Setting

Mrs P Honeychurch Headteacher Cottage Grove Primary School Chivers Close Southsea Hampshire PO5 1HG

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Development (ESD)

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 9 November to look at work in ESD.

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Development (ESD)

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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Development (ESD)

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with governors, pupils, teachers and other staff, scrutiny of relevant documentation, analysis of pupils’ work and four short class activities were observed in the nursery and reception classes.

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Development (ESD)

The overall effectiveness of ESD was judged to be satisfactory with some good features.

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Achievement and standards

There was insufficient evidence to judge overall standards and achievement in ESD.

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Achievement and standards

 Where examples did exist, notably from work in geography and literacy, pupils reached the expected standards, for example in understanding the positive and negative features of their local environment.  Pupils’ personal development in relation to the sustainability agenda is good. They act responsibly and with enthusiasm to the school’s Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404045 F 020 7421 6644 www.ofsted.gov.uk initiatives aimed at assessing and reducing litter problems around the school site.  Pupils’ knowledge of issues of recycling, reducing and reusing materials is at a basic level, but is satisfactory overall.  Pupils’ knowledge of other countries in relation to sustainable development issues is limited to basic facts and perceptions.

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Quality of teaching and learning

No overall judgement is made on the quality of teaching and learning. Only four short activities relevant to ESD could be observed during the visit and was limited to the Nursery and Reception classes. Only a small amount of completed written work on topics contributing to pupils’ knowledge and understanding in the subject was available for analysis. However some positive features emerged.

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Quality of teaching and learning

 Use of the school environment to promote childrens’ simple understanding of natural resources form a regular part of activities in the Nursery.  Simple principles of healthy living, eating habits and collaborative responsibility were promoted effectively during pupils’ daily snack times.

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Quality of curriculum

The quality of the curriculum is satisfactory overall and there are strengths in the way outdoor education is used to raise awareness of environmental issues.

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Quality of curriculum

 Good use is made of the local area to enhance pupils’ learning in all year groups.  Visits to more distant and contrasting localities to broaden pupils’ knowledge are included appropriately, such as a residential visit to Wales each year.  Plans in subjects such as geography are currently under review and will include a focus on ESD where appropriate.  The school’s review of its provision for ESD has highlighted the need to include an ESD focus in more subjects.

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Leadership and management of ESD

Leadership and management of this area is satisfactory overall.

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Leadership and management of ESD

 The school has responded positively by conducting a simple audit of its provision to highlight both strengths and areas to develop.  Both staff and governors recognise the need to have an overall policy to promote ESD within the school.  Subject leaders are becoming increasingly aware of incorporating ESD within curriculum planning and to extend the use of the school grounds.  The views of pupils, parents and other local stakeholders are sought and acted upon seriously, although pupils are not fully clear how they can influence change locally.  Much good work has been done to the school environment to enable further development to take place.

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Inclusion

The provision for inclusion is satisfactory.

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Inclusion

 Special attention is given to including pupils whose cultural background make it less likely they will attend residential visits for example.  Effective efforts are made to broaden the learning opportunities of pupils whose existing experiences prior to starting school have been limited or narrow.  All pupils are encouraged to participate in simple citizenship activities. The school’s recent ‘squabble busters’ initiative is helping all pupils to feel more skilled at resolving conflicts with others in order to improve day to day life of the school.

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Areas for Improvement

Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include the need to:

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Areas for Improvement

 develop a whole school policy for ESD  extend pupils’ understanding of ESD issues by working to gain ‘eco status’ for the school  make greater use of the attractive school grounds to extend pupils’ learning of ESD principles  extend ESD links across the curriculum so that topics and subjects include more specific references to ESD principles.

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Areas for Improvement

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

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Areas for Improvement

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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