Holy Trinity CofE Junior School

HOLY TRINITY CE JUNIOR SCHOOL

Inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 2 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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HOLY TRINITY CE 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. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Type of school: Junior School category: Voluntary aided Age range of pupils: 7 to 11 years Gender of pupils: Mixed Number on roll: 348

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Bute Road Wallington Surrey Postcode: SM6 8BZ

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Telephone number: 020 8647 7496 Fax number: 020 8669 1437

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The governing body Name of chair of governors: Mr Raymond Cross

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: 16 November 1998

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

Holy Trinity C of E Junior School caters for 348 pupils between the ages of seven and 11 years and is large for its type. Its admissions policy provides for pupils to attend from the neighbouring local authority, non-denominational infants’ school, and those actively involved in local churches. Children begin school in September at the age of seven years. At entry, pupils’ attainment ranges widely from well below to above average, but is average overall. The school is nearly full for 2003 - 2004. Most pupils live in the area and remain here from joining to leaving at 11 years of age. There is a mixture of rented and privately owned homes. About 11 per cent of pupils are entitled to free school meals, around the average proportion, which has risen slightly in recent years. About one in 20 pupils, more than the national average, speak English as an additional language . However, none is in the early

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

stages of acquiring fluency. A large majority of pupils are of white, British origin: the remainder comprises a few pupils each from several minority ethnic groups such as British Asian or British Black backgrounds. About 18 per cent of pupils are registered as having special educational needs, about the average number for a school of this size and type. There are eight pupils with a statement of special educational need, with speech, language and communication, emotional and learning difficulties, rather more than average.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

The school was awarded an ‘Investors in People’ recognition in 2003. The school won the District football league in 2003. There is a breakfast club. Holy Trinity CE Junior 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

5535 Robert Helliwell Lead inspector Mathematics Joan Lindsay Lay inspector 15447 Christine Glenis Team inspector English as an additional language English Geography History 20963 Judy Keiner Team inspector Special educational needs Science Art and design Design and technology Music 28170 Ian Chearman Team inspector Information and communication technology Physical education

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Demeter House Station Road Cambridge CB1 2RS

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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). Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 5

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED BY PUPILS 8

Pupils’ attitudes, values and other personal qualities

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL 11

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

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OVERALL EVALUATION

The school is now relatively effective and steadily improving . Leadership, management, and the quality of education are sound; the school is giving satisfactory value for money. There is more good teaching than at the previous inspection and pupils’ work shows that it is satisfactory over the year and that pupils add steadily to their knowledge and understanding. Nearly all those with special educational needs achieve well. Standards attained in national tests in the core 1 subjects are around national averages overall and above in English, but compare unfavourably with similar schools. In most other subjects 2 , standards are around the norm but, in information and communication technology and music, they are above average and in geography below.

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OVERALL EVALUATION

The school’s main strengths and weaknesses are: • The regular assessment of pupils’ attainment against national curriculum levels is unsatisfactory. • Standards in speaking, listening, reading and information and communication technology are above average. • Mental work in mathematics is good and much improved since the previous inspection. • Provision for pupils’ personal, social and health education is of good quality. • The school is not rigorous enough in using the information gleaned through checking on its standards and progress. In some subjects, these checks are minimal. • Behaviour is good: poor responses are dealt with successfully. The atmosphere in school is positive, a good climate for learning. • Standards in geography are below those expected, lower than before.

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OVERALL EVALUATION

Since the previous inspection in 1998, the school has steadily improved. Attendance levels have risen and now stand at the government’s aim of 95 per cent. Mental and place value work in mathematics is much better and pupils’ knowledge and understanding of information and communication technology is much greater. In the core subjects, there are now higher proportions of pupils than nationally with attainment at Level 5 in English and mathematics, and attainment in science has improved. Over the last four years as a whole, the school has improved somewhat faster than national and local trends. However, assessment has not improved and remains unsatisfactory.

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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 B D B D mathematics C C C E science C D C E Key: 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

Pupils achieve satisfactorily . Generally, pupils enter at Year 3 with wide variations in attainment from some well below to many above average, and standards are average overall. By the end of Year 6, standards in National tests are at least at national averages. In English, particularly reading, they are above. Most pupils with special educational needs achieve well; the higher attainers maintain standards above the average expected for their ages. Progress is slow at first in Year 3, but much quicker in later years, especially in Years 5 and 6. Most gains are made in information and communication technology and music, because teaching in these subjects is somewhat stronger over time. Compared with similar schools, pupils make fewer extra gains in national tests relative to their starting points, partly because of problems with assessment and matching work consistently.

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED

1 Core subjects are English, mathematics and science. 2 Other subjects are information and communication technology, art and design, design and technology, geography, history, music and physical education. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 7

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Pupils’ personal development is good. Development of spiritual, moral, and cultural aspects

is good: social development is very good . The pupils are given a good number of chances to act responsibly within the school and wider community and take these very well. Overall behaviour is good, pupils’ attitudes are positive, and nearly all pupils work well in class. Attendance is satisfactory; punctuality is good, a large majority arrive on time each day.

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

The quality of education is satisfactory. Teaching is satisfactory over time. The quality is consistently good in just more than half of lessons, enabling pupils to learn well. Teaching of the top sets, music and information and communication technology are the strongest features. Because of this, higher attainers maintain their achievement and knowledge in the core subjects, achievement in music is good, and understanding in information and communication has much improved. Teaching assistants often provide good quality help for pupils with special educational needs, helping most pupils to achieve well. However, regular assessment of pupils’ work against National Curriculum expectations is absent in most subjects, and is suppressing achievement. Homework is set regularly and marked in accordance with the published policy.

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

The curriculum is satisfactory: it is suitably broad and well supplemented by other opportunities such as clubs, visits and special groups for gifted and talented thinkers. In mathematics, the provision of a computer program to improve skills is having the desired impact.

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LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Leadership and management are sound overall with some strengths that are ensuring that improvements are taking place: with behaviour and bullying, for example. Leadership in some subjects is good, but monitoring of most is weak. The governing body has many new and very recent members. However, governors know the school reasonably well already and are suitably set to discharge their duties effectively. Financial planning is good. The governing body meets all but one of its statutory duties, which is a minor omission in the annual report.

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PARENTS’ AND PUPILS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

The large majority of parents and pupils are increasingly satisfied, as comparison of two recent surveys shows. The majority are more than satisfied. Parents appreciate that children enjoy school and make progress, and say that staff treat their children fairly. However, a small minority expresses dissatisfaction about a range of individual issues; and, many parents say that they would like more information about their children’s attainment and achievement in relation to the National Curriculum. Inspectors agree that clearer information about achievement and progress is desirable. The comparatively small number of parents at the pre-inspection meeting presented a higher proportion of concerns and fewer positive comments than the much larger number of returned questionnaires show. Nevertheless, inspectors agree that some parents might be more fully included in establishing children’s individual educational plans. The majority of pupils are more than satisfied.

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PARENTS’ AND PUPILS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

Some children say they have concerns about bullying. The school has implemented several strategies to improve matters and the latest surveys show a reduction.

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IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

The most important things the school should do to improve are: • Improve the assessment of pupils’ work so that pupils’ and parents’ knowledge of their attainments and progress in relation to National Curriculum levels are clearer. • In English and mathematics take more effective action to bring about further improvements in using the data gleaned by monitoring; and in most other subjects establish more effective assessment and monitoring systems. • Raise standards in geography.

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IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

and, to meet statutory requirements: • Governors should publish in their annual report the proportions of pupils whom they will target to obtain Level 5 in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 8

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Standards achieved in subjects

Overall, standards are in line with national averages by the end of year 6. Pupils achieve satisfactorily. National tests in English are above average, with reading the strongest component. In mathematics and science they are average. Test results compare unfavourably with similar schools 3 because of inconsistent progress. Achievement in information and communication technology, mental work in mathematics and oral work in English and some other subjects such as mathematics is good. Boys achieve marginally less well than girls but differences are much the same as nationally. However, in science, they are about a term behind.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils’ speaking and listening skills, especially in science and mathematics, are having good impact. These skills are above the averages expected by the end of Year 6. • Although their achievement is reasonable, several pupils with average and below average attainment could do better. • In reading, most pupils achieve reasonably well to maintain above average standards to the end of Year 6. • Most pupils much increase their understanding and knowledge in information and communication technology so that, by Year 6, standards are above average. • There is good achievement in music, especially in the later years. • Pupils with special educational needs achieve well in relation to the targets they are set. • Many higher attainers attain above the average in information and communication technology, mental mathematics and oral work in English.

