Setting

Mrs A Bradshaw Headteacher Shotton Primary School Grange Terrace Shotton Colliery Durham DH6 2JP

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Design and Technology

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 30 November to look at work in Design and Technology (D&T).

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Design and Technology

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 – Design and Technology

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with staff and learners, scrutiny of relevant documentation, analysis of pupils’ work and observation of lessons.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Design and Technology

The overall effectiveness of D&T was judged to be good.

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Achievement and standards

Achievement is good and standards are average.

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Achievement and standards

 Pupils start in the foundation stage with below average skills in D&T. They achieve well and make good progress, learning how to design and make a variety of interesting products.  Standards are average and rising. The careful linking of design tasks to other subject work is helping to raise standards even more. For example links were made to English and mathematics using contexts such as a poem about a magic box to design and make a container to hold treasured items Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Quality of teaching and learning

The quality of teaching and learning in D&T is good.

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Quality of teaching and learning

 Consistently good quality teaching and learning was seen in work across the year groups. Pupils are provided with very good support during practical activities. Lessons are well planned using the units of work developed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) units to strengthen learning in D&T.  The good pace of lessons contributes significantly to the good progress pupils make. The teaching ensures key subject skills such as product analysis, marking out and cutting accurately are well covered and encourages creative designing. The school is looking to raise achievement further by using more challenging design and make tasks from year to year.  Assessment procedures follow the practice outlined in the QCA units. The school knows the next stage is to moderate judgements more widely and explore the practicalities of tracking individual performance.

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Quality of the curriculum

 Schemes of work are meeting the needs and interest of pupils well. National guidance is adapted to projects which have the development of D&T capability together with literacy and numeracy at the heart. The school is aware that learning more about systems and control is an area to develop.  Coverage of design skills, for example routine evaluation of ideas, is very thorough. Pupils use a good range of materials when designing and making.

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Leadership and management of D&T

Leadership and management of D&T are good.

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Leadership and management of D&T

 You and your deputy have steered the subject carefully during a period of turbulence in the management of D&T, and a new coordinator has recently been appointed.  The school self evaluation of the subject is accurate, if a little modest when evaluating leadership and management overall given the problems encountered. Strengths and weaknesses are well known and appropriate action is being taken to move the subject forward.

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Inclusion

Support for pupils with learning difficulties is good and all groups of pupils are fully involved in the subject.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 the progressive use of more challenging design and make tasks from year to year  learning in more depth about systems and control.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop design and technology 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 the Ofsted website. It will also be available to the team for your next institutional inspection.

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