Setting

Mrs R Collins Acting Headteacher Coltishall Primary School St Johns Close Coltishall Norwich Norfolk NR12 7HA

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Religious Education (RE)

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 1 November 2006 to look at work in RE.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Religious Education (RE)

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of the subject, the visit had a particular focus on the implementation of the recently published Norfolk Agreed Syllabus for RE.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Religious Education (RE)

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 – Religious Education (RE)

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with staff and pupils, scrutiny of relevant documentation, analysis of pupils’ work and observation of one Key Stage 2 lesson.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Religious Education (RE)

The overall effectiveness of RE was judged to be satisfactory.

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Achievement and standards

The achievement of pupils in RE is satisfactory.

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Achievement and standards

 Their attainment is broadly in line with the expectations set out in the Agreed Syllabus. There is scope for some pupils to progress more quickly towards higher standards.  RE contributes to pupils’ personal development, especially in their awareness of, and response to, religious and cultural diversity. Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404045 F 020 7421 6855 www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Quality of teaching and learning

The quality of teaching and learning in RE is satisfactory.

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Quality of teaching and learning

 Pupils make progress in the development of their subject knowledge through sound teaching supported by suitable resources. Some of the teaching lacks sufficient demand and challenge to enable pupils to deal effectively with spiritual and moral issues. Pupils are keen to learn and well motivated.  Monitoring of pupils’ progress is in its early stages. Some work is now assessed in terms of clear criteria related to targets, but this requires further development across the full age range. The school is aware of the need for greater rigour in ensuring that pupils’ progress is monitored and their work assessed effectively.

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Quality of curriculum

The quality of the RE curriculum is satisfactory.

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Quality of curriculum

 The school is working towards the implementation of the 2005 Norfolk Agreed Syllabus. At present the curriculum emphasises strongly the development of knowledge and understanding of religions and does not provide sufficient opportunities for exploring wider questions about beliefs and values.

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Leadership and management of RE

Leadership and management of RE are satisfactory.

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Leadership and management of RE

 Initiatives to raise standards and improve the quality of learning inform the curriculum as a whole, though subject leadership is not at present sufficiently effective in implementing some of these changes. The main weakness lies in equipping classroom teachers with sufficient knowledge and understanding of religious traditions, and of the processes of learning in RE, to give them confidence to teach the subject in a more challenging and effective way. Some of these matters are recognised in the school’s own evaluation of the subject.

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Implementation of the agreed syllabus

The school is fully aware of the need to implement the agreed syllabus and has included it in its priorities for development. Some steps have already been taken, for example by mapping current teaching and planning against the new requirements. A more radical review of planning and assessment will be needed to bring the curriculum more fully into line with the syllabus. It is anticipated that further guidance from the local authority will in due course support a move towards reporting levels of pupil attainment.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 to strengthen subject leadership in terms of implementing the agreed syllabus  to increase confidence among all teaching staff in terms of their knowledge and understanding of RE  to develop further effective processes for monitoring and assessing pupils’ progress in RE  to develop the RE curriculum to provide a higher level of challenge and relevance to the pupils.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop RE 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/SACRE 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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