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Commentary

1. The table below confirms that standards in national tests in English are above the average at the end of Year 6. They are about average for mathematics and science. However, thanks to some good subject leadership and the support of the senior teaching team, between 2002 and 2003, standards rose to recover from the low averages of a comparatively underachieving group in 2002. Nearly all the school’s targets were met in 2003. They are now at similar levels to those reported at the previous inspection compared with all schools nationally. The school’s own estimates that standards will be maintained in 2004 match the work seen by the inspection team. Its targets for 2004 are within its grasp.

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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 28.0 (26.1) 26.8 (27.0) mathematics 27.0 (26.7) 26.8 (26.7) science 28.9 (28.6) 28.6 (28.3) There were 88 pupils in the year group. Figures in brackets are for the previous year.

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Commentary

2. Pupils’ work is of a similar standard to those attained in national tests, except in English, where it is somewhat weaker, particularly in writing. Good skills in speaking, listening and reading are a great assistance in pupils’ achievements. For some pupils, work is below the standards expected, for quite a lot it is of average standard and for some it is above. In the average and

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Commentary

3 Similar schools are those whose pupils attain similar standards in national curriculum tests at the end of Year 2. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 9 below average groups, progress is more variable. For about half the time, work is well matched to this group’s prior knowledge or they receive some extra support, when they make reasonable progress. At other times, independent work is not so well matched and then they make less progress than desirable. Pupils with special educational needs achieve well in relation to the targets they are set and make good progress on the whole. Pupils with English as an additional language make similar progress to other groups, relative to their prior attainment.

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Commentary

3. Standards in reading are above average: most make steady progress and achieve reasonably well. Pupils’ mental mathematical skills have improved since the previous inspection and in this aspect many achieve well. There is much greater understanding of place value. Achievement in information and communication technology is strongest. In this subject, which has much improved since the previous inspection, standards are above average by the end of Year 6. Many teachers are knowledgeable about this subject. Standards are also above average in music, which is taught consistently well. In all other subjects 4 , standards are around the norm and most pupils achieve reasonably well. However, in geography, too many pupils underachieve and at the end of Year 6 standards are not what they should be because the necessary skills are not learned properly. The subject’s management is unsatisfactory.

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Pupils’ attitudes, values and other personal qualities

Pupils have good attitudes to school and their behaviour is also good. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Attendance levels are satisfactory and punctuality to school is good.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils show a high level of interest and enthusiasm. • Pupils behave well. • Relationships, including racial harmony, are good. • Small numbers of pupils and parents have concerns about bullying. • Pupils are confident and willing to take responsible roles. • Social development is very good. • Attendance levels are improving.

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Commentary

4. Almost all parents say that their children like school. This shows in the pupils themselves, in the ways they talk about school and in how they approach their lessons. Positive attitudes have been maintained since the previous inspection.

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Commentary

5. Most show a high level of enthusiasm, especially when lessons are appropriately challenging and interesting. For example, in a Year 5 numeracy lesson, pupils approached solving mathematical puzzles eagerly and worked avidly throughout. Pupils also enjoy the wide range of clubs available to them, such as drama and cricket, about which they speak enthusiastically.

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Commentary

6. Standards of behaviour have also been maintained at the good levels seen at the previous inspection. There has been a slight rise in the number of temporary exclusions, however, with one boy and one girl excluded in the last reporting period. Although some pupils have challenging behaviour, the school’s strategies to manage and support them are successful and disturbance to school life is kept to a minimum.

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Commentary

7. There is good provision for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Support staff and classroom teachers have good guidance from the school’s co-ordinator for special educational

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Commentary

4 Other subjects are: art and design, design and technology, geography, history, music and physical education. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 10 needs on how to support pupils in making efforts to improve their behaviour, and in raising their self-esteem.

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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 149 1 0 White – any other White background 3 0 0 Mixed – White and Black Caribbean 8 0 0 Mixed – White and Asian 3 0 0 Mixed – any other mixed background 2 1 0 Asian or Asian British – Indian 2 0 0 Asian or Asian British – Pakistani 1 0 0 Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 1 0 0 Asian or Asian British – any other Asian background 4 0 0 Black or Black British – Caribbean 8 0 0 Black or Black British – African 4 0 0 Any other ethnic group 1 0 0 No ethnic group recorded 166 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. Behaviour in assemblies is very good. The school is aware that there are concerns about bullying, although there was no evidence of any intimidation during the inspection. Recent measures to counteract any harassment or bullying, such as running support groups and training pupils as mediators, are increasingly effective, and pupils are now less concerned than they were several months ago. As a result, relationships are good. In the playground pupils play well together in collaborative games such as football and cricket and they mix well regardless of age, gender or race.

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Exclusions

9. Pupils are polite and confident when talking to adults. They are willing also to take on a range of responsibilities that increases as they get older. Younger pupils act as buddies to new Year 3 pupils when they join, and all age groups help in class with such things as registers and tidying up. A large group of Year 6 pupils has chosen to be peer mediators (called ‘Hot Spotters’), prefects and librarians. All age groups are represented on the school council; members take their roles seriously and are confident that they are having some effect.

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Exclusions

10. The provision for pupils’ spiritual development has remained at the good levels seen at the previous inspection. This comes largely through assemblies when pupils have time to reflect on wider issues such as the sacrifice made by soldiers in the D-Day Landings. Pupils are given opportunities to appreciate the beauty of art, for example by studying the various styles of Picasso, and through music, listening to and reflecting on the works of Benjamin Britten.

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Exclusions

11. Pupils’ moral development also is still good. Pupils are aware of right and wrong and encouraged to apologise if they err. Issues such as racism are highlighted through, for example, displays in the corridor. Around the school there are many reminders to pupils such as to be honest and to be kind to each other. Staff members are good role models in the way Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 11 they act, treating others with respect and in highlighting examples of good behaviour through the use of the ‘Golden Book’ and commendations.

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Exclusions

12. The very good provision for pupils’ social development has been maintained. Pupils have very many opportunities to understand the responsibilities of living in a community and caring for each other. For example, pupils run a lunchtime club (the Out of It Club) for those who feel lonely so that they can go and have someone to play with. Other Year 6 pupils have volunteered to be trained as peer mediators to try to sort out squabbles or disagreements. The school council looks at ways to improve the school environment to benefit everyone. Year 5 pupils also regularly visit the infant school so that the younger pupils will know some of the older ones when they transfer. In addition, pupils’ social development is enhanced through the annual residential visit and through other educational visits undertaken throughout the year.

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Exclusions

13. Pupils’ cultural development remains good. Their multicultural understanding is enhanced suitably through celebrating ‘Black History Month’ for example and through studying other religions. There are long established links with a school in Africa and, during the school’s annual ‘Charities’ Week’, pupils celebrate other cultures with an ‘International Day’. Other cultural experiences come, for example, through visiting theatre companies, studying the works of a variety of artists and composers and visits to museums and other sites of interest.

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Attendance

Attendance in the latest complete reporting year (%)

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Attendance

Authorised absence Unauthorised absence School data 5.8 School data 0.0 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

14. Attendance levels have improved slightly since the previous inspection and the school’s latest figures show they are continuing to rise. This year they are at 95 per cent, the government’s stated aim. Unauthorised absences are minimal because parents generally are conscientious about sending their children to school. However, a small number remove them for holidays during term time. The school promotes good attendance well through the use of certificates and prizes. Very few pupils arrive after the registers are closed in the morning.

