Wallace Fields Junior School

WALLACE FIELDS JUNIOR SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 8 th – 10 th March 2004

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WALLACE FIELDS JUNIOR SCHOOL

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

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WALLACE FIELDS JUNIOR SCHOOL

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Type of school: Junior School School category: Community Age range of pupils: 7 - 11 Gender of pupils: Mixed Number on roll: 269

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Dorling Drive Ewell Epsom Surrey Postcode: KT17 3BH

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Telephone number: (0208) 393 0350 Fax number: (0208) 786 7498

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The governing body Name of chair of governors: Mr P Clayton

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: 5 th May 1998

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

The school operates on a spacious site. It is of average size for its type, with five more girls than boys. Generally, pupils come from favourable social and economic backgrounds, with relatively few joining or leaving the school other than at the normal time. The percentage of pupils eligible for a free school meal is low. One fifth of the pupils are from minority ethnic families, with a wide range of ethnic heritage backgrounds represented. A few of these pupils do not use English as their first language, but only one is at an early stage of English language acquisition. There are no refugees or children looked after in care. The pupils enter the school with well above average attainment in reading, writing and mathematics. Seven per cent of pupils have special educational needs, which is low. Most of these pupils are a little behind their peers, with a very few who have more significant difficulties. Two of these pupils have a statement of special educational need. In 2002 the school

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

was awarded Investors In People status and, in 2003, it was given a School Achievement Award. Wallace Fields Junior School - 2

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Members of the inspection team Subject responsibilities

3669 Tony Maslin Lead inspector Mathematics Information and communication technology Geography Music 9420 David Martin Lay inspector 32945 Wendy Hawkins Team inspector English Design and technology Religious education Special educational needs French 5240 David Shannon Team inspector Science Art and design History English as an additional language Physical education

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Members of the inspection team Subject responsibilities

Tribal PPI Barley House Oakfield Grove Clifton Bristol BS8 2BN

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Members of the inspection team Subject responsibilities

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 637 833) or Ofsted’s website (www.ofsted.gov.uk). Wallace Fields Junior School - 3

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED BY PUPILS 6 - 8

Pupils’ attitudes, values and other personal qualities

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL 9 - 13

Partnership with parents, other schools and the community

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OVERALL EVALUATION

The school provides a satisfactory education within a very strong ethos of respect, each for the other, by all members of the school community. Behaviour is very good and the school successfully includes all its pupils. Pupils enter the school with high standards, make satisfactory achievements and, overall, leave with above average standards. Parents hold the school in high regard, as do most pupils. The school gives satisfactory value for money.

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The school’s main strengths and weaknesses are:

• The school has a very strong ethos and programme for personal and social development. • Science is very well taught and standards are well above national expectations. • The quality of extended writing throughout the curriculum is not good enough. • There is a very good programme of curriculum enrichment. • In too many subject areas too much teaching is not of a sufficiently high standard. • Competence with mathematics across the curriculum is very good. • The school improvement plan and the school’s self-evaluation practice do not have enough impact on school improvement.

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The school’s main strengths and weaknesses are:

The school was judged to be very effective at the time of its last inspection and, since that time, its effectiveness has declined. Most of the key issues have been successfully addressed and, in particular, standards in information and communication technology are better. However, the overall quality of teaching has substantially declined, standards in English have fallen and school leadership does not bring about consistent improvement.

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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 A* A B D mathematics B A A A science B A A A Key: A* - very high; A - well above average; B – above average; C – average; D – below average; E – well below average. Similar schools are those whose pupils attained similarly at the end of Year 2.

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED

By the time they leave school pupils have made satisfactory achievement. Overall the standards of work from the year 6 pupils are good, although there is too much variation between subjects. As the table shows, standards in English, mathematics and science are above, or well above, national expectations. Standards in information and communication technology and design and technology are also above national expectations, but standards in many of the other subject areas are just in line with national expectations and should be better. Low achievement in standards of extended writing contributes to an overall lack of good progress in English, history, geography and religious education. There are no significant differences in achievement between girls and boys or those from different heritage backgrounds. Pupils with special educational needs achieve well.

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The development of pupils’ personal qualities, including their spiritual, moral, social and

cultural development is good. The pupils show good attitudes to their work and behave very well, with the older pupils showing a very mature approach to their schooling. Attendance and punctuality throughout the school day are very good. Wallace Fields Junior School - 5

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The school provides a satisfactory education for its pupils, with satisfactory teaching

overall. The high quality teaching in science, mathematics and information and communication technology enables the pupils to achieve well in these subjects. In the other subjects teaching is not so good; the pupils make the expected progress, but there are too many occasions when their time is not well used, they do not achieve very much, and they do not attain the standards they should.

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The school provides a satisfactory education for its pupils, with satisfactory teaching

The curriculum is broad and balanced, with good provision for pupils with special educational needs. There is a very good range of extra-curricular activities, which are well attended. The school supports its pupils well, making it easy for them to pay attention to their work. Partnerships with parents and the strong links the school has within the community all add positively to the pupils’ experiences.

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LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Overall, the leadership and management of the school are satisfactory. The headteacher is providing appropriate direction, but, on occasions, the actions set out in the school improvement plan do not have the required precision to bring about the desired effect. The senior managers and subject co-ordinators provide satisfactory management overall, but the way the school monitors how well it is doing is not having sufficient impact on improving teaching and achievement in those subject areas where the pupils’ progress is not good enough. The governance of the school is good. The governing body is well informed, holds the school to account, and ensures that the school meets its legal requirements.

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PARENTS’ AND PUPILS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

The overwhelming majority of parents are satisfied with the school and consider it is giving their children a good education. However, some expressed a concern that they do not know whether their child is making the progress she or he should. Most pupils consider that the school is a good place to be, but a significant minority consider that lessons are not interesting, they are not given enough help and they are not shown how to make their work better. The inspectors’ findings show that, for a number of pupils, this view is not without foundation. When the school becomes aware of bullying it stops it quickly and effectively and, consequently, instances of bullying are rare.

