Setting

Mrs B Chevis Headteacher Burlington Junior School Burlington Road New Malden Surrey KT3 4LT

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – primary modern languages

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff and pupils, during my visit on 20 March 2007 to look at work in primary modern languages.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – primary modern languages

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

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 four lessons.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – primary modern languages

The overall effectiveness in languages was judged to be good.

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Achievement and standards

Achievement is good. French was introduced fully for all four year groups last school year, although the school has offered pockets of foreign language provision for some years. It is too early to judge standards but, given their starting point, pupils are making good progress.

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Achievement and standards

 Pupils listen and respond very well.  They speak confidently and have good intonation and pronunciation.  Reading and writing skills are at an earlier stage of development. Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 020 7421 6855 www.ofsted.gov.uk  Pupils’ grammatical awareness is increasing well; for example, they understand the concepts of gender and adjectival agreement, and singular/plural forms of verbs.  Pupils recall previously learnt language well: they use French to do basic mental maths and perform songs.  Their behaviour in lessons is excellent and they have very positive attitudes towards languages. Many pupils speak two or three languages and they are proud to be in a multilingual school.  Pupils have a sophisticated understanding of why and how they are learning languages.

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Quality of teaching and learning in languages

The teaching and learning observed in lessons was good with some excellent features.

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Quality of teaching and learning in languages

 Teachers are very enthusiastic about French and this is infectious: it motivates pupils very effectively.  Lessons are very well planned, with clear learning objectives, and these are mostly shared well with the pupils.  Resources are very good; for example, interactive whiteboards are used very effectively to involve pupils and stimulate interest.  Lessons are engaging, and games provide good challenge and pace.  Teachers are aware of the importance of accurate pronunciation and intonation, and ensure pupils understand this too.  Learning outcomes are demonstrated well in plenary sessions and this gives pupils a clear sense of progress.  Teachers are beginning to look at how to teach pupils to read and write in French, and have some good ideas about teaching sound- spelling links. This work is not yet shared and embedded.  There is some variation in the way school’s assessment and rewards systems are used across different classes. Pupils are more motivated

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Quality of teaching and learning in languages

and make greater progress when they receive formative feedback, linked to rewards when appropriate.

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Quality of the curriculum

 All pupils have French lessons. A half-hour of formal tuition is followed up over the week by their class-teachers. Years 3, 4 and 6 have an external specialist for the formal lesson; Year 5 class teachers teach their own classes, having received support from a local language college. Joint planning and review are developing well. A scheme of work is being developed, with the identification of intended progression and outcomes in the longer-term being a priority.  In addition to French, pupils have access to clubs for German, Spanish and Italian.  Pupils’ home and heritage languages are recognised and celebrated very effectively throughout the school and various multicultural, cross- curricular events over the school year also underpin languages policy.

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Leadership and Management

 There is a clear rationale for the development of French in this multilingual school.  The senior team guides a temporary specialist coordinator effectively.  Strong leadership from you and the school’s governors has resulted in positive attitudes to languages developments from staff and parents.  Languages are promoted very well, for example through the regular bulletin and integration into special events, such as an international week.  Links set up with a local initial teacher training provider are attracting further expertise to the school.  Resources, for example ICT facilities, games and artefacts, support language teaching and learning very effectively.

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Implementing languages entitlement

Progress towards the implementation of languages entitlement is good.

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Implementing languages entitlement

 Pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6 are now in their second year of French; teachers are beginning to address issues of continuity and progression. The school has identified a degree of disappointment, expressed by some returning ex-pupils, with French which is repeated in Year 7; there is scope for further working with secondary destination schools to overcome this.  External support from the local authority and a partner specialist language college is exploited very well by the school.

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Inclusion

 Inclusion is a strength of languages provision. All pupils learn French formally and have many cross-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to develop their general linguistic knowledge and skills.  Teachers work hard to involve all pupils in lessons and to differentiate learning effectively; this is easier for the Year 5 teachers than for the external specialist, but his collaboration with class-teachers through the follow-up ‘language parcels’ fosters consistent support for pupils.  Pupils’ home, heritage and acquired languages are valued.  Stimulating bilingual welcome packs are provided in the school’s three main home languages, Tamil, Urdu and Korean.  Boys and girls participate well in lessons and are equally positive in their attitudes to language-learning.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 ensuring progression in the developing scheme of work, including key elements of grammar, and sharing it with secondary colleagues  developing strategies for the teaching of reading and writing in French, building on existing good work in listening and speaking  improving the consistency of assessment within, and across, year groups and for transition to secondary schools; preparing for accreditation at the end of Key Stage 2 for French and minority languages.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

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

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

As I explained in my previous letter, a copy of this letter will be sent to your local authority. It will also be available to the team for your next institutional inspection.

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