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL

The quality of education is sound, with teaching and the curriculum of satisfactory quality. The range of extra opportunities is good. Pupils are well cared for and their opinions are followed up well.

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Teaching and learning

Teaching and learning are satisfactory overall, with an improved proportion of good or better teaching seen at this inspection compared with the previous one. Assessment is a weak aspect.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• The regular assessment of pupils’ attainment in comparison with the expectations of the National Curriculum is unsatisfactory. • The teaching of higher attainers in English and mathematics is of good quality. • The teaching of information and communication technology is of good quality. • There is inconsistent quality in teaching across the school, but more than half is good. • Teaching for personal, social and health education is often of good quality. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 12 • Partnership work in lessons and discussions in class are having a positive influence on achievement. • Pupils’ capacity for independence is well developed and utilised effectively in much good teaching. • There is some good quality marking in English, but it varies in quality in other subjects. • The match of work to pupils of just above average, average and below average attainment is inconsistent.

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Commentary

15. Teaching has improved since the previous inspection. There are more lessons judged good or better than before. The most consistently good teaching is provided for the highest attaining groups and in mathematics, information and communication technology and music. The lessons for these groups are more often well matched to the pupils’ needs, cover the widest range of different learning opportunities and provide work most closely matched to all pupils’ prior attainment. In English and mathematics, this helps pupils to achieve reasonably well, with largest gains occurring in Years 5 and 6, because teaching is more consistently of good quality in these years. Only a small number of extremely high attainers sometimes needs even more pushing on. Although this group is provided with extra thinking and learning classes, in many other lessons they lack higher level challenges and more chances to begin

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Commentary

16. The teaching of information and communication technology is of good quality and enhancing pupils’ achievement because of the good levels of subject knowledge that many teachers have. There has been a concerted effort to improve this by senior managers. Teaching is also good in relation to pupils’ personal and social development, helping to bring about pupils’ positive views of themselves and others. This recently modified programme is having a positive effect on the learning climate, and pupils’ understanding about their own personal development. It is impacting positively on pupils’ views about school.

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Commentary

17. Where pupils with special educational needs have direct support in lessons, they make good progress, particularly in English and mathematics. However, in other lessons without such support, teachers sometimes do too little to plan for their needs, and they have difficulty in completing tasks that involve extensive reading and writing. There is little use of information and communication technology tools, such as ‘talking’ word banks, digital cameras and laptops, to help them to produce their work.

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Commentary

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection in 56 lessons

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Commentary

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactor y 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.

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Commentary

18. Teaching in the strongest lessons draws on pupils’ good facility for working independently and uses discussion in pairs positively to give pupils chances to explain and understand their own thinking. Coupled with good behaviour management and a suitable range of teaching methods most pupils are drawn into the teaching and respond confidently. Other good teaching provides a skilful match to pupils’ prior attainment for all groups through probing questioning and well-selected activities. In English, marking is of a higher standard and greater consistency than in most other subjects. Consequently, pupils receive regular amounts of good advice that pushes them on. In mathematics, the programme of study is constructed so that planning is supplemented by work from future years, particularly for higher attainers. This helps to maintain standards. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 13 19. To a great extent, pupils’ achievement, although satisfactory, is inhibited by a lack of

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Commentary

assessment against National Curriculum levels. For example, marking in mathematics concentrates mostly on saying whether responses are accurate or reasonable, and not enough on whether the level of work is at the standard it should be or is beyond that. Individual targets are not sufficiently well matched to present and expected levels. Teachers mark the work regularly and set tests to check pupils’ knowledge and understanding, but do not match their assessments to National Curriculum expectations. Therefore, pupils are unable to say at what level they are working or what they should do in order to improve their knowledge and understanding. Many parents also said that they were unsure of exactly how their children were faring. More clarity about levels and achievement from senior managers and subject leaders is necessary.

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The curriculum

The curriculum is satisfactory overall. Statutory requirements for the curriculum, including collective worship, sex and relationships education and drugs education are met. The school provides good opportunities for enriching pupils’ learning.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Provision for speaking, listening and mathematics is good. • Personal, social and health education is good. • Pupils do not have access to full information regarding their attainment and progress within the National Curriculum. • The curriculum for geography is unsatisfactory. • The match of support staff to the curriculum is good. When they are available, they have a positive impact. • The withdrawal of a small number of pupils for extra support prevents their access to the full curriculum. • Development and innovation in aspects of some subjects and cross-curricular links are unsatisfactory. • A good range of extra-curricular activities is provided by the school, participation in sports and the arts is good.

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Commentary

20. Overall, the curriculum is sound and suitably provides a basis for moving to the next stages of education. The curriculum for mathematics is planned well and includes good use of regular homework to extend learning opportunities. This is helping to raise standards. The use of information and communication technology in mathematics is also strong although this is not extended into most other subjects apart from Year 3 and aspects of English, geography and history. The curriculum for personal, social, health and emotional education is good and enhanced greatly by the consistently good or very good teaching in all lessons observed. This shows in the ethos of good relationships.

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Commentary

21. The use of information and communication technology in lessons other than those in the computer suite is unsatisfactory, except in mathematics, where the impact is substantial. There is very little evidence of its use in science, art and design technology and the teaching of pupils with special educational needs. Resources for mathematics and information and communication technology are good, although the lack of facilities for e-mailing is a weakness.

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Commentary

22. A small number of pupils are withdrawn from several subjects for extra literacy and numeracy support, which, although valuable, hinders pupils’ access to the full curriculum. Although individual teachers attempt to make up for the time that pupils miss, there is no consistent plan to do so, which is a weakness of the provision. There is very good written guidance for teachers on how to identify pupils with special educational needs. Curricular planning for these Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 14 pupils includes well-focused withdrawal lessons for those with high levels of difficulty in

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Commentary

language and mathematics or with emotional and behavioural problems. However, withdrawal from other subject lessons sometimes means that they miss key parts of the lessons, such as science demonstrations, with which they cannot easily catch up.

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Commentary

23. The school provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities including sport and music. Well- liked visits are provided to places such as the Imperial War Museum, Hampton Court and the local area to support the history and geography curriculum. Visitors are well used to enhance provision and include dance groups, poets, actors and local visitors such as police officers. Special weeks and days for subjects such as performing arts, design & technology and a ‘creativity day’ are very valuable. Pupils participate successfully in competitive sports. They won the district football league in 2003.

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Commentary

24. The school curricular plan does not reflect the imbalance of time allocated to different subjects, notably English, where sessions are often long. In many classes, additional sessions are timetabled for spelling, studying fiction, handwriting and reading in addition to the already long sessions. This reduces the time for other subjects. Staff members are aware that links across subjects are inconsistent. Within subjects, there are weaknesses in aspects of art, design technology, gymnastics and dance.

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Commentary

25. Staffing is adequate for meeting curricular needs, with strengths in music and information and communication technology. Improvements have been made in accordance with recommendations made by the previous inspection team. Plans are in hand to improve the site when funds have been raised. Learning resources are adequate but those for mathematics are somewhat stronger and having an impact in raising standards.

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Care, guidance and support

Pupils’ care, welfare, health and safety are good. The provision of support, advice and guidance based on monitoring is satisfactory overall but weak on revealing differences between attainment groups. The involvement of pupils through seeking, valuing and acting on their views is good.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils’ behaviour and personal development are monitored well. • Teachers know their pupils well, and there is good provision for promoting and monitoring good behaviour and personal development. • The data produced by the system for following pupils’ attainment are not used well enough to target specific groups and individuals in relation to national curriculum levels. • Pupils’ views are regularly sought and acted on, increasing the high proportion that feels positive about school. • Pupils’ targets are not linked closely to National Curriculum benchmarks, so it is difficult to judge pupils’ progress in this respect. • Insufficient information is obtained from feeder schools about pupils’ previous levels of attainment within the strands of the National Curriculum.