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

• Raise the standards of pupils’ extended writing in all subjects of the curriculum. • Ensure the School Improvement Plan becomes an effective tool for strategic leadership, with the expected impact on pupils’ learning and achievement clearly identified. • Improve the impact of the school’s self-evaluation procedures in raising the quality of teaching, learning and standards. Wallace Fields Junior School - 6

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Standards achieved in subjects

Pupils’ overall achievement is satisfactory, leading to good standards overall. However, achievement varies considerably between subjects. It is very good in science and good in mathematics, reading and information and communication technology, where teachers and pupils work hard to maintain the standards reached. Achievement is generally satisfactory in the other subject areas, including writing. Because of the well above average standards of attainment in reading, writing and mathematics with which the pupils enter the school, these achievement levels mean they leave the school with well above average standards in mathematics and science, above average standards in English, information and communication technology and design and technology, and satisfactory standards in the other subjects.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• High standards have been maintained in mathematics and science. • Standards have fallen significantly in writing and hence in English overall. • There are no significant differences between the achievements of boys and girls, or the achievement of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. • Standards in information and communication technology are better than at the time of the last inspection. • Lack of good writing skills inhibits standards in other subjects.

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Commentary

1. Pupils enter the school with well above average results in reading, writing and mathematics in their national tests at age seven. That this is a true reflection of their capability is confirmed by the standards generally shown in these subjects by the Year 3 pupils during the inspection.

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Commentary

2. At the time of the last inspection, pupils in Year 6 performed very well in all three subjects of the national tests. Standards in mathematics and science remain high, but, as the table below shows, there is now a significant difference between the pupils’ achievements in English and mathematics, where the national results are identical. This downward trend in English has been a feature of the school’s performance since 2001. The difference is also noticeable in classes, where inspectors found the standard of mathematics to be significantly higher than it is in English, particularly in writing. There is only patchy evidence that the situation is improving.

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Commentary

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 27.9 (28.9) 26.8 (27.0) mathematics 29.7 (29.1) 26.8 (26.7) science 30.9 (31.0) 28.6 (28.3) There were 63 pupils in the year group. Figures in brackets are for the previous year.

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Commentary

3. The attention the school has paid to improving pupils’ attainment in information and communication technology has brought benefits and standards here have improved. Elsewhere, standards have remained static or, as in art and design, have dropped slightly. The absence of significant examples of higher level study and writing in pupils’ geography, history Wallace Fields Junior School - 7 and religious education work is not being effectively remedied by the current school improvement programmes. 4. The pupils speak well, communicate their ideas carefully, and listen intently to their teachers and their peers in all their lessons. They make equally good use of their mathematics skills and their ICT capability in their work in the other subjects.

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Commentary

5. Throughout the school, boys do as well as girls, and the higher attaining pupils do very well in mathematics and science. The few pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds, including those learning English as an additional language, achieve as well as their peers in all subjects. Pupils with special educational needs achieve well. They receive good support in class and benefit from small groups in mathematics and English.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and other personal qualities

6. Pupils’ attitudes and behaviour are very good . They make good progress in their personal, social and emotional development during their time at the school. The school promotes their moral and social development well, but their spiritual and cultural development is satisfactory and is not being promoted as fully as it might be. The school works hard to maintain its well above average attendance rate. Pupils are punctual.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils’ positive attitudes to school mean that they work hard and feel happy in school. • Very good behaviour in lessons and around the school makes for a productive working atmosphere and a harmonious community. • Attendance is well above average. • Opportunities to enrich the spiritual and cultural experiences of pupils are underdeveloped.

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Attendance

Attendance in the latest complete reporting year (%)

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Attendance

Authorised absence Unauthorised absence School data 3.7 School data 0.6 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

7. The school has a good behaviour policy, the working of which is monitored and reviewed regularly. This is well known and effectively implemented, not only by teaching staff, but also by non-teaching staff, such as midday supervisors. As a result of the effectiveness of this policy there is little misbehaviour in lessons or at other times, such as at lunch and playtimes. A minority of parents and carers responding to the pre-inspection questionnaire had concerns about harassment and bullying. Inspectors, therefore, investigated this issue very carefully. They made discreet observations of pupils’ behaviour and relationships and questioned pupils, staff and parents. No evidence was found to support the perception that bullying and harassment are a problem. Indeed, from these observations and discussions it is clear that behaviour is very good and relationships harmonious. Pupils from other than a White British

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Attendance

background are accorded respect and there is very good racial and ethnic harmony. As the table below shows, exclusions are very rare. Wallace Fields Junior School - 8

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Exclusions

Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

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Exclusions

Categories used in the Annual School Census No. of pupils on roll Number of fixed period exclusions Number of permanent exclusions White – British 224 1 0 White – Irish 2 0 0 White – any other White background 8 0 0 Mixed – White and Black Caribbean 1 0 0 Mixed – White and Black African 2 0 0 Mixed – White and Asian 3 0 0 Mixed – any other mixed background 5 0 0 Asian or Asian British – Indian 12 0 0 Asian or Asian British – Any other Asian Background 3 0 0 Black or Black British - Caribbean 2 0 0 Chinese 2 0 0 Any other ethnic group 1 0 0 Pupil/Parent preferred not to say 1 0 0 No ethnic group recorded 2 0 0 The table gives the number of exclusions, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded.

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Exclusions

8. There is good respect between all members of the school community. Pupils listen carefully in lessons. They are eager to join in, answering questions and sometimes asking them too. Those pupils who have learning difficulties are well supported in lessons so that they are able to follow and take a full part. Learning support assistants work hard to keep these pupils’ attention focused and ensure that they are following the thread of the lesson. Pupils display positive and caring attitudes to one another. They listen sensibly as those with communication difficulties make their contribution to lessons. For example, in a good English lesson in Year 4 pupils showed great respect and consideration for their classmates’ first drafts of poetic images based on a painting of a rose.

