Setting

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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Mr A Holt Headteacher Tewkesbury Church of England Primary Chance Street Tewkesbury Gloucestershire Gl20 5RO

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 30 October 2007 to look at work in ICT.

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of ICT, the visit had a particular focus on the impact of ICT on whole-school improvement.

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

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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Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with you, your subject co-ordinators, Year 2 and Year 6 pupils, scrutiny of relevant documentation, analysis of pupils’ work, observations of Year 3, 4 and 6 lessons in the computer suite and brief observations of class activities in ICT in Reception, Year 1 and Year 5.

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The overall effectiveness of ICT was judged to be good.

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Achievement and standards

Standards and achievement are good. The contribution to pupils’ personal development and well-being is good.

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Achievement and standards

 Pupils enter school with standards in line with expectations. By Year 6, standards are above expectations, which represents good achievement.  Throughout the school, pupils have good basic skills. They use computers and, for example, floor robots, control technology equipment and the interactive whiteboards with confidence. They are happy to experiment if things go wrong and they support each other very well to overcome problems.  Pupils have a very good understanding of the need to work safely and appropriately when using the internet. They fully understand and appreciate the safety aspects behind the monitoring of their e-mails and internet use by on-line mediators.  ICT has a good impact on raising standards in other subjects. Good examples were observed of ICT supporting English, mathematics, science, art, history and religious education.

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Quality of teaching and learning

The quality of teaching and learning is good.

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Quality of teaching and learning

 Teaching of ICT is good, which results in pupils making good progress in lessons.  The subject knowledge of teachers and learning support workers is good. They use questions effectively to develop pupils’ understanding of the task or the skills being learnt.  Planning for different groups of pupils is thorough and this results in them making good progress.  Good use is made of interactive whiteboards to add impact and interest to lessons. Throughout the school, pupils are encouraged to use the whiteboards and do so with increasing confidence.  Assessment is good. Teachers track pupils’ progress in ICT and make accurate assessments at the end of each unit of work. Not all pupils, however, are aware of their individual targets or their next steps for improvement.  The well planned lessons in ICT and good teaching results in pupils being motivated and interested. Consequently they work well together

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Quality of the curriculum

The quality of the ICT curriculum is good.

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Quality of the curriculum

 The programmes of study are being taught well and there are good links between subjects, especially numeracy and literacy. This is supporting the above average standards in English and mathematics However, the school has identified the need to rewrite some ICT programs in order to meet the very recent changes in the literacy and numeracy curriculum, brought about by the new primary strategy.  Provision for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is good. These pupils make good progress in ICT.  The subject is very well resourced and this has a good impact on the quality of teaching. As well as a computer suite, all classes have interactive whiteboards, at least two computers and a laptop. There is a good range of hardware for control technology, which is used effectively.

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Leadership and management of the subject

Leadership and management of ICT are good.

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Leadership and management of the subject

 The joint management of ICT by the two co-ordinators has made a very good impact on the development of the subject. They are given the full support of the headteacher and governors.  Very good consideration has been made by the senior leadership team, the two subject co-ordinators and governors to the improvements in ICT hardware and software, to ensure best value for money.  One of the ICT subject co-ordinators takes the lead in regularly monitoring teaching and learning in order to support other teachers and to raise the standards and achievement of pupils.  There is a clear action plan, with clear and measurable success criteria which is understood and effectively implemented by most staff.  Co-ordinators for subjects other than ICT complete a summary of the impact of ICT on their subject. This feeds into the school improvement plan and is beginning to ensure that ICT is impacting on all subjects.

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Leadership and management of the subject

However, this has still to be fully embedded across all aspects of the school.  A part-time technician gives good support for ICT and ensures that any problems with hardware and software are quickly resolved.  Teachers, pupils and parents have a very good understanding of the policy for the safe use of the internet.

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Subject issue - the impact of ICT on whole-school improvement

The impact of ICT on whole school improvement is good.

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Subject issue - the impact of ICT on whole-school improvement

 Audits of teachers’ ICT skills and knowledge, through performance management, is used well to identify individual training needs.  Opportunities for all teachers and learning support workers to develop their ICT skills though school and local authority training are given a high priority.  The use of ICT to raise standards in other subjects is good particularly in writing, speaking, listening, mathematics, history, art, science and religious education.

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Inclusion

 Good use is made of ICT to support pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities enabling them to make similar progress to other groups of pupils.  A range of programmes are in place to support pupils who speak English as an additional language, to ensure they make equally good progress.  Pupils support each other extremely well in lessons, which contributes to their good personal development.  The ICT clubs give those pupils without access to computers or relevant software at home, opportunities to complete homework and/or develop their ICT skills and knowledge outside of lessons.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included the need to:

 develop pupils’ use of self-assessment and to make them aware of their targets for improvement  continue to embed ICT into the revised curriculum, especially to complement and support the new primary strategy for literacy and numeracy  develop the role of all co-ordinators in monitoring the use and impact of ICT within their subject.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included the need to:

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

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included the need to:

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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