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Commentary

26. A high proportion of parents say that the school is helping their children to become mature and independent. Pupils who need extra support, perhaps because of difficulties at home or behaviour problems, are assisted through a variety of means. These include attending support groups to deal with bullying or to enhance self-esteem, a regular lunchtime club and a pupil-run ‘Out of It’ club. The strong impact is evident in pupils’ answers to questionnaires. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 15 27. The school monitors behaviour well, keeping note of those sent to the ‘Time Out’ room at lunchtime and those who are mentioned in the Golden Book. It monitors pupils’ attainments on a class basis annually and is able to reveal the progress of different groups. It has not used this information well, save to identify and give extra support to Year 3 pupils with low attainment at entry and to targets groups. For example, the information is not used well to match work to

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Commentary

prior attainment work consistently in lessons, to check on differences between sets or to set targets that are well matched to progression to the next curricular Level.

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Commentary

28. Teachers set clear and readily understood targets for all pupils in English and Mathematics. However, these are not well matched to National Curriculum levels. This makes it difficult for staff, pupils and their parents to determine how much progress children are making in relation to national expectations for their age group. Most subjects suffer from unsatisfactory management of assessment. Assessment was raised as an issue at the previous inspection. It is still a concern of the inspection team.

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Commentary

29. For some pupils, specific behaviour targets are set and monitored well. This is having a good impact in modifying behaviour. Targets for pupils with special educational needs are set for English, mathematics and behaviour, but do not give enough guidance on how to support pupils’ needs in other curricular subjects.

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Commentary

30. There is no formal identification or assessment of the levels of fluency of pupils with English as an additional language. The register for these pupils is unsatisfactory. It does not include the first languages of some pupils or their levels of English fluency. There is no information about support for their learning.

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Commentary

31. The great majority of pupils say that there is at least one adult to whom they can turn if they have a problem and those asked at random were confident that any difficulties they had would be resolved if they told an adult. For example, pupils in a Year 5 personal, social and health education lesson knew that their teacher or teaching assistant would listen and support if they had any concerns about the content of their sex education lesson.

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Commentary

32. The school carries out regular pupils’ surveys. The results are carefully monitored to see how effective different strategies are. For example, a survey carried out in February this year was repeated in May. This showed that the work the school had done to enhance relationships and curb bullying had increased pupil satisfaction with the school by a considerable amount. In addition, the school carries out very brief ‘Happy Factor’ surveys several times a year and analyses the results according to gender, age and year groups. Pupils’ views are also sought via the school council where representatives from each class meet regularly and feed back the views of their peers in relation to aspects such as playground improvements, toilets and school dinners. As a result, pupils say that their views and opinions are noted, taken seriously and have an effect.

p.15

Commentary

33. The school provides a friendly environment where nearly all pupils are made to feel confident and secure. Teachers build good relationships with pupils and develop mutual trust, underpinned by the school’s strong Christian ethos. There is a well- established approach to behaviour management. Pupils enjoy the rewards it offers and understand the sanctions laid down for misbehaviour. The school’s provision for special needs support helps pupils who have emotional and behavioural problems well; for example, by teaching them simple anger management techniques.

p.15

Commentary

34. Teachers regularly promote health and safety awareness effectively in lessons by drawing pupils’ attention to hazards and encouraging them to identify safety rules, including those for internet safety. Older pupils are actively involved in making risk assessments of places they visit as part of their field visit week, which raises awareness well. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 16

p.15

Partnership with parents, other schools and the community

Links with parents are satisfactory and have suitable impact. There are good links with the community and most links with other schools are good.

p.16

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Parents’ views are sought regularly and show that they have positive views of the school. • Parents make a positive contribution to their children’s education. • Data gleaned about pupils’ attainment prior to entry are insufficiently detailed to be helpful in making arrangements for a swift start. • Links with the infants’ school and secondary schools are well established regarding pupils’ personal development. • Most parents do not sign homework diaries. • Community links enhance pupils’ learning. • A small number of parents have a range of individual difficulties in their relationships with school.

p.16

Commentary

35. Parents have positive views of the school and in many respects their response is more positive than at the previous inspection. However, a small number of parents have concerns about bullying and about how well informed they are about their children’s progress. The school is aware of both these issues through carrying out its own parental surveys. It has acted to alleviate concerns by holding anti-bullying sessions for pupils and working to improve pupils’ understanding and awareness. Pupil surveys show that all this is having a positive impact.

p.16

Commentary

36. There are also plans to improve the sort of information parents receive in annual progress reports. Presently, although satisfactory, the reports give insufficiently clear information to enable parents to track progress and grasp how their children perform in relation to levels expected for their ages. Pupil targets are also not yet clear or consistent enough. Other information that parents receive is good, with regular newsletters, curriculum information, a very user-friendly prospectus and governors’ annual report to parents. There is only one minor omission in the latter document: the school does not give targets for those achieving Level 5 in the national tests taken at the end of Year 6.

p.16

Commentary

37. Parents’ involvement in their children’s education, through helping with homework, ensuring regular attendance and volunteering in school has a positive impact. In addition, the ‘Parents and Friends of the School’ association has recently been rejuvenated and is actively involved in arranging fundraising and social events for the school’s benefit. Although parents are supporting their children at home, they do not regularly sign the homework diaries and these books are not well used for home/school communication. Furthermore, some events arranged by the school to help parents understand the curriculum have not been well attended, although the great majority of parents attend consultation evenings and other school events directly involving their children.

p.16

Commentary

38. Although the returned questionnaires show that most parents are very satisfied, the parents’ meeting did not reflect this. There were many more critical and fewer positive comments about a range of individual issues. One of these related to comments about a wish to have more information about children’s attainment and progress. About a third of parents were less than positive about this aspect in the returns. Inspectors agree that more information about attainment and progress is desirable. Inspectors also agree that parental involvement in setting targets for children’s individual education plans is not as well matched to the Code of Practice as other provision. Inspectors disagree with the balance of views presented at the parents’ meeting. The school is more successful than the meeting presented overall. Nevertheless, the school has been informed of all the issues raised, but no individuals have

p.16

Commentary

been mentioned. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 17 39. Although the school holds regular formal and informal meetings with the parents of pupils with special educational needs, and ensures they know about the provision made in school for their children, some say they would welcome even more involvement in setting their children’s targets. The school does not yet fully match the recommendations of the Code of Practice about systematic consultation and recording the perspectives and views of the parents. This is so at the early stage of identification, and subsequently during the stages of review. Presently, individual education plans do not include recommendations for how parents can contribute to supporting their children’s learning at home.

p.16

Commentary

40. There are long-standing links with the neighbouring infant school and the system to help pupils settle in to the junior school works well. Liaison between the two schools has been enhanced further through establishing a new role for a teacher with experience of working in the infant school, to coordinate the links. There are still some difficulties in communicating to parents the difference in attainment expected when pupils move to Year 3, but there are plans to try to rectify this by giving parents better information. In addition, the data that the school receives about the pupils at entry are insufficiently detailed in revealing differences in attainment of individuals and groups. As pupils transfer to well over 10 secondary schools at the end of Year 6, it has been difficult to form strong links with all of them. However, there are some transition projects now running. There are good links with a local sports college, so that pupils

p.17

Commentary

41. Community links are suitably varied with pupils benefiting from using a range of opportunities in the local area for such things as traffic surveys and history projects. Links with the local churches are strong and pupils visit several times each year. The local community makes use of the school, with different clubs meeting there.

p.17

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Leadership and management are satisfactory with some strengths and some weaknesses. Teamwork is good in several areas. The monitoring of subjects other than mathematics and English is ineffective. Governance is sound and set to improve further after recent reorganisation. The picture is similar to that painted by the previous report.

p.17

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Teamwork within the senior team and groups of teachers in years is good. • Leadership in English, mathematics, information and communication technology and music is good. • The commitment to improve is taking effect. • There is good financial management. • Leadership in pupils’ personal development is effective and helping pupils become more confident in the school. • Dealing with pupils who have low attainment in Year 3 is effective. • The management of information about pupils with English as an additional language is unsatisfactory. • Weakness in relationships with a small number of parents is affecting the overall good perception of the school. • Insufficiently effective monitoring in most subjects, except mathematics, is slowing development. • To some extent, the recent turnover of staff has affected subject management; there is no cover for geography at present, and this is unsatisfactory.