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Exclusions

9. The school satisfactorily promotes pupils’ spiritual and cultural development. They explore a range of values and beliefs in religious education lessons and in acts of worship. For example, in a Year 6 lesson, pupils learned about the Hindu belief in one god who has many forms. However, there is scope to extend the quality of pupil’s spiritual and cultural experience. For example, there is little singing in assemblies. Pupils have a clear understanding of the difference between right and wrong and the need to be considerate and respect others, especially those who have learning or other difficulties. Pupils mostly accept that, when they do wrong, appropriate and proportionate sanctions will be applied. There are many good opportunities in lessons for pupils to work co-operatively. Year 3 pupils feel very comfortable in their new school. The school council gives pupils a good opportunity to engage in the

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Exclusions

democratic process, gaining an understanding of citizenship and community life. It also gives some older pupils good opportunities to exercise leadership and responsibility, for example when they are elected as officials of the council. The regular residential visits for pupils afford good opportunities for social interaction and development. The pupils enjoy them very much and regard them as a highlight of their school experience. Wallace Fields Junior School - 9

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL

The school provides a satisfactory education for its pupils. Some subjects are taught well, but, in the others, teaching is only satisfactory and pupils do not make the progress they could. Systematic procedures help pupils know how to improve their work, but these are variable in their application and effect and are satisfactory overall. Interesting visits and projects help enhance the curriculum, as do the wide range of extra-curricular activities.

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Teaching and learning

Teaching and learning are satisfactory across the school. This marks a decline from the good to very good teaching at the time of the last inspection. Learning is good in just a few subjects. Generally, there are appropriate procedures for assessing pupils’ progress, but the information gained does not always help pupils move forward as effectively as it might.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• The quality of teaching has declined since the last inspection. • Teachers plan carefully, but do not always follow their plans effectively. • A wide range of resources is used effectively to support learning. • Teachers have high expectations of good behaviour. • Teaching assistants are well deployed to support pupils with special educational needs. • Homework does not always follow the timetable, which confuses parents. • Time is not always well used and some pupils do not understand fully what their lessons entail. • Assessment information is not always well used to enable pupils to know what they have to do to improve.

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Commentary

10. The table below indicates the quality of teaching seen across the school. The fifty six per cent of lessons designated as good or better compares unfavourably with the figure of nearly eighty per cent at the time of the last inspection. This is because the school does not have robust procedures for ensuring that teaching remains at a high standard as the teaching personnel within the school changes.

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Commentary

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection in 32 lessons

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Commentary

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very poor

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Commentary

1 (3%) 5 (16%) 12 (37%) 14 (44%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

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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.

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Commentary

11. Teaching is good, for example in mathematics, where the planning the school uses from the National Numeracy Strategy sets clear expectations of what teachers should be doing and how they should be doing it. Similarly, teaching is very good in science, where the co-ordinator, who was recently ‘Science Teacher of the Year’, sets very high expectations for her peers. Generally, though, good teaching is too dependent on the influence of individual subject co- ordinators, rather than being a consistent expectation across all subjects and within the school. Too often, teaching is uninspiring. In keeping with these inspection findings are the results of the pupils’ questionnaires, where two fifths of pupils consider lessons to lack interest, a quarter do not consider they learn anything new in lessons and a quarter also consider that teachers do not show them how to make their work better.

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Commentary

12. Most lessons are characterised by good behaviour and willing and attentive pupils. In the best lessons, teachers are careful to engage in a dynamic question and answer session to ensure Wallace Fields Junior School - 10 all pupils have fully understood the teaching points. Tasks are carefully matched to needs and, as a result, pupils engage fully, learn quickly and make rapid progress. This is demonstrated in full in the following example of outstanding practice.

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Commentary

An excellent science lesson in which a Year 3 class carried out an investigation to identify materials that are opaque .

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Commentary

The lesson began with a letter from the teacher’s cousin explaining that he had just started a new job as a security guard on the night shift at Tesco’s supermarket. How could he block out the daylight so he could sleep during the day? Could the pupils help her cousin? This captured their imagination, and they set about their investigation with enthusiasm and purpose. They worked their way through the different trial materials, first recording their predictions and then testing them with the use of a torch. The teacher often stood away from the class, observing individuals and groups, assessing their contributions: an intervention would be a targeted question or perceptive comment to re-focus learning. All pupils were expected to be systematic and to explain and justify their ideas. Then the teacher very effectively demonstrated how a computer can use an electronic light sensor to record the intensity of the light passing through the material and project it onto a screen. The lesson

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Commentary

concluded with the pupils writing to the teacher’s cousin giving him their advice. Such was the spirit that, the following day, the pupils asked the teacher whether she had sent their letters to her cousin.

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Commentary

13. However, nearly half the lessons observed were only satisfactory, lacking the attention to detail highlighted above. The teaching points did not fully explore what the pupils were to learn, tasks were not always appropriate and the pupils were left in some uncertainty about how to begin their work. They then had to wait patiently for help to arrive, before eventually making progress. At other times, pupils who had given an incorrect answer, were passed over in favour of another and never had their misunderstandings explored and explained. As a result, pupils’ time was not always best used in these lessons.

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Commentary

14. Classrooms and resources are generally well organised and good use is made of the electronic whiteboards (a computer controlled touch sensitive whiteboard, which can also be drawn on by a pen) as a medium for presenting work. The neat presentation by teachers is followed by the pupils, who take pride in their work. Provision is equally effective for all pupils, including those from minority ethnic groups and higher- and lower-attaining pupils. Learning support assistants are well deployed to help pupils with special educational needs make good progress and achieve as well as their peers. Their individual education plans have helpful targets.

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Commentary

15. Overall assessment and its use is satisfactory. Pupils’ work is generally well marked and the school has systems for tracking pupils’ progress in English, mathematics and science. Analyses of test results are used to provide pointers for improvement; for example, the need for improvement in writing. But this is not always followed through consistently to influence classroom practice. Pupils have targets and understand these, but sometimes have difficulty linking these to the next stages of improvement for their work. For example, the inspectors observed a target that ‘work will be presented more neatly’, which, while important, does not give a pointer to help improve its standard.

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Commentary

16. Homework is set throughout the school. It is not always in keeping with the school’s homework policy, and this causes confusion for parents.

