Setting

Miss J Murphy Headteacher Henley Green Primary School Wyken Croft Coventry CV2 1HQ

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Schools

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff and pupils, during my visit on 10 November 2006 to look at your work on healthier eating and school meals.

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Schools

The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our evaluation and reporting. Any published report is likely to list the names of the institutions visited, but we will not identify individual institutions within the report itself.

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Schools

The evidence base used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with yourself, subject leaders, catering staff and Year 6 pupils; scrutiny of school documentation; observation of two lessons; lunch in the dining room; and assembly.

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Schools

I undertook to provide a brief written version of the main points made in my feedback at the end of the visit, to support development in healthier eating and school meals.

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Schools

The overall effectiveness of school meal provision is satisfactory.

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Schools

This is good. All the food served in school meets the new food standards. It is attractively presented and there is a good range and choice. The meals come from the Coventry catering service but the new cook supplements this by preparing some of her own dishes. The food served is tasty and nutritious. The catering team are well trained and take time to encourage pupils to try new foods. As a result, the take-up of school meals has increased. At present, there are missed Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404045 F 020 7421 6855 www.ofsted.gov.uk opportunities to cater for and celebrate different cultures and culinary traditions.

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Schools

This is satisfactory. The dining period is well organised so pupils do not have to queue for long and they are well supervised. The length of the lunch break is sufficient for pupils to eat their food properly but they are unable to sit with friends bringing packed lunches. Menus are not displayed prominently in the dining room, although pupils and parents are informed in advance what the menu is going to be. There is little display in the dining room and this makes for a rather Spartan and noisy environment.

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Schools

 Helping pupils and parents to make healthier choices

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Schools

This aspect is sound. The school is part of the National Healthy Schools Programme and is aware of its role in promoting healthier eating habits. Pupils are encouraged, through the national fruit and vegetable scheme, growing their own food in the school’s garden, and work in lessons, to make healthy choices - and many do. However, even though sweets and fizzy drinks are banned from packed lunches, many pupils still bring white bead, crisps and chocolate bars. The school has not provided healthy eating guidance to parents recently.

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Schools

 Developing pupils’ knowledge and personal skills

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Schools

This aspect is satisfactory. Pupils have sound knowledge and understanding about balanced diets and healthy eating. They know they should eat five fruit and vegetables a day but are less sure about the reasons behind this. Toilet facilities are very good and encourage good levels of hygiene. Pupils have few opportunities to link their work in different subjects to improve their understanding of healthier food. As there is no school council, they lack any formal opportunities to give their views on improving the quality of food in school.

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Schools

This is satisfactory. In the upper school, the science lesson observed was lively and involved pupils in interesting activities. However, pupils’ listening skills are not well developed and using two different versions of the food plate caused some confusion. The session seen in the nursery class was inadequate because teaching was over-directed, narrow in focus and did not recognise the importance of play and creativity in the learning process. The planning for the session lacked clear learning objectives or outcomes.  Planning the curriculum

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Schools

This aspect is inadequate. Some curriculum links exist between science and food technology and some good practical work, such as hatching out chickens, has taken place. However, aspects of healthy eating are not planned systematically across the curriculum and there is no whole school food policy or National Healthy School group. The curriculum for Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and citizenship is inadequate. There are no schemes of work, no mapping across the curriculum to ensure coverage, no assessment of pupils’ progress, no monitoring of teaching and no action plan.

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Schools

 Managing the school’s approach to healthier eating.

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Schools

This aspect is satisfactory. The school is in the lowest percentile for national test results and, therefore, the new headteacher has understandably focused on literacy and numeracy as the key priorities. The new cook is doing a very good job in improving the quality of school meals and building up good relationships with pupils. However, the school has not been proactive in seeking to improve curriculum planning and provision for healthier eating across the school.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 improving the quality of the curriculum planning in the Foundation Stage and PSHE and citizenship education, and drafting a whole school food policy  introducing a multi-cultural dimension into healthy eating in the school  establishing a school council to give pupils a formal voice in planning provision.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop healthier eating and school meals in the school.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

As I explained during the feedback, this letter will be copied to your Local Authority and will be available to the team for your next institutional inspection.

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