p.17

Commentary

42. The senior team and head teacher are successful in ensuring that some improvements are taking place. Their lead has produced improvements in behaviour management and teaching quality, and has been successful in raising standards between 2002 and 2003. Recent Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 18 information about children’s concerns about bullying is being used well to improve matters further. Leadership of English, mathematics, information and communication technology and music is good.

p.17

Commentary

43. The senior management team has made some notable gains by using the data gleaned from pupils’ and parents’ answers to questionnaires to improve on pupils’ and parents’ already positive views about their school. It has already discussed plans to provide parents with clearer information about their children’s attainment and progress and has begun to implement a programme to reduce bullying even further. The management of support for pupils with low attainment at entry is effective: this group achieves well in relation to its targets. A good lead is given to establishing and promoting the effective personal development programme.

p.18

Commentary

44. The successful use of data is not so well matched by that associated with pupils’ achievement. The pupil tracking system is able to identify groups and individuals, for example, those with English as an additional language. However, the data are not used well to monitor progress of this group and to carry out adjustments to the curriculum and the organisation.

p.18

Commentary

45. The co-ordinator for special educational needs provides for governors a good comprehensive review of how provision has been enhanced each year. However, little is said about how effective the provision has been or value for money, such as how the present strategy of staff- intensive withdrawal support teaching is working. There is good training for those staff who support pupils with special educational needs, including training for classroom assistants in the use of information and communication technology with these pupils. This training has not yet been fully effective in practice.

p.18

Commentary

46. Staff, including managers, give different information when asked about the numbers of pupils with English as an additional language, some saying there are none. Assessment information for tracking these pupils’ progress was not available due to problems with the school computer system. There were no hard copies of this information. Although the coordinator for the provision for pupils with English as an additional language is knowledgeable about provision, the management of this aspect is unsatisfactory.

p.18

Commentary

47. The weakness with assessment mars subject management. Even where this is sound, and leadership strong, all subjects lack precision. In some subjects such as geography, leadership and management is unsatisfactory. Management of some subjects suffers also from a lack of monitoring and feedback on how well policy is being implemented. This leads to inconsistency.

p.18

Commentary

48. The senior team manages the performance of staff, including teaching. It has had some impact here. However, there is less impact in realising the potential of subject leaders. There is good encouragement given, but insufficient holding to account of subject leaders in managing their areas. That said, some are doing well in giving good leads in English, mathematics, information and communication technology. Nevertheless, the management of assessment falls short of satisfactory in most subjects, including English, science, information and communication technology and most foundation subjects.

p.18

Commentary

49. The governing body has many new and recent members. However, already it knows the school reasonably well and is suitably set to discharge its duties. Financial management is of good quality and already being supported well. For example, building improvements have been made and plans are to hand for further development. The school plan is being resourced properly. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 19

p.18

Financial information

Financial information for the year April 2002 to March 2003

p.19

Financial information

Income and expenditure (£) Balances (£) Total income 856,401.32 Balance from previous year 29,290.39 Total expenditure 842,527.28 Balance carried forward to the next 13,874.04 Expenditure per pupil 2,393.54 Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 20

p.19

ENGLISH

Provision in English is satisfactory . Standards overall are in line with national averages at the end of Year 6.

p.20

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils’ attainment in listening, speaking and aspects of reading is above average. • Standards in national tests are above average and have improved for higher attaining pupils. • In two out of every five lessons, teaching is good or very good. • Assessment systems do not always refer to national levels of attainment. • Despite generally good reading skills, pupils’ library, reference and research skills are undeveloped. • The leadership of the subject is good. • There is very little evidence of information and communication technology being used in lessons or pupils’ written work.

p.20

Commentary

50. Pupils’ listening and speaking skills are good and enhance their learning. They listen well on almost all occasions. Teaching and support provide frequent opportunities for pupils to discuss in pairs or small groups. Teachers often use these strategies, with the result that pupils learn well. Pupils also respond favourably to teaching methods such as ‘hot-seating’ where they can question peers in role; for example, as a character in a story. In parts of several lessons, staff did not make the most of pupils’ ability to articulate their understanding when they accepted answers without questioning ‘how?’ or ‘why?’ pupils reached their conclusions.

p.20

Commentary

51. Reading standards are above average. Most pupils read fluently, with good expression and understand what they have read. Higher attaining pupils in Year 6 are very good readers and speak confidently about different books and authors. However, many are not self-assured about finding non-fiction books; and several are unsure about the differences between fiction and non-fiction. Although the library is used at lunchtimes, pupils say that they do not use it during lessons. This is less satisfactory than at the previous inspection. Staff support pupils effectively in group-reading lessons, which gives a boost to their learning.

p.20

Commentary

52. Standards in writing are average with some examples of very good, suitably long passages in most year groups and a reasonable range of writing activities. The school has identified further improvement of writing as a priority and introduced longer writing sessions. Writing assessments carried out by the school indicate that progress is inconsistent across year groups. A few teachers use too many low-quality worksheets that limit the quality of pupils’ written work. In some lessons, teachers allow too little time for pupils to write independently, with the result that too much time is spent looking at the teachers’ writing rather than practising skills. At these times, achievement is limited. Marking is frequently good and some is very good because it indicates what pupils have done well and what they need to do to improve. However, quite a few staff members do all the corrections for pupils, which inhibits an

p.20

Commentary

understanding of how to learn from errors and improve independently.

p.20

Commentary

53. Standards of spelling are broadly average. Where progress is hindered, pupils merely copy spellings from lists of quite basic words that are unmatched to pupils’ prior attainment. Some staff often correct all errors for pupils, which does not encourage them to take responsibility for their own spelling. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 21 54. Standards of handwriting are inconsistent. A minority of pupils present their work very attractively, using a legible, fluent handwriting style. Most use a joined style but there is an inconsistent approach to the use of good-quality implements; this leads to variable quality. A minority of pupils have poor handwriting skills and, in several books, the presentation of work is unsatisfactory. This aspect is not as good as at the time of the previous inspection.

p.20

Commentary

55. Teaching is satisfactory overall, and is good or better in many lessons. Most teachers handle whole class sessions well. The school has maintained the quality of teaching since the previous inspection. Where teaching is good or better, staff members centre successfully on the learning objectives and have high expectations of pupils. This helps pupils to see the point quickly and work hard. A few staff frequently do too much for pupils and so limit their independence and reduce challenge. Pupils often use small whiteboards well to show their answers; however, some unsuitable use of these in writing lessons for older pupils limits opportunities to redraft writing and to improve on earlier efforts.

p.21

Commentary

56. Teaching quality sometimes suffers from providing too little work to match to pupils’ knowledge and understanding, despite plans indicating the intention to do so. Occasionally, group activities are non-specific or pupils apply themselves to an activity in too general a way and miss the point. Intermittently, pupils do not understand what they are expected to do, and so waste time when going unnoticed. The use of a published scheme of work sometimes limits challenge when, for example, some staff use a list of questions from the scheme that do not tackle the more demanding learning objectives identified by the National Literacy Strategy. There is little evidence of the use of information and communication technology in lessons or in English books, restricting opportunities for learning how to work on and improve first drafts. The use of a computer numeracy program during lessons means that some individual pupils

p.21

Commentary

occasionally miss some important aspects of the work.

p.21

Commentary

57. Classroom support assistants are used effectively to give good assistance to pupils, including those with special educational needs. Although marking is predominantly good, in several classes an amount of work is unmarked and pupils receive little information about how to improve. Staff members use a number of tests to monitor progress, but not all relate closely to National Curriculum levels. This makes it difficult to establish exactly what progress pupils are making. Some teachers provide individual learning targets for pupils but only a minority make progress using these because they are not consistently well matched to pupils’ prior attainment.

