Setting

Mr Bignell Headteacher Hempstead Junior School Birch Grove Hempstead Gillingham ME7 3SD

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – ICT

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff and pupils, during my visit on 16 October to look at work in ICT. As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of ICT the visit had a focus on the impact of ICT on whole-school improvement.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – ICT

The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the name of your school, but you will not be identified in the main text. All feedback letters will be published on the Ofsted website at the end of each half-term.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – ICT

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included interviews with staff and pupils, scrutiny of documentation, analysis of pupils’ work, observation of two lessons and lunchtime clubs.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – ICT

The overall effectiveness of ICT is judged to be good.

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Achievement and standards

 Pupils’ ICT skills are very good. They achieve good standards across all aspects of the programme of study and do particularly well in multimedia and presentations. Their understanding of some key concepts is not so highly developed. For example, whilst they have the skills to swiftly cut and paste a picture from the Internet into a publication, they do not yet have the understanding of file formats that enables them to select the most appropriate image. However, they are very knowledgeable about software and are able to discriminate about which is fit for purpose.  Pupils’ personal development is good. Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404045 F 020 7421 6644 www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Quality of teaching and learning of ICT

 Given the good standards and achievement, teaching overall is good and aspects are very good. Teachers’ subject knowledge is excellent and this helps them plan and teach lessons well, often focusing on pupils’ possible errors or misconceptions. Pupils know what is expected of them in each stage of the lesson.  In both lessons observed the beginning plenary suffered from being taught in the computer room rather than in the classroom, but a lack of interactive whiteboards meant that this was unavoidable.  Pupils make good progress in lessons due to effective teaching and well developed learning skills. They collaborate very well and have positive relationships with each other and all staff.  The ICT teaching assistant/technician is very effective and teamwork between all adults in the classroom is very good. Pupils are assessed regularly, but the systems in use are mainly skills-based and so do not

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Quality of curriculum

 The curriculum is good and improving. Extra curriculum activities such as the animation and music workshops are outstanding and have a positive impact on the achievement of pupils.  There is good breadth in the curriculum and the QCA scheme of work, whilst used as a foundation, is continually developed in response to pupils’ needs.  Cross curriculum planning is good.

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Leadership and management of ICT

The quality of leadership and management is good.

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Leadership and management of ICT

The allocation of resources and action plan are well conceived and ICT is properly documented with appropriate and up-to-date policies.

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Leadership and management of ICT

 The action plan addresses the key issues for development but it does not refer to the one action point for the subject from the last inspection.  There is no audit of pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding when they begin in Year 3, or of their access to ICT outside school. However, management has provided a good vision for the development of ICT and there is a clear focus on high standards.

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The impact of ICT on whole-school improvement

The current focus on assessing pupils’ capability in ICT at the end of Key Stage 2 is appropriate .

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Inclusion

ICT contributes well to inclusion. The more able and those with learning difficulties or disabilities achieve well due to good planning and teaching. Good pairing of boys with girls or good readers with weak readers helps everyone make progress.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included the need to -

 provide evidence that the key issue identified at the last inspection regarding the variability in ICT teaching has been addressed and put right  audit pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding on entry and assess their understanding as well as skills at the end of Year 6  consider developing an intranet for both pupils and staff to access remotely in order to raise standards further  Implement a strategic plan for equipping interactive whiteboards across the school.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included the need to -

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop ICT in the school.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included the need to -

As I explained in my previous letter, a copy of this letter will be sent to your local authority and will be published on Ofsted’s website. It will also be available to the team for your next institutional inspection.

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