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The curriculum

The school provides a good, broad and worthwhile curriculum that caters well for the interests, aptitudes and particular needs of pupils. Very good opportunities are planned to enrich the curriculum and there is a very good range of extra-curricular activities . The school has very Wallace Fields Junior School - 11 good accommodation of a high quality and a good range of resources for learning, although there is scope for further development in some areas.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• The broad curriculum is enhanced by offering French to older pupils. • The school is very successful in promoting participation in a wide range of activities, including the arts and sport, through its very good extra-curricular provision. • The very good accommodation contributes to the wealth of opportunities offered to pupils. • Religious education and collective worship are undervalued in curriculum planning. • Although resources for most areas of the curriculum are good, some of the library books are well used and out of date.

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Commentary

17. In addition to statutory requirements, the school offers all pupils the opportunity to learn French in Years 5 and 6. There is good provision for pupils with special educational needs to access the full curriculum. Teachers and learning support assistants work well together to meet pupils’ individual needs as identified in their statements of special educational needs and their carefully drafted individual education plans. Special classes are arranged for groups of pupils to provide extra help with literacy, language and communication skills and mathematics. Work is planned to meet the needs of pupils of different abilities and those with particular gifts and talents are identified and provided with activities of appropriate challenge. This affords all pupils full access to the curriculum.

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Commentary

18. The school provides a very good range of activities outside lessons. These include musical and sporting activities and a range of other clubs and classes, such as dance clubs, a chess club, and an ICT club. The quality of the provision is very high and pupils who attend achieve well. All activities seen during the inspection were well attended and pupils participated enthusiastically. The curriculum is enhanced by planned visits related to learning. These include residential visits, designed to contribute to pupils’ personal and social development as well as to further their learning. Participation in drama and sporting competitions further enrich the curriculum.

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Commentary

19. Classrooms are spacious and bright with interesting and stimulating displays. The school grounds, which include a wildlife area and a pond, have been well developed to support the curriculum for environmental education. There is a spacious and well-equipped suite for ICT and there are also computers in the library and in all classrooms. The stock of books in the library is adequate to support learning in all curriculum areas but some books are well- thumbed and in need of updating. The school is well resourced and has a generous complement of teaching and support staff.

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Commentary

20. The allocation of time for religious education in Years 3 to 5 is less than for other curriculum subjects and this has a negative impact on standards. The acts of collective worship observed during the inspection were uninspiring and on occasions did not meet statutory requirements.

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Care, guidance and support

The care, guidance and support for pupils are good overall. Pupils enjoy good relationships with staff, which give most of them confidence to seek support when they have a concern or a pleasure to share.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Very good provision for child protection is conscientiously implemented. • The school ensures that staff are aware of the individual needs and circumstances of pupils. • New, late entrants to the school are given support by fellow pupils. Wallace Fields Junior School - 12 • A quarter of pupils do not consider teachers show them how to make their work better.

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Commentary

21. The school makes good provision to ensure that pupils are well cared for and work in a healthy and safe environment. Procedures and practices for child protection matters are very good.

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Commentary

22. Staff are aware of the needs of individual pupils. Good practices provide pupils with suitable support and guidance, for instance when they are new to the school or suffer a bereavement. However, support for academic improvement is less consistently good. When completing the pre-inspection questionnaire, a quarter of pupils stated that their teachers did not show them how to make their work better. Inspection findings confirm that this is an issue in some classrooms. Pupils with special educational needs are supported well. Annual reviews take place as they should and parents and any appropriate outside agencies are fully involved.

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Commentary

23. All the pupils spoken to reported that they would feel confident in approaching an adult if they had any personal concerns and nine-tenths of those who completed the questionnaire said likewise. Pupils are aware of their personal academic targets. They find them useful, but the links to improvement in the standards of their work are only tenuously understood. Pupils spoke warmly of the ‘buddy bench’, where someone who feels out of ‘sorts’ can go for support from their peers.

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Commentary

24. The school actively seeks the views of pupils through the school council. Time is given to ensuring that the representatives in each class can raise issues of common interest, but rarely is time given for these same representatives to feed back the outcomes of the council meetings. Many pupils, therefore, do not fully understand the council’s influence.

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Partnership with parents, other schools and the community

Parents have positive views of the school, considering that it gives their children a well-rounded education. Good links with the feeder infants’ school and with the receiving secondary schools help pupils transfer easily. The partnership between school, home and the community plays a positive role in the pupils’ learning, both at home and at school.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Parents are happy with what the school provides for their children. • The content of newsletters and general information for parents is good. • Links with the community positively enrich the pupils’ learning. • Reports to parents about their child’s progress do not always help them understand what their child needs to do for the next stage of their learning.

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Commentary

25. The school has formed a good partnership with parents. Parents are provided with information about the school and the work their children are doing, which is generally good in both quality and range. Parents are also provided with good opportunities to ascertain the progress their children are making at school, both through formal parent consultation evenings and informal visits to the school. However, annual reports for pupils are not written in a way which helps parents understand what their children have achieved and they do not contain sufficient information to help parents to identify areas for improvement or where they could help their child.

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Commentary

26. The school regularly seeks the views of parents on a range of topics, consults them on draft policies, logs and formulates a response to any major concerns they raise and subsequently implements revised practices to address their concerns. This makes a strong, positive contribution to the quality of education provided by the school. Wallace Fields Junior School - 13 27. Parents are provided with lots of opportunities to attend events at the school and to volunteer to help in school activities, to which many respond. Parents are also provided with information and advice to enable them to work with their children at home to supplement their learning. The school fosters an open-door policy for parents.

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Commentary

28. The school has cultivated close links with local residents. It uses local churches as a source of expertise for the religious education curriculum and assemblies, and contacts with professional sports clubs to improve learning in physical education.

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Commentary

29. It has also made good use of its contacts with other local schools to improve its teaching in various curriculum areas. For example, additional support has provided pupils with the use of laptop computers.

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LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Overall, leadership and management are satisfactory . Leadership is satisfactory , management is satisfactory and governance is good .

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• The headteacher has created a strong sense of common purpose and direction. • There are good systems and structures to allow subject leaders to monitor and evaluate standards and teaching in their curriculum area. • The school improvement plan lacks clear, specific and measurable success criteria. • The manner in which the monitoring and evaluation procedures are implemented is not sufficiently rigorous to bring about improvement. • Most subject leaders need greater support in carrying out their role. • Governors know the strengths and weaknesses of the school well. • Governors also provide good challenge and support to the senior management team.