p.21

Commentary

58. The leadership of the subject is good. Action plans indicate improvement. The subject leader has carried out a helpful, small-scale scan of writing and given detailed information to teachers to assist planning. She has promoted the subject well, with a suitable emphasis on improvement. She has collected samples of work matched to levels. However, the management of the monitoring of teaching, learning and the curriculum is unsatisfactory because the tracking of pupils’ progress, which is in early stages of development, is not yet sound; and clarity about how to improve writing further is only just emerging.

p.21

Language and literacy across the curriculum

59. Pupils’ listening, speaking and reading skills enhance their learning in all subjects. The weakness in pupils’ library and research skills limits their learning, although some use the Internet reasonably well for this purpose. Pupils’ writing, spelling and handwriting are adequate, though not exploited fully in some subjects. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 22

p.21

MATHEMATICS

Provision in mathematics is satisfactory .

p.22

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Higher attainers perform well. • Out of ten lessons seen, teaching was good or better in all except one and strongest for higher attaining groups. • Standards are improving. Pupils’ mental and place value skills have much improved since the previous inspection. • There is an inconsistent match of work to prior attainment for middle groups. • Assessment, marking and target setting do not reveal pupils’ achievements or identify needs in relation to progress in the National Curriculum. • Leadership of the subject is good and producing consistent teaching quality. • The quality of marking varies too much and, on the whole, is unsatisfactory. • There are wide differences in attainment between above average and average groups. • Generally, there are low expectations of the presentation of pupils’ work.

p.22

Commentary

60. Standards of mathematics are average at the end of Year 6. However, work in other years is on course to be of a higher standard, if progress is maintained. Generally, pupils from all groups achieve reasonably well and maintain their prior levels in relation to their ages. However, the examination of pupils’ work shows that the most consistent progress and strongest achievement is by those who work in the top sets. Teaching of these sets was of good quality during the inspection and work over the years is more consistently demanding, often being drawn from work expected of older pupils.

p.22

Commentary

61. The good teaching is very suitably drawing the pupils into their learning by giving opportunities for them to discuss their ideas, talk about their mathematical thinking, and be challenged appropriately. Some good demonstrations and visual prompts help this learning further. Some classes are given short breaks to refresh their concentration, which help also to maintain their learning. In one lesson, pupils were captivated by a very well chosen computer program to encourage estimation and the use of formulae. This created deep interest for many and was challenging, even to the very highest attainers.

p.22

Commentary

62. Although satisfactory overall, teaching quality varies within some sets. Work shows that during activities expectations are sometimes too low and that about half of the work is inconsistently matched to prior attainment.

p.22

Commentary

63. Nevertheless, pupils’ performance has improved since the previous inspection, particularly in mental work and place value. There have been small improvements between 2002 and 2003 in national tests, owing to exceeding the targets set for Level 4 that year. Work shows that standards are being sustained in 2004.

p.22

Commentary

64. Overall, work is only moderately demanding for the very few extremely high attainers, because teaching sometimes misses opportunities to push these pupils on further. Sometimes, they complete activities that lack complete challenge for them before going on to work at higher levels. This slows their progress. The cause lies with the unsatisfactory assessment and marking. Pupils’ work is marked mainly in relation to accuracy of response to the activities set. It is rarely assessed against National Curriculum levels. Thus, pupils’ targets are not always well matched to progress in the National Curriculum. Pupils therefore have too little idea of what is needed for them to improve in this respect. A lack of such information makes it difficult to inform parents clearly of the standards achieved by their children. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 23 65. Activities in the other sets are inconsistently matched to pupils’ prior attainment. About half the

p.22

Commentary

time they are well matched and at others not; and so progress is erratic within the sets, between groups and within lessons. Most pupils are unable to relate their targets to what they need to learn in order to make progress within the National Curriculum.

p.23

Commentary

66. A strong lead is being given for mathematics through the enthusiasm and energy of the subject leader who is a ‘lead’ teacher’ 5 for the subject within the local authority. The scheme works well in maintaining pupils’ standards, supplemented well by a computer program. Some good work is being undertaken to establish consistently good teaching across the school by working alongside and sharing good practice. Improvement is taking place. Management is sound. Work is monitored and pupils’ results are analysed. However, the data from this work are not being used sufficiently well to ensure that pupils are always supported, work matched regularly to attainment and teaching modified in the light of all the information to hand. In Year 3, however, those with low attainment are supported successfully by special programmes designed to boost their progress: this is having an effect in helping pupils to catch up. The

p.23

Commentary

decision to use a computer program is based on accurate knowledge of weaknesses in many pupils’ knowledge and understanding; this is helping to plug individual gaps in knowledge. Parents are offered sessions about mathematics teaching, but few attend.

p.23

Mathematics across the curriculum

67. There are some good links with mathematics and information and communication technology. As stated previously, the program designed to boost pupils’ skills and knowledge, that all use regularly during the week, is having a good impact. Pupils occasionally miss a small part of other lessons, but rarely the same subjects and parts, and the impact of this strategy on pupils’ mathematical attainment is substantial. Pupils say that it is helping them and giving them confidence. In one lesson seen, very good teaching used a computer program to extend pupils’ thinking about the properties of shapes. At the same time they learned how to improve their understanding about the control of a computer program. This was very much aided by the use of a computer-controlled teacher’s board. There are some links with science, in measuring and collecting data, but other links are not consistently evident in pupils’ work.

p.23

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Pupils’ investigational skills and the proportion of pupils reaching higher standards have improved since the previous inspection. • The best teaching involves pupils in high quality discussions and analysis of their investigations. • Over time, teaching is satisfactory. • The analysis of pupils’ needs is unsatisfactory. • Planning is not resulting in the quality of teaching and learning being consistent across the school.

p.23

Commentary

68. Standards in science at the end of Year 6 are in line with national averages. The achievement of pupils in developing investigational and experimental skills has improved, although pupils’ achievement overall remains satisfactory. Scrutiny of pupils’ work shows a

p.23

Commentary

considerable variation in the amount and quality of investigational and experimental work pupils do in different classes and year groups. This results in some pupils’ making slower progress.

p.23

Commentary

5 A ‘lead teacher’ is someone selected after a review of their performance to provide demonstration lessons to inform other teachers about good practice. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 24 69. The quality of teaching and learning seen varied considerably. Most was satisfactory or better; some was weak; and some was of good or better quality. Work samples show that it is satisfactory over the year. Very good teaching in a Year 6 lesson resulted in pupils’ continuing the challenge of making a burglar alarm that would be set off by a thief, but not a cat, entering a house. Because the project was very well planned, it brought together successfully pupils’ previous studies of forces and electrical circuits and enabled them to apply their knowledge to a practical problem. The teacher engaged the children’s intense interest and captured their imagination. She held challenging discussions that met all pupils’ needs. This teaching

p.23

Commentary

resulted in pupils’ making good gains in their understanding of circuits and of how to use devices such as springs.

p.24

Commentary

70. Over the year, teaching is satisfactory. During the inspection, satisfactory and better teaching, and a small amount of unsuccessful teaching was seen. In this, teachers lacked enough subject knowledge at the planning stage to make teaching sufficiently demanding. Alternatively, they had not planned well enough to allow pupils the time they needed to prepare, complete and record their experiments, and discuss their results. Although the discussions observed in lessons often show pupils of different levels of attainment offering good, extended analytic comments, the use of undemanding worksheets for most written work limits their written responses. This does not reflect the quality of insight by pupils heard in lesson discussions. Although there are some good examples of marking that offers advice to pupils on how to take their scientific thinking further, in too many books pupils’ work is cursorily

p.24

Commentary

marked without guidance about achievement and how to improve. This hinders many pupils’ progress.

p.24

Commentary

71. The subject is satisfactorily led. The co-ordinator sets high standards and is a very good role model for teaching. She has successfully led the change from most teaching being done by the same teacher to all teaching being undertaken by all class teachers. Most teachers now are confident in taking responsibility for science teaching.

