and represent their work in paintings, drawings and textiles and by using ICT for pattern work. Their skills in applying skills and techniques of the artist they study in textile work and their accuracy in line and form and use of colour are above the expectations. In Years 3 to 6, pupils continue to apply their skill imaginatively in their work. Art and design is often successfully linked to other subjects such as geography and history. For example, in history, pupils in Years 3 and 4 study the Tudor period and paint portraits of Henry VIII and his wives using a range of materials. In Year 5 and 6, pupils’ drawing of figures and buildings shows good

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

observational drawing. In Year 6, the pupils deepened their knowledge of the Victorian period as they studied and sketched building and famous inventions. Pupils in Year 5 apply techniques of L.S. Lowry to their work but some lack confidence in sketching, although there are examples of some very good work. Pupils enjoy art and design. They enjoy expressing their feelings and emotions and use a full range of materials and techniques in their work. The subject is well led and managed. The subject leader has very good subject knowledge and a good vision for the development of art and design across the school. Work is assessed and monitored well. The curriculum has improved since the last inspection. Ravensbury Community School - 41 84. In design and technology the work sampled across the school met the expected standards. Teachers plan lessons over a block of daily sessions, enabling pupils to gain good

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

understanding of the design process. For example, when making moneyboxes, Year 3 and 4 pupils disassembled money containers and made moneybox templates and so developed a good understanding of the implications for designing and making. Pupils write honest evaluations of their finished work and how they may improve. Teachers successfully link the subject with art, English and ICT to develop pupils’ learning on a broad front. For example, when designing ‘Joseph’s coat of many colours’ , Year 2 pupils made labelled drawings of their design intentions, and used a range of materials to interpret their plans and a computer- generated art program to make a record of the finished work. Discussions with the subject manager indicate that there is a clear assessment process through which strengths and weaknesses in provision are analysed and evaluated, and relevant action is taken. There has been good improvement in the curriculum since the last inspection.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

85. In music the school places considerable emphasis on music and in particular on pupils performing. The school is committed to ensuring that all pupils will learn to play an instrument. This helps pupils to read music. Pupils in Year 2, for instance, read simple notation of crotchets and semi-quavers exploring the metre of four beats. By the end of Year 2, they can sing in tune with rhythm and expression. In assembly they sing ‘good morning’ to everyone, enjoy learning new songs and enjoy performances by other pupils. In Years 3 to 6 pupils’ familiarity with simple notation grows so that they are able to read and record simple musical phrases. They improvise simple patterns which are repeated, practised and performed together and in parts as ostinato. They use tuned and untuned instruments composing and playing in class and in assemblies. A number of pupils become proficient with tuned instruments and are confident

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

enough to perform solos. All pupils from Years 2 to 6 learn to play the recorder. Taught by a visiting tutor, these sessions are lively and the pupils enthusiastic. Pupils learn the fingering for notes, playing increasingly complex patterns which are developed in lessons. They count one another in playing confidently to accompanied music and unaccompanied. Pupils with special educational needs are fully included in lessons. They participate enthusiastically gaining in confidence considerably both socially and musically. The quality of teaching seen in the small number of lessons seen was good overall and pupils were attaining the nationally expected levels. A visiting music tutor also provides a broad experience of performance, composition and an appreciation of a range of recorded music. She has high expectations, insisting on the correct posture for recorder playing. She teaches the fingering of notes on the recorder.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

Assessment is ongoing and used effectively in planning and enabling the progress observed. The subject makes a good contribution to pupils’ personal development as pupils learn about the importance and satisfaction of performance in lessons, assemblies and annual events. These include regular performances in assemblies, and larger school performances at harvest and Christmas and local events. The pupils in Years 3 to 6 have performed in larger scale productions including Beowulf and the Pied Piper at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