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Commentary

30. The headteacher provides satisfactory leadership. He has been effective in creating a positive ethos and establishing very good relationships at all levels within the school community. He has a clear vision for the school’s future and has created a strong sense of common purpose. The comprehensive school improvement plan sets out the main focus areas for improvement within the school. These are appropriate and well linked to the induction and appraisal of teachers and to priorities for staff training. However, the plan and the associated appraisal and training programmes are not specific or clear enough in their expectations and are not having sufficient impact on improving learning and standards where this is most needed.

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Commentary

31. The leadership provided by other key staff is satisfactory overall. Senior managers analyse pupil performance in the national tests to identify pupils’ strengths and weaknesses and provide information on the findings for other staff. Where subject leadership has been good, this has been effective in maintaining the high standards of attainment in mathematics and science, but the actions taken over the past eighteen months to halt the decline in standards in English have yet to make any substantial impact. Leadership in other subjects, too, such as history, geography, art and design and religious education has not been effective in ensuring that standards are improved. There is good leadership and management for work with those pupils who have special educational needs, which contribute to the overall good provision for these pupils.

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Commentary

32. Management of the school is satisfactory. The headteacher and all staff are committed to raising pupils’ achievement. The last inspection report identified the need to extend the impact of the monitoring and evaluation role of subject co-ordinators. This has been partially Wallace Fields Junior School - 14 achieved, but practice in this area is still unsatisfactory. All subject leaders have allocated time to monitor provision in their subject. However, not all of them link their findings securely to the impact on pupils’ learning and achievement. Thus, monitoring is not fully effective in contributing to school improvement. The headteacher and senior managers are not sufficiently involved in monitoring alongside subject leaders and, thus, they are not providing the support, coaching and example for those who need it, to ensure that the process is rigorous, that judgements are accurate and that there is a positive impact on standards.

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Commentary

33. The governing body brings considerable skills and expertise as well as wholehearted support to its work for the school. All governors have taken on the responsibility for a specific subject or aspect of education. The chair of governors regularly meets with the headteacher and other governors also visit and report back to governing body meetings on what they have found. These meetings and visits, together with an effective system of committees, enable governors to have a secure view of the school’s strengths and of weaknesses in the pupils’ attainment. They are less effective in enabling the governors to know about the quality of teaching and learning in their school.

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Financial information

Financial information for the year April 2002 to March 2003

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Financial information

Income and expenditure (£) Balances (£) Total income 682,153 Balance from previous year 170,171 Total expenditure 683,301 Balance carried forward to the next 149,023 Expenditure per pupil 2,416

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Financial information

34. Financial planning is carefully considered and the governors monitor income and expenditure effectively through termly reports they receive on the budget. Expenditure per pupil is about average in comparison with primary schools in London and its borders. Whilst the school has specific projects earmarked for some of the balance it carries forward each year, this balance is far too large. The large balance came about as a result of the school’s move to Grant Maintained status. However, it reflects that, in the past, available funds have not always been spent on the pupils to whom they were allocated. Wallace Fields Junior School - 15

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils are well supported with reading and speaking and listening and, as a result, achieve well in these areas. • Pupils do not make sufficient progress with writing and, as a consequence, achievement is unsatisfactory. • Overall standards in the national tests for pupils of age 11 have declined significantly since the last inspection. • Teaching is satisfactory overall. It is having little impact in raising the standards in writing. • Leadership and management have identified writing as a weakness and have introduced a range of initiatives to raise standards, but the impact of theses initiatives have not been consistent.

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Commentary

35. By Year 6, pupils attain very high standards compared to national expectations for reading and for speaking and listening skills, but not for writing. The school’s assessment data confirms that pupils make good progress with reading from Year 3 to Year 6 and that pupils’ achievement, based on their prior attainment, is good. Pupils of all ages and ethnic backgrounds were observed to be making similarly good progress and achievement with speaking and listening skills. Pupils are grouped by ability for reading and are skilfully guided as they read an appropriate range of fiction and non-fiction. Teachers structure these reading sessions to reinforce learning in class. In Year 6, a group of lower-ability readers, after taking it in turns to read aloud from a text, were asked to find examples of descriptive language. They had little difficulty in locating and identifying similes and metaphors. The learning support

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Commentary

assistant facilitating this group was well briefed by the class teacher’s planning notes. Pupils are encouraged to read regularly in class and are well supported at home. As a result of this well-structured teaching, pupils assimilate new skills rapidly and sustain very high standards in reading throughout the school. Pupils with special educational needs make good progress and achieve well, based on their prior attainment.

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Commentary

36. Pupils’ achievement and progress in writing is unsatisfactory, leading to a fall in standards in English since the time of the last inspection. By the end of Year 6, pupils reach a level of competence in writing that is in line with national expectations, but does not match their high attainment in other aspects of English or, indeed, the high standards they achieve in mathematics and science. This underachievement is also manifest in the quality of written work in other subjects, such as history and geography, where it is limited in scope and style. The school is rightly focused on raising standards in writing. As a consequence, pupils are grouped by ability, with targets that are displayed in the classrooms. However, many of these targets are too nebulous, such as, ‘To spell many words correctly’, and fail to give pupils the specific direction they need to enable them to improve their writing. Higher-attaining pupils

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Commentary

make the same progress and achievement as their peers.

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Commentary

37. Overall, teaching and learning are satisfactory. Boys and girls from all ethnic backgrounds share a similar quality of learning. Some examples of very good teaching were observed in Wallace Fields Junior School - 16 Years 3 and 6, where the crisp pace and high expectations for pupils’ productivity resulted in pupils achieving well. In Year 3, pupils prepared a submission for a committee on the behaviour and characteristics of the ‘Hare’ or the ‘Tortoise’ from Aesop’s Fable. They wrote in extended sentences, many of which were punctuated with commas. The lesson was a delightful experience for the pupils. However, other lessons observed did not ignite the pupils’ interest in the same way and learning tailed off. In a Year 4 class, the teacher spent far too long talking and did not effectively model writing as planned. In a Year 5 class, a piece of text was edited and improved on a computer controlled screen, but the visual presentation looked

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Commentary

muddled and the pupils’ attention ebbed away. Subsequently, the pupils’ own work, particularly that of the higher attaining pupils, was unadventurous.