p.24

Commentary

72. However, too little has been done to ensure a thorough check of teaching and pupils’ work: for example, to see if parallel classes in each year group are equally well taught, and that there are the same expectations of pupils’ writing. Although the subject leader analysed pupils’ past test results, not enough has been done yet to use the information to improve planning for weaker areas. Although improvement is taking place, this is slowing the rate. The co-ordinator is aware of the general lack of links with information and communication technology as a tool to help pupils’ learning. The school’s electronic microscope and data collection equipment are beginning to be used successfully in some lessons, but more remains to be done to ensure that it is regularly used to improve pupils’ work; for example in recording observations and making graphs and charts.

p.24

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Provision in information and communication technology is good .

p.24

Main strengths and weaknesses

• There is a good improvement in standards since the previous inspection. • Pupils have good attitudes and are suitably independent learners. • Overall, teachers have a good knowledge of the subject. • Assessment that informs pupils of how well they are learning is weak. • There is not enough use made of information and communication technology to enrich learning in some curriculum areas.

p.24

Commentary

Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 25 73. At the time of the previous inspection, standards in information and communication technology were broadly in line with national expectations. There has been a good improvement in standards and provision since. Most pupils achieve well and now, standards are above national expectations. Standards have been driven up through the school in all years, and now are good.

p.25

Commentary

74. By the end of Year 6, standards are securely in line for word processing, keyboard skills, data and information handling, and good in control technology. The school has kept pace with new developments. Pupils’ achievement is good because the good teaching is grounded on well- founded expertise and high expectations of pupils so that they learn effectively. There is now a well-structured scheme of work, up to date networked computers and a useful range of software that forms a good basis for learning the required skills. More capable pupils have a good level of independence and collaborate well in their learning. The school has adequate projection and audio equipment but not so good musical sound reproduction.

p.25

Commentary

75. Teachers are now confident in their ability to teach information and communication technology skills and use electronic whiteboards to enrich learning for pupils. Some very good teaching was seen during the inspection and, in other lessons, it was never less than satisfactory. This results from teachers’ high expectations of all groups of pupils and good pace to lessons. It is to teachers’ credit, through teamwork and sharing good practice, that pupils have made the good progress seen. Pupils are independent and confident learners. Pupils cannot use e-mail because of technical problems and are thus deprived of learning opportunities for communication and information handling. However, they use the Internet with good understanding.

p.25

Commentary

76. The information and communication technology coordinator gives good leadership through his expertise and vision, and this moves staff through the frustrations caused by problems with equipment. Finance and training are organised well to move the subject forward and resources for learning are good. Monitoring and assessment are weak aspects. Firstly, little is done to identify strengths and weaknesses in learning and provision so that effective action can be taken. Secondly, pupils rarely know how well they achieve or what the next steps in learning are in relation to national expectations.

p.25

Information and communication technology across the curriculum

77. The use of information and communication technology to support other subjects and to provide pupils with practical experience in using their skills was weak at the previous inspection. At this inspection it is improved, but teachers’ planning does not consistently prepare all the opportunities that pupils need. Further improvement is required. There is a program about mathematics for use by every pupil and it is raising standards. Data-handling is a further aspect that helps learning. History and geography are well supported. The use of information and communication technology in literacy, science and other subjects needs improvement. Teaching assistants have been trained in the use of information and communication technology. However, opportunities for those with special educational needs to use information and communication technology to enhance learning to meet their targets are undeveloped.

p.25

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Teaching was good in two of the three lessons. • Attainment was below expectations in some books and in one lesson. • There is good use of software to provide work in Year 3. • The scheme of work is not yet matched fully to the National Curriculum or levels of attainment.

p.26

Commentary

78. Standards overall are in line with national expectations by the end of Year 6; most pupils make satisfactory progress over time. The school has maintained the standards found at the time of the previous inspection.

p.26

Commentary

79. With some good teaching in Year 5, pupils found information competently about popular names. They were interested to learn about occupations and marital status in the censuses of 1851 and 1881 and collate, compare and explain the findings to classmates and staff. In a Year 3 lesson, the teacher’s clear introduction about questioning evidence such as pictures of an era successfully engaged the pupils. A well-selected timeline helped to instil a sense of chronology and enabled pupils to learn how information is gleaned about previous times. Where classroom support assistants are available they assist the learning of individuals and groups effectively, including those with special educational needs. However, work samples show very little evidence of work matched to pupils’ learning needs. Good use is made of visits to places such as the Imperial War Museum or Hampton Court and of visitors such as

p.26

Commentary

an Egyptian dance group. Such experiences have engaged pupils’ interests.

p.26

Commentary

80. Attainment was below national expectation in one lesson because responses were restricted by undemanding worksheets. Similarly, in some books, achievement is low where the oldest pupils complete low–level activities such as filling in blanks, gluing pictures and copying information from worksheets or books. Some topics such as ‘The Victorians’, ‘The Tudors’ and ‘Aspects of World War II’ are covered broadly but in little depth, and there is some unfinished work. Some pupils’ withdrawal from lessons for extra literacy or numeracy limits their access to the history curriculum.

p.26

Commentary

81. The subject leader is knowledgeable about the subject and has sampled pupils’ work. From this, she has correctly identified strengths and weaknesses in the curriculum. The management of history is unsatisfactory. There has been no recent training for staff and no monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning. The scheme of work has yet to be matched to national guidance and levels of attainment. Assessment is unsatisfactory, and has not improved since the previous inspection, although a system is being devised.

p.26

Geography

Provision in geography is unsatisfactory .

p.26

Main strengths and weaknesses

• Standards are below expectation. • Teaching and learning were unsatisfactory in two of the three lessons seen. • Teaching was good in one lesson. • Unsatisfactory leadership and management of the subject. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 27

p.26

Commentary

82. Standards and achievement by the end of Year 6 are below expectations; this is less satisfactory than at the time of the previous inspection. Much of the work in books consists of undemanding activities such gluing, colouring, completing unchallenging worksheets, or copying from books. There is little work related to applying skills such as interpreting information from sources. Some work by pupils of all levels of attainment is unfinished. There are some good passages of writing, mainly by higher attaining pupils, and evidence of good use of computer programs to present work in Year 3.

p.27

Commentary

83. In one of the lessons observed teaching was good. The teacher used a very good range of artefacts to engage pupils’ interest in topic on India; this was heightened by asking them to guess the uses. The teacher encouraged productive discussion among pupils whilst they attempted to identify the use, and gave good advice. A number of pupils made accurate guesses and enjoyed handling the genuine artefacts. In two lessons, teaching was unsatisfactory because the level of work for pupils was unchallenging and, in one, bore little relation to the subject. In both lessons, subsequent activities were more suitably matched to pupils’ levels of understanding, but these began late on, after pupils had spent too long on previously undemanding work. One activity used Internet resources from the BBC to explore the reasons for the flooding in Haiti. It was suitably challenging and well matched to prior attainment.

p.27

Commentary

84. A scrutiny of books indicates that coverage of topics such as Europe, St Lucia, India and the local area is quite good. There is sparse coverage of topics such as contrasting localities and weather. There is also inconsistent coverage between different year groups.

p.27

Commentary

85. Currently there is unsatisfactory leadership and management of the subject. Assessment systems are still not in use; similar judgements were made at the previous inspection. There is some imbalance in the allocation of time for the subject; for example, in one class the whole afternoon is devoted to geography, interwoven with groups of pupils being taken out of the lesson to read unrelated books with a parent volunteer. Whilst this is a valuable activity for supporting reading, it disrupts the teaching and learning of geography. The head teacher has leadership and management responsibility in a holding capacity but with very little time to carry out the role.

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CREATIVE, AESTHETIC, PRACTICAL AND PHYSICAL SUBJECTS

It was not possible to obtain sufficient data to make overall judgements about design and technology. No lessons were observed because the subject is taught at other times in the school year. The work available did not show examples across the Years.

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Art and design

Provision in art and design is satisfactory .

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• The use of artists’ work raises standards and promotes pupils’ cultural awareness. • Some art projects designed to support other curriculum subjects do not develop pupils’ knowledge and skills in art enough. • There is not enough use of assessment to identify pupils’ strengths and plan for improvement. • Information and communication technology is not yet being used enough in the subject.

