Setting

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404045 F 020 7421 6855 www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mr P Butterworth Headteacher Hempsted Primary School St. Swithuns Road Hempsted Gloucester GL2 5LA

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 09 March 2007 to look at work in Physical Education (PE).

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of PE, the visit had a particular focus on the impact of the Physical Education School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) strategy.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

The visit provided valuable information, which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions, but individual institutions 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 – Physical Education

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with staff, children and the school; sports coordinator, scrutiny of relevant documentation, and observation of two lessons.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

The overall effectiveness of PE was judged to be good with outstanding features.

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Achievement and standards

 Standards in the small number of lessons observed were good, which is in line with the school’s data. Standards in swimming are above the national expectations as the majority of pupils swim the required 25 metres by the end of Year 5, showing good progress. Pupils also make good progress in the Foundation Stage because of the quality of teaching.  Pupils have good understanding of developing a healthy lifestyle and are increasingly taking opportunities to be active through the school’s extra curricular sporting options and the ‘huff and puff’ lunchtime provision.  Pupils behave very well in lessons and are fully engaged in all the activities. They co-operate with each other and work extremely well in small groups. Pupils comment on how much they enjoy PE because it is fun and teachers tell them how they can improve.

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Quality of teaching and learning

The quality of teaching and learning is good.

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Quality of teaching and learning

 Teaching is good overall with some outstanding features in Key Stage 2, where more pupils develop skills in individual and group feedback in order to improve their work.  Teachers are improving the quality of teaching and learning through attending the PESSCL programme. Regular feedback from courses is provided in sessions where teachers are all actively involved.  All lessons are well structured because of comprehensive planning. However, pupils are not always made aware of what they are expected to learn because planning in some lessons is too focused on activities rather than learning.  Pupils have very good opportunities to acquire and develop their skills and most are able to select and apply skills appropriately.  Teachers have accurate records of pupils’ progress in each PE activity. The information is used very effectively to identify pupils that require additional support. The school recognises that teachers do not always tell pupils

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Quality of teaching and learning

what they can do and how to improve in order raise standards in relation to the national curriculum levels’.  A good range of resources is used very effectively to support teaching and learning.

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Quality of curriculum

The quality of the curriculum is outstanding.

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Quality of curriculum

 The school allocates two hours of curriculum time to PE and offers a good balance of National Curriculum activities. Pupils have swimming lessons through Years 3 and 4, which explains the good progress made in the activity.  Pupils have access to an outstanding range of extra curricular opportunities, which have been further enhanced by involvement with the PESSCL strategy.  Older pupils are trained to lead lunchtime ‘huff and puff’ sessions. Well trained teaching assistants take a prominent and effective role in the delivery of the lunchtime activities.  Further enrichment opportunities are offered through a number of residential experiences and good links with local sports clubs. For example a county coach works effectively in developing the skills of both boys and girls.

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Leadership and management of PE

The quality of leadership and management in PE is good with some outstanding features.

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Leadership and management of PE

 The subject leader and senior staff have very good understanding of the strengths and areas for development in PE. The PE subject leader has a clear vision for improvement of the subject and recognises the need to track pupils’ progress over time.  A published scheme of work is adapted very well by teachers to meet the needs of pupils and is supplemented effectively with additional resource material.  The subject leader is given time to develop her role. She is starting to undertake a broad range of monitoring and evaluation activities and is well supported by senior staff.  A programme of observations has been completed for teachers and outside coaches. They are comprehensive and include pertinent points for development.  The subject leader plans a very good staff development programme, which is supported by the primary link teacher and the school sports coordinator.

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Subject issue – Impact of the Physical Education School Sport and

 The PESSCL strategy is having a very positive impact at the school. Very effective links have been created between the school and the school sports coordinator to support improvements in teaching and learning and particularly in extending the range of opportunities for pupils outside the curriculum.  The subject leader has attended training sessions and attendance at primary link teacher meetings is helping her to focus on improving aspects of provision at the school.  All staff at the school has taken advantage of professional development courses, resulting in more confident teaching and introduction of the lunchtime activity programmes.  Pupils have increased opportunities for competition both in their own school and against other schools in festivals run by sports leaders and in local leagues and competitions.  The school makes use of the 10 high quality outcomes during PE lessons.

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Inclusion

 All pupils are fully included in lessons. Teaching assistants are deployed very effectively to support pupils with learning difficulties, disabilities or physical development needs both in lessons and during lunchtime activities.  Pupils identified as gifted and talented have good access to extension activities both within school and at local clubs.  The school has a good process for recognising success and pupils comment favourably when their sporting achievements outside school are also celebrated publicly.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 ensure that lesson planning includes pupil learning outcomes, which recognise the different levels of ability within the class  ensure that monitoring and evaluation of teaching and learning is focused on learning  develop teaching and learning so that pupils know what level they are working at now and what they need to do to get to the next level.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

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

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

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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