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Commentary

38. Leadership and management in English are unsatisfactory, and have declined since the time of the previous inspection. Staff training has been organised to develop the teaching of writing throughout the school. There are school systems in operation to monitor the quality of teaching and learning. Assessment data is collected efficiently and there is a rigorous tracking of pupils’ progress, which is monitored by the school’s senior management team. However, feedback given to teachers as a result of implementing these procedures is not sufficiently focused to impact positively and consistently on raising standards. Resources for English are good. Reading books are plentiful and most teachers make effective use of the computer technology available in every classroom.

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Language and literacy across the curriculum

39. Pupils’ use of language and literacy across the curriculum is satisfactory. In most lessons, teachers plan well for opportunities for pupils to develop their skills in speaking and listening. In a personal and social education lesson, Year 6 pupils presented a well-argued case for clearing the streets of litter. However, in lessons where pupils are expected to make a written record of their learning, expectations are not high enough. For instance, in booklets made by pupils in Year 6 on ‘Rainforests’ in geography and the ‘Ancient Greeks’ in history, the writing did not engage the reader and the use of specific terminology was sparse. The booklets lacked referencing, having no index or glossary. Standards of writing were in line with national expectations for pupils in Year 4 rather than those in Year 6.

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French

40. Pupils in Year 5 and 6 are taught French. No French teaching was observed during the inspection and it is not possible to make an overall judgement about provision. The course of study is started in the summer term of Year 5 and continues throughout Year 6. Pupils use a commercially produced scheme of work. Lessons concentrate on imparting basic vocabulary, reinforced with flashcards. Pupils consolidate their learning when they complete simple exercises in their books. At the end of Year 6, pupils are offered a chance to visit France on a residential trip. Many pupils are looking forward to this.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• High standards at the time of the last inspection have been maintained. • The subject is usually well taught. • Insufficient demonstration means some pupils do not always know how to start their work. • There is good planning based on the National Numeracy Strategy plans. • Teaching and learning are not effectively monitored. Wallace Fields Junior School - 17

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Commentary

41. Standards in year 6 are well above national expectations and the pupils achieve well. In the 2003 national tests, almost all pupils reached the expected standard and, furthermore, half of them attained the higher level. In the work seen, boys and girls are currently making similar progress and pupils from minority ethnic groups also do well, as do the few pupils learning English as an additional language. Pupils with special educational needs are well supported by teachers and learning support assistants, so that they, too, make good progress. Able pupils are well provided for by the use of setting to accommodate pupils of different abilities.

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Commentary

42. The school has maintained the high standards demonstrated at the last inspection, although standards did fall slightly in the intervening years. Most pupils enter the school with well above average mathematical understanding. For example in Year 3, almost all of them can multiply confidently by 10 and by 100. By Year 6, the majority can use a calculator to solve a wide range of problems. They have good spatial concepts, being able to reflect shapes accurately on a graph in horizontal and vertical lines. The more able easily extend this to reflections in diagonal lines.

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Commentary

43. Teaching is good. The systematic use of National Numeracy Strategy materials enables lessons to have a good structure. Because of the teachers’ good subject knowledge, teaching is clear with an emphasis on the correct use of mathematical vocabulary. The pupils learn well from this, showing very good attitudes and taking pride in their work. On some occasions explanations are too rushed, lesson plans are not followed and not enough time is given to allowing pupils to explain their understanding to the teacher and to each other before they are asked to begin their work. As a result, in these lessons, a considerable number of pupils need further explanation at the same time and progress in learning slows while they await help. Pupils’ progress is carefully recorded and, generally, marking is accurate and helpful. However, pupils who have not given the correct answer are not always helped to understand

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Commentary

where they have gone wrong and are sometimes left feeling a little insecure.

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Commentary

44. The school makes good use of information and communication technology, effectively using the interactive whiteboards as a teaching tool. Pupils, too, use the technology with ease when they explain their answers to their classmates. This further helps their understanding. There is a wide range of programs, which the pupils use in the computer suite to reinforce their learning.

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Commentary

45. Leadership and management are good. The subject co-ordinator has only been in post a few months. She is knowledgeable and has a clear and accurate understanding of what the school needs to do. The monitoring of teaching is not yet sufficiently focused to aid further improvement and greater attention to the impact of teaching on the pupils’ learning than is currently practised within the school’s improvement procedures will be needed in order to help teaching become very good.

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Mathematics across the curriculum

46. Mathematics is well incorporated in to the rest of the curriculum and pupils’ use of mathematics in the other subjects is very good. For example, they use graphs and tables to record data in geography and science and measure accurately when preparing to cut materials in design and technology.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Standards throughout the school are well above national expectations. Wallace Fields Junior School - 18 • Pupils at all levels of attainment achieve very well. • The quality of teaching and learning is very good. • There is a very good emphasis on experimental and investigative science and all pupils develop very good skills in this area. • Leadership and management in science are very good.

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Commentary

47. Attainment is well above national expectations and pupils achieve very well throughout Years 3 to 6. Pupils are given very good opportunities to investigate and experiment and this helps them to build a secure understanding of different areas of science.

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Commentary

48. By Year 6, pupils have a very good knowledge and understanding of life processes and living things, materials and their properties, and physical processes. For example, they are able to describe in writing and diagrams methods that are used to separate mixtures. They appreciate the feeding relationships between plants and animals in a habitat, describing them in scientific terms, such as ‘food chains’, ‘predator’ and ‘prey’. Pupils in Year 6 of all levels of attainment are able to talk with good understanding about their work. Both higher-attaining pupils and those with special educational needs, talk knowledgeably, for example, about how to plan a scientific experiment to answer specific questions about light and sound. In discussion, the pupils consider how the investigation will be carried out, decide on the equipment required and explain how to record the results. The standard of presentation in pupils’ books is very

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Commentary

high. Pupils of all ability levels use diagrams, drawings and charts effectively when presenting their findings.