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Commentary

86. By the end of Year 6, standards are average. Pupils’ achievement is satisfactory. They develop increasing skills in key aspects of art such as drawing, perspective, and the use of Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 28 colour. Sometimes supported by reference to the work of other artists, they know how materials may be manipulated to produce chosen effects. However, they do not achieve enough to develop further the good levels of drawing skills that they have when they start Year 3.

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Commentary

87. Teaching and learning are satisfactory. Evidence from lesson observation and pupils’ work shows extensive variation in the quality of teaching, which ranges from unsatisfactory to good. Although broadly satisfactory now, teaching and learning were judged good at the previous inspection.

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Commentary

88. Some teaching successfully uses reference to other artists’ work to demonstrate methods and techniques, such as application of colour and control of line, to improve pupils’ progress. For example, Year 5 teachers’ presentations of William Morris’s work helped pupils use their sketchbooks to understand the typical approaches to the motifs and patterning he used. Some art work related to studies for other subjects, such as work on the Tudors and Indian culture in Year 4, resulted in pupils’ underachieving. This was because pupils had not grasped the artistic skills well enough in preliminary work to employ them to their own use.

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Commentary

89. The recently appointed co-ordinator has high aspirations for the subject and has done a useful survey of the use of sketchbooks across the school. She is aware that the use of information and communication technology to support the subject is underdeveloped. However, although she has benefited from some recent training for her role, she lacks breadth of subject expertise and a complete grasp of the standards expected. The management of the subject is not yet adequate because there is no time to observe teaching and take action to ensure that quality is consistent across the school. Teachers do not systematically keep samples or record assessments of pupils’ work from the point at which they start in Year 3. Therefore, there is not enough knowledge of the standards achieved in different classes and year groups. This limits capacity to provide the necessary information to improve teaching and learning.

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Commentary

90. There was some good quality work by Year 6 pupils in design and technology about designing and making battery-driven motorised model cars. Other good work included diaries showing how the pupils had developed their own approaches to placing the motors and creating the right electrical circuits, and how they thought of ways to improve their work. Some classes had not documented their work in this way, and there was no evidence that pupils had tested how well their completed models worked.

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Commentary

91. Since the previous inspection, the school has improved its resources to enable pupils to use electric motors in their products, and has acquired related computer hardware and software to enable them to explore computerised control systems. There is still too little evidence of the range of work done and the standards for the subject. From the work seen there is insufficient opportunity for assisting pupils to develop and record their research and evaluation of the products they design and make.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Lessons are good because they are well planned and paced, with many opportunities for pupils to perform and evaluate their work. • There are good opportunities for pupils’ further musical development in lessons and through extra-curricular music. • The school benefits from the range of musical expertise of the staff. • There is scope for developing the use of information and communication technology to support musical learning. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 29

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Commentary

92. Standards at the end of Year 6 are above average. Pupils achieve well in acquiring listening, singing and composition skills. By the end of Year 6, they use vocabulary such as ‘vibrato’ and ‘crescendo’ when they comment on their own music and that of composers. They are confident in discussion of the reasons they give in appreciation of such performances. There is a good range of opportunities for all pupils to improve musical knowledge and understanding. This includes: paid musical tuition, a choir, and a recorder group for Years 3 and 4 which take as many pupils as is practicable.

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Commentary

93. Teaching is good over the years, and very good in Year 6. During the inspection week, Year 6 pupils were developing their own class compositions based on their previous studies of Benjamin Britten’s “Sea Interludes”. Their teacher’s high expectations were reflected in the intense preliminary discussions they had of the relationship between the elements used in Britten’s work and in their own. The good use of a clear improvised graphic system of notation for the composition enabled the pupils to blend song, voiced sounds and percussion effectively to create a sound-scape of people walking across a windswept beach. Their teacher kept up the pace and the excitement of learning well by recording and playing back their performance.

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Commentary

94. Music is well led. A high proportion of the staff have musical expertise, including professional ensemble experience. The very recently appointed co-ordinator has a good vision of how to raise standards further by improving curricular plans for Year 3 and 4, and is developing assessment approaches based on National Curriculum expectations. The subject makes a good contribution to the cultural life of the school through a weekly singing assembly, a musical evening in which pupils and staff perform and an annual arts week in which music has a high profile.

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Physical education

Provision in physical education is satisfactory .

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Main strengths and weaknesses

• Extra-curricular activities are good. • The ‘Sports College Scheme’ is helping to raise standards. • Systematic arrangements for the assessment of pupils’ progression in skills are not in place.

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Commentary

95. Pupils’ attainment is in line with that expected nationally at the end of Year 6. These standards have been maintained since the previous inspection. Pupils’ achievement is satisfactory.

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Commentary

96. It was not possible to see any lessons for dance or swimming. Lessons in games, athletics and gymnastics were observed during the inspection. Games and athletics are the strongest areas of pupils’ attainment. Gymnastics and dance are weaker. By the end of Year 6 records show that most pupils’ attainment in swimming meets the requirements of the National Curriculum. The subject leader organises regular visits, such as those by cricket coaches, and so pupils have good opportunities to develop games skills. Pupils with special needs make satisfactory progress and all groups of pupils are well included in lessons. Pupils sometimes miss lessons when they are withdrawn for extra help with other subjects. The higher attaining pupils are given more challenging tasks by teachers

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Commentary

97. Teaching is satisfactory overall with some good teaching seen during the inspection. Pupils are confident and work well in pairs or groups. Their very good attitudes and behaviour enable good pace in the lessons; good cooperation and teamwork enhance learning. The good opportunities for pupils to observe and evaluate others’ performances enable them to learn Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 30 from each other and consolidate learning. Teachers ensure that activities proceed safely and that pupils are well aware of the effect of exercise and health matters.

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Commentary

98. The subject leader has action plans and has organised a staff audit of needs to improve the subject. A well-planned curriculum to ensure logical progress in the learning of skills, especially for dance and gymnastics, is to be introduced. The organisation of the good ‘Sports College’ scheme has brought additional expertise, in-service training, and resources to the school. Sports coaches and expertise from a local secondary school enrich teaching and learning. The subject leader is keen to move the subject forward but her role is limited. There is little management of monitoring and proper evaluation of such initiatives to ensure effective steps towards sustainable improvement in teaching and learning. Currently there are no records of achievement to inform pupils of what they need to do to improve or to reveal what skills have been acquired. Good organisation of the extensive extra-curricular activities, and

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Commentary

staff’s good contribution and teamwork, give effective enrichment to learning.

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP

99. Provision in citizenship is good. Pupils are able to give many examples of how they are involved in being proactive as members of the school and wider community. The choir sings at church, local lunch clubs and older peoples’ homes. Class-elected school council members say that they are effective in getting changes made and that they are consulted on issues. Many others volunteer to act as ‘Hot spotters’ to support the resolution of break time minor disputes, which pupils say is helpful. Many pupils in Year 5 opt to be ‘Buddies’ to pupils in Year 2 at the feeder infant school and visit at lunch breaks to help. There are chances to take the initiative in raising funds for charities of their choice. Recent surveys of pupils’ opinions, undertaken by the school, show that an increasing proportion of pupils are satisfied that behaviour is improving and bullying is diminishing. This has been improved through

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP

modifications to the programme for personal, social and health education and increasing the chances for pupils to take responsibility. They, in turn, are responding well. Holy Trinity CE Junior School - 31

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The overall effectiveness of the school 4 How inclusive the school is 3 How the school’s effectiveness has changed since its last inspection 4 Value for money provided by the school 4

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Overall standards achieved 4 Pupils’ achievement 4

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PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Pupils’ attitudes, values and other personal qualities 3 Attendance 4 Attitudes 3 Behaviour, including the extent of exclusions 3 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 5 How well the curriculum meets pupils needs 4 Enrichment of the curriculum, including out-of-school activities 3 Accommodation and resources 4 Pupils’ care, welfare, health and safety 3 Support, advice and guidance for pupils 4 How well the school seeks and acts on pupils’ views 3 The effectiveness of the school’s links with parents 4 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 4 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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