86. In physical education the school has made significant progress in increasing physical activities. The school participates in a national programme, which has a target, 2.5 hours per week of physical activity for each pupil by 2006. Every pupil in the infant and junior years participates each week in gymnastics, dance and games. This commitment and the overall provision including links with the local community, were recently acknowledged when the school received the Activemark Gold award. In the work sampled, pupils enjoyed physical activity and were able to talk about the importance of exercise for keeping well. Pupils were observed participating in a range of basic athletics activities. The pupils paced themselves, regulating their exertion in short burst sprinting and longer distance running. Pupils reflected on their performance and that of others. Using a stopwatch they were able to measure their times

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

against previous performances. They were able to talk about the beneficial effects of exercise. Pupils with special educational needs participated fully and willingly, reaching a high level of achievement in a number of cases. The provision of physical education has benefited from a recent project which has provided training for the school co-ordinator and staff. Additionally the project has provided a number of specialist coaches from outside bodies such as Manchester Ravensbury Community School - 42 City Football Club who have contributed to lessons and a rolling programme of after-school clubs which are well attended. The school ensures that any extra coaching provision is linked to local external clubs which can be accessed at little cost to the pupils. Ravensbury Community School - 43

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP

Provision for personal, social and health education and citizenship is very good .

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• The quality of teaching is very good and builds pupils’ self-esteem. • There is very good improvement since the last inspection. • Visitors to school and visits to the local area promote pupils’ learning well. • Pupils respond well to opportunities to take some responsibility to help others.

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Commentary

87. Provision for pupils' personal, social and health education and citizenship is very good. The quality of teaching is very good and ensures that pupils develop self-confidence, and establish good relationships and an awareness of their roles as citizens. Staff promote pupils' personal development well in other lessons and around the school. The school's policies are applied consistently, setting high expectations for behaviour and emphasising that pupils are responsible for the choices that they make and their consequences. There are good strategies in place to support and develop those pupils who do not find it easy to conform to the school's expectations.

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Commentary

88. The school has responded very well to developing a comprehensive programme that includes health and drugs education, relationships and personal safety, since the last inspection. Assemblies are effective in promoting this area of pupils' development with themes such as ‘working together’ and ‘friendships’. In a very good lesson children in Year 2 were considering a range of possible responses to situations and using the ‘traffic lights’ rule of ‘Stop – Think – Act’ to help them decide the correct course of action.

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Commentary

89. The school makes very good use of visits and visitors to develop pupils’ awareness of citizenship. Younger pupils are visited by a new-born baby and shown how it needs to be looked after and cared for. Year 1 pupils learn road safety as they practise ‘kerb-craft skills’. Fire-fighters have visited the school, linked into work in history about the Great Fire of London, giving pupils an insight into the effects of fire. Older pupils attend a ‘Crucial Crew’ programme where they develop skills in personal safety awareness. The oldest pupils learn about the effects of their actions on the community as they participate in a ‘Crime in the Community’ project. Staff from a nearby professional football club visit the school to promote a healthy lifestyle. The school has taken part in a ‘healthy eating’ week. Ravensbury Community School - 44

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The overall effectiveness of the school 3 How inclusive the school is 2 How the school’s effectiveness has changed since its last inspection 2 Value for money provided by the school 3

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Overall standards achieved 5 Pupils’ achievement 3

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Pupils’ attitudes, values and other personal qualities (Ethos) 2 Attendance 7 Attitudes 2 Behaviour, including the extent of exclusions 3 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The quality of education provided by the school 3 The quality of teaching 3 How well pupils learn 3 The quality of assessment 3 How well the curriculum meets pupils’ needs 3 Enrichment of the curriculum, including out-of-school activities 2 Accommodation and resources 2 Pupils’ care, welfare, health and safety 2 Support, advice and guidance for pupils 2 How well the school seeks and acts on pupils’ views 3 The effectiveness of the school’s links with parents 3 The quality of the school’s links with the community 2 The school’s links with other schools and colleges 2

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The leadership and management of the school 2 The governance of the school 3 The leadership of the headteacher 2 The leadership of other key staff 2 The effectiveness of management 2

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Inspectors make judgements on a scale: excellent (grade 1); very good (2); good (3); satisfactory (4); unsatisfactory (5); poor (6); very poor (7).

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