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Commentary

49. Investigative approaches to learning science are very well promoted throughout the school. For example, pupils in Year 3 are able to use simple equipment to identify materials that are opaque. They make sensible predictions and learn how to carry out an investigation in an ordered and scientific way. Similarly, in Year 4, pupils are able to use simple equipment to carry out an investigation to separate a solid from a liquid by filtering. They understand and use specific scientific vocabulary, for example, ‘filter’, ‘liquid’, ‘solid’ and ‘absorbs’, when recording their investigation. Throughout the school, pupils make very good progress in developing scientific enquiry skills and, by the time they reach Year 6, they know how to design appropriate investigations to answer particular scientific questions.

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Commentary

50. The quality of teaching and learning is very good. In all the lessons observed, there was strong emphasis on developing pupils’ investigative skills as well as their specific knowledge and understanding. This approach to teaching captures the pupils’ imagination and stimulates and excites their curiosity. Teachers plan their science lessons in depth and provide challenging activities that are very well matched to the different ability levels within the class. This enables pupils to access tasks easily and quickly move forward in their learning. Teachers’ very good knowledge of the subject, management skills and skilful questioning make a significant contribution to pupils’ very good achievement and very high standards. Teachers also use assessment procedures well to assess pupils’ attainment and achievement. The resources to support the teaching and learning of science are very good.

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Commentary

51. The subject co-ordinator provides very good leadership and management of the subject. She is highly qualified, enthusiastic and has a clear vision for her subject. She regularly monitors teachers’ planning and pupils’ work, observes lessons and analyses the results of assessments and national tests. Her own teaching of the subject is excellent and, thus, provides a model of the very best practice for her colleagues. The issues identified in the previous inspection report have been addressed, although there is still some work to be done to complete a portfolio of pupils’ work showing the different levels attained. Wallace Fields Junior School - 19

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Provision in information and communication technology (ICT) is good .

p.21

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Standards have improved since the last inspection. • The subject is usually well taught. • Lack of focus in lessons sometimes harms learning. • There is a well used computer suite. • Interactive whiteboard technology contributes positively to learning.

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Commentary

52. Standards in Year 6 are above national expectations and the pupils achieve well. This is an improvement since the last inspection. They have a good understanding of how to work with and manage information and communication technology (ICT) programs, for example by introducing sound and pictures into a ‘Power point’ presentation to enhance its effect. Their understanding and use of computers to control simple machines or to measure and record data, for example light intensity or temperature, is less well developed. Pupils from all ethnic groups do well. Girls are as keen and progress as well as boys. Careful provision is made for those who use English as an additional language and those with special educational needs. These pupils make the same progress as their peers.

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Commentary

53. The school has invested time and money in improving the quality of its ICT provision and this is now better than at the time of the last inspection. Good use is made of the computer suite, where pupils have regular access to the Internet for research purposes. They have yet to have their own email account, but the school is planning to provide this facility in the near future. They work constructively together to maximise the benefit of working in groups to solve a problem, as when interrogating a simple database in Year 3.

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Commentary

54. Teaching is good overall. Good use is made of commercial and teacher prepared programs on the classroom based interactive whiteboards. All teachers have a sufficiently secure knowledge of the subject to introduce the topic well in the classroom, before moving to the computer suite, where there is no whiteboard. This usually enables the pupils to make a good start. On some occasions, when tasks are too open ended or are insufficiently challenging, the pupils lose their way and time is not well used. The one-hour lessons are too long for the younger pupils, who do not need all the time that is available in the currently planned sessions, to gain maximum benefit from the programs they have the experience to work with.

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Commentary

55. Leadership and management are good. The subject co-ordinator is knowledgeable and has a clear view of what needs to be improved and the additional resources, which are required. She is new to the school and her role in the monitoring and improvement of teaching and learning is still developing.

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Information and communication technology across the curriculum

56. ICT is well incorporated in to the rest of the curriculum and pupils make very good use of computer technology to support their work in the other subjects. For example, they use interactive programs from the National Numeracy Strategy in mathematics, word processing in English, data-logging in science and information from the Internet to aid topic research in other subjects. The pupils themselves are also confident in using the electronic whiteboard when demonstrating a learning point to their teacher and their classmates. Wallace Fields Junior School - 20

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HUMANITIES

57. In humanities, work was sampled in geography and history , with only one lesson seen in geography and two in history. It is, therefore, not possible to form an overall judgement about provision in these subjects. From discussions with pupils and an analysis of their work, there is every indication that achievement is satisfactory and standards in both subjects are broadly in line with national expectations.

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HUMANITIES

58. In both subjects, the pupils experience many opportunities for writing at length, for example completing a ‘Rainforest’ study in Year 6, but the quality of their writing is not extended and developed. A lack of pace and slightly inappropriate tasks for the pupils’ abilities resulted in learning in all three of the lessons observed being only satisfactory.

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HUMANITIES

59. A range of visits and visitors play an important part in making the work interesting and relevant for many pupils. For example, pupils in Year 4 benefit from visits to Hampton Court and Hooke Court and from working with an artist in residence, to further their knowledge and understanding of the Tudor period.

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HUMANITIES

60. The subject co-ordinators monitor teachers’ planning, sample pupils’ work and undertake classroom observations. As yet, their work is not yet impacting fully on standards. There has been little change in standards or in the quality of leadership in either subject since the last inspection.

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Religious education

Provision in religious education is satisfactory .

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Allocation of curriculum time in Years 3 to 5 is less than for other curriculum subjects. • Teachers plan lessons well, using the Surrey Agreed Syllabus. • Opportunities to reinforce pupils’ skills in speaking and listening are well utilised. • Opportunities to develop pupils’ extended writing are not so well utilised.

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Commentary

61. Pupils in Year 6 reach the standards expected for their age, as defined by the Surrey Agreed Syllabus. Achievement is satisfactory. They can identify the major symbols of Christianity and know the milestones in Christ’s life. They know about other major faiths in the world and have recently completed a study of the Hindu faith. Pupils’ written accounts record factual information and include some detailed drawings of the Ascension. In Years 3 to 5, pupils are taught religious education in a very short time slot of thirty minutes leading up to lunch. Many pupils are tired, as they have completed full literacy and numeracy lessons, and this, together with a tight schedule, does not afford teachers sufficient time to develop fully some of the more challenging themes and ideas of religious education.

