Setting

Ms A Hedges Headteacher Crow Orchard Primary School, School Lane Skelmersdale Lancashire WN8 8QG

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Modern languages

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff and pupils, during my visit on 23 January to look at work in modern languages.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Modern languages

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of the subject, the visit had a particular focus on implementing languages entitlement.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Modern languages

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 – Modern languages

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with staff and pupils, scrutiny of relevant documentation, some analysis of a small sample of pupils’ written work and observation of three lessons, as well as an assembly celebrating Spanish culture.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Modern languages

The overall effectiveness of modern languages (ML) was judged to be good with some outstanding features.

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Achievement and standards

 In only the second term since the introduction of Spanish across the whole school, pupils across the age and ability range already demonstrate very accurate pronunciation and intonation. They show good understanding of simple spoken and written Spanish and good early awareness of the patterns and rhythms of the language. Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404045 F 020 7421 6855 www.ofsted.gov.uk  Pupils’ attitudes towards studying the Spanish language and culture are outstanding. They greatly enjoy learning Spanish. Their behaviour in lessons is excellent and they interact confidently with adults.

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Quality of teaching and learning of Spanish

Teaching and learning are good with some outstanding features.

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Quality of teaching and learning of Spanish

 Teaching is underpinned by the Key Stage 2 Framework and pupils are offered an outstanding range of imaginative activities which motivate and engage all learners. Pupils have ample opportunities to interact with each other in Spanish and to think for themselves.  Simple written work is regularly marked but more formal assessment is at an early stage, so that pupils are not always sure how well they are doing in Spanish or how to improve their work.

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Quality of curriculum

 It is responsive to pupils’ own interests and needs and promotes strong cultural awareness and enthusiasm for the subject.  There is good provision of Information Communication Technology (ICT) resources which supports and enhances learning. There are firm plans to introduce French into the curriculum in the near future.

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Leadership and management of modern languages

Leadership and management of modern languages are good with some outstanding features.

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Leadership and management of modern languages

 The commitment and clarity of vision demonstrated by you and your deputy headteacher in the introduction of Spanish into the curriculum is outstanding. Full consultation with pupils, staff, parents and governors has ensured their support and enthusiasm.  The subject is well resourced and the deputy headteacher is an excellent role model of language teaching. She is well informed about language developments at local and national levels. Formal systems for assessment of pupils’ progress in Spanish are as yet at an early stage.

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Implementing languages entitlement

Spanish is firmly integrated into the school improvement plan. All pupils in the school have twenty minutes of Spanish, for per week in Reception rising to one hour in Key Stage 2. The deputy headteacher currently teaches all lessons, but there are firm plans for class teachers to become more involved in the near future. There is thoughtful collaboration with secondary colleagues to ensure pupils’ progression in language learning at Key Stage 3 and beyond.

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Inclusion

Pupils of all abilities learn Spanish. All groups make equally good progress and pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities are offered very good support to enable them to contribute well to Spanish lessons.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 the development of more formal systems for assessing pupils’ progress, so that they know how well they are doing and how to improve their work.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop modern languages 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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