Setting

Mr Brown Headteacher Bratton Primary School Westbury Road Bratton Westbury Wiltshire BA13 4RL

p.1

Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 27 June 2007 to look at work in Physical Education (PE).

p.1

Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of PE, the visit had a particular focus on the continuity of learning between key stages.

p.1

Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

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.

p.1

Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with staff and children, scrutiny of relevant documentation, analysis of children’s reports and observation of three lessons.

p.1

Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

The overall effectiveness of PE was judged to be good.

p.1

Achievement and standards

 Standards by the end of Key Stage 1 are average and they are slightly above average by the end of Year 6, indicating that pupils make at least good progress in PE from their starting points. Most pupils attain better in games than in other physical activities. No difference was seen in the attainment of boys and girls. Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk  Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make steady progress. Development and use of the four strands of the PE programme of study are variable. For example, all pupils make good progress in acquiring and developing skills and have a well developed understanding of fitness and health. However fewer opportunities are available for pupils to select and apply skills in different situations or to consistently develop their use of observation and feedback to help improve work further.

p.1

Achievement and standards

 Pupils in Years 5 and 6 have good opportunities to become young sports leaders and undertake the role very conscientiously when providing playground activities for younger pupils.  Good opportunities are provided for pupils to make decisions that help improve PE provision, such as school council members selecting new equipment and through responding to questionnaires.  Behaviour is exemplary in PE lessons. The vast majority of pupils are fully engaged in lessons and work hard to complete tasks. Pupils say how much they enjoy PE because they are learning new skills and having fun.

p.2

Quality of teaching and learning

The quality of teaching and learning is good.

p.2

Quality of teaching and learning

 Teachers have secure subject knowledge and this is well used to help pupils make progress. For example, in the Year 2 lesson good use was made of dance terminology to extend and challenge pupils’ knowledge and to help them evaluate their own and others’ work on the task they were completing.  A good variety of methods are used to engage pupils in their work particularly with opportunities to work independently, in pairs and small groups. All teachers make effective use of questions and occasionally this is outstanding when pupils are really challenged to think of solutions for themselves. Occasionally when the pace of a lesson drops, pupils are not active enough for sustained periods of time. Pupils know what they are expected to learn as lesson objectives are consistently shared and referenced throughout lessons to remind them of their learning. Teachers also use a good range of resources to stimulate interest and support the

p.2

Quality of teaching and learning

development of skills.  The school has recently introduced assessment in PE that is completed at the end of a unit of work. This makes appropriate use of the National Curriculum levels of attainment, although not enough emphasis is placed on assessing the four strands and using the outcomes to set pupils targets for improvement and to report to parents. An example of good practice is where individual progress records are annotated when a pupil shows sustained improvement or struggles to grasp an aspect of PE.  Teachers make accurate evaluations of pupils’ progress during lessons that help them make timely interventions with an individual or the class to bring about improvement and ensure the rate of progress is maintained.  Teaching assistants are well deployed to support individual pupils. They are also skilled at intervening at the right time to help individual pupils make improvements in their work.

p.2

Quality of curriculum

 The curriculum is well planned to ensure pupils make good progress throughout the school. It is broad and offers good opportunities to revisit work so that pupils can consolidate and extend their learning and understanding of activities. Links are increasingly being made between subjects, for example when pupils study the Tudors they also learn dances from this period of history.  Pupils currently have 90 minutes of planned PE time each week, which is below the national expectation. However the school has effective plans to increase this from September with daily ‘wake and shake’ sessions. Pupils also indicated that they would like to have longer PE lessons.  The school has an extensive range of enrichment activities that has been extended since their involvement with the school sports partnership. Good opportunities are available for pupils to experience competitive and non- competitive activities. Pupils achieve success in both team and individual

p.3

Quality of curriculum

sports such as tag rugby and gymnastics. Pupils say how much they appreciate working with external expert coaches to extend their skills. Good opportunities are taken to use the local environment such as for outdoor and adventurous activities in nearby hills.  Good emphasis is placed on ‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes. Pupils work in safety and have a well developed understanding of leading healthy lifestyles supported by the work in obtaining the Healthy Schools award.

p.3

Leadership and management of PE

The quality of leadership and management in PE is good.

p.3

Leadership and management of PE

 As the subject leader for PE, you have good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the subject. You have set a clear direction for its improvement particularly in the use of assessment and tracking information. The subject development plan focuses clearly on improving the subject knowledge and confidence of staff in the delivery of gymnastics and dance. Policies for PE are succinct and clear.  The school make good use of a commercial scheme of work that supports teaching and learning well. Teachers adapt this effectively to meet the needs of pupils in their classes. Excellent links are made between the Foundation Stage early learning goals and the PE curriculum in Key Stage 1.  Limited emphasis has been placed on monitoring PE this year; however this has not been detrimental as new initiatives have been introduced such as the use of assessment. Professional development opportunities have

p.3

Leadership and management of PE

been made available to staff. You have good awareness of the need to evaluate initiatives in order to judge the impact on pupils’ learning.  The school has fully embraced the school sports partnership which is helping to increase the number and range of activities available to pupils and staff. It is also helping to improve the exchange of PE specific information on Year 6 standards and achievements at the time of transfer to the secondary school.

p.4

Subject issue – Continuity of learning between Key Stages

 The transition in PE between the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 is smooth because of the excellent links made by staff with both an exchange of information and the introduction of some formal PE activities at the end of the Foundation Stage.  The school sports partnership is piloting a form to support pupils’ transition between Year 6 and 7. It has a good range of information on standards in gymnastics, dance and games. However there is no opportunity to offer an explanation as to why a child may be working below expectations or specific aspects where they may be exceeding this, even though the primary school is starting to hold this information. It is not clear how judgements between schools will be moderated for consistency. It is too early to judge the impact of this work on supporting the continuity of learning experiences.

p.4

Inclusion

 All pupils are included in PE lessons and all make good progress from their starting points.  All staff have high expectations of pupils’ performance levels, listening to each other and verbal input to class discussion.  Gifted and talented pupils are identified by the school and opportunities are offered to further their skills such as one child attending a football academy.

p.4

Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 making more consistent use of the four strands of acquire and develop, select and apply, evaluate and improve, and knowledge of health and fitness in lessons and when reporting to parents  considering use of assessment information and reports to parents to set targets with pupils to improve their work in PE  finding ways to share the good practice of annotating individual pupils’ progress records and when using the ‘evaluate and improvement’ strand in lessons. I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop PE in the school.

p.4

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.

p.5