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Commentary

62. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Teachers’ planning is good, drawing on the guidelines within the agreed syllabus. Teachers give pupils purposeful opportunities for speaking and listening and incorporate drama into lessons. The subject is less well used to develop pupils’ skills in extended writing. Year 3 acted out the story of Rama and Sita, but did not have the time to explore the emotional content of the story. Pupils with special educational needs and pupils with English as an additional language participated well. As religious education is not regularly taught by the class teacher, expectations do not always match the pupils’ abilities. In a Year 4 lesson, the more able pupils struggled to identify symbols of hope and friendship from a worksheet and as a result, did not achieve well. Assessment in religious education is at a developmental stage. Wallace Fields Junior School - 21

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Commentary

63. The subject is satisfactorily led and managed. The co-ordinator is new to the responsibility this term. Teachers’ plans are regularly monitored. Resources are good and the co-ordinator has a useful set of websites linked to the agreed syllabus that supplement teachers’ resources. The quality of provision remains the same as at the previous inspection.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

64. No lessons were seen in design and technology and only one lesson was seen in each of art and design, music and physical education. It is not therefore possible to make a firm judgement about provision in these four subjects. In addition to observing lessons, inspectors spoke to the subject co-ordinators about their work, spoke to pupils about what they had learned and looked at their work from earlier in the year.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

65. Standards in art and design are in line with national expectations, although there are some examples of pupils’ work where standards are higher. For example, pupils in Year 4 have worked with an artist in residence and produced portraits in the style of Holbein, showing their classmates dressed in Tudor clothing. Pupils in Year 6 use chalks to explore line, tone and colour-blending to create animals of the rain forest. Sketchbooks are not used consistently across the year groups to enable pupils to build upon their previous achievement or to refine and improve their skills. Also, there is little evidence to suggest that pupils are systematically taught how to apply paint using different techniques. Pupils use the ideas and techniques of famous artists to influence their own work. For example, careful studies of artwork in the style of Van Gogh have resulted in some detailed paintings of sunflowers in a similar style. Effective

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

links are made between art and design and learning in other subjects, for example science, history and geography. The co-ordinator monitors teachers’ planning and has undertaken classroom observations. She has clear ideas about how she would like the subject to develop.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

66. In design and technology , pupils in all year groups produce work that has been thoughtfully designed and carefully made. Year 3 pupils have made wooden photograph frames to suit the subject of their picture. A snow scene has a white, textured finish on the surround and a photograph of a cat is decorated with paw prints. In Year 6, pupils explained the process they followed to design a pair of slippers. They could discuss the merits of using certain materials and textiles to suit the purpose. They had come to their own conclusions about the suitability of fixatives and stitching. The display of slippers and slipper-making in the classroom included digital images of the pupils at work, their faces furrowed with concentration as they cut, stitched and assembled their slippers. The finished products were well executed and the pupils’ designs and evaluations were evident. Standards are above national expectations

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

throughout the school. The recent change in timetabling has enabled teachers to concentrate efforts and complete a unit of work within a week. The pupils appear to be enthusiastic about this change as the sustained time to complete a task has given them a real sense of achievement.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

67. In music , a teacher is specifically employed to teach Years, 4,5 & 6, with Year 3 being taught by another part-time teacher. Pupils were only observed in Year 3, although the school presented a video recording of the choir and of pupils working in Years 5 and 6. There was no whole-school singing in any of the assemblies during the inspection. Although pupils achieve well in year 3, there was insufficient evidence from the videotape and from talking to the older pupils to be certain that this good achievement is maintained in later year groups. There are opportunities for pupils to extend their experience of music by joining the choir and, in addition, nearly a quarter of the school learn an instrument. The scheme of work shows that the pupils are taught the full range of the National Curriculum. There is not enough evidence to make comparisons with the good standards found at the time of the last inspection.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

68. A scrutiny of teachers’ planning and discussion with the co-ordinator indicate that all strands of physical education are taught. The school’s long-term plans show good cross-curricular links with other subjects. For example, pupils in Year 6 use their knowledge and understanding of rain forests when interpreting dance routines in physical education. Similarly, good links are Wallace Fields Junior School - 22 made between pupils’ work in mathematics and the theme of shape in physical education. In the lesson seen in Year 4, pupils made good progress in developing hockey skills. All pupils had opportunities to practise skills that would later be introduced into a real game. The majority of pupils demonstrated good ball control with a hockey stick and some could dribble the ball forward with the stick. The school is involved in competitive activities with other schools in the area. For example, teams represent the school regularly in netball, gymnastics,

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

rounders, football and athletics. A good range of after-school clubs develops games skills further. The co-ordinator is well-qualified and has considerable expertise in the subject. She has re-written the medium-term plans, led staff meetings and worked alongside some of her colleagues. The assessment of pupils’ performance by teachers and by the co-ordinator has only just started and requires further work.

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP

69. Only two lessons were seen in this area of the school’s work, so no judgements could be made about overall provision. Both lessons were satisfactory, lacking in real pace and sparkle. The school sees personal development as important and links this to its programme of responsibilities within the school, for example the prefect system in Year 6 and the school council organisation. The teaching programme encourages pupils to explore rights and responsibilities, to develop a safe and healthy lifestyle and to become confident members of society. It is well supported by visits and visitors from outside the school. Wallace Fields Junior School - 23

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The overall effectiveness of the school 4 How inclusive the school is 2 How the school’s effectiveness has changed since its last inspection 5 Value for money provided by the school 4

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Overall standards achieved 3 Pupils’ achievement 4

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

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

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The quality of education provided by the school 4 The quality of teaching 4 How well pupils learn 4 The quality of assessment 4 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 3 Support, advice and guidance for pupils 3 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 3 The school’s links with other schools and colleges 3

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The leadership and management of the school 4 The governance of the school 3 The leadership of the headteacher 4 The leadership of other key staff 4 The effectiveness of management 4

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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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