Setting

Mr N McDonald Headteacher Little Bowden School Scotland Road Market Harborough LE16 8AY

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Ofsted survey inspection programme - history

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 15 November to inspect work in history.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme - history

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.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme - history

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with staff and pupils, scrutiny of relevant documentation, and a review of a sample of pupils’ work.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme - history

The overall effectiveness of history was judged to be good.

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Achievement and standards

 Pupils make good progress over time and are developing well their knowledge and understanding of, for example, Florence Nightingale.  Pupils have good recall of work already covered and can recount stories, for instance of Theseus and the Minotaur.  Pupils are developing a generally good awareness of chronology. Younger pupils in Year 2, for example, know how there were changes to hospital wards and to hygiene over a long period of time.  Pupils can evaluate historical sources extremely well. They can explain the value and limits of using particular sources, for example fragments of Roman pots. They also have good awareness of the wide range of Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 0207 4216855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk historical sources that are available and can comment on the reliability of many of them.  Pupils are well behaved and have excellent attitudes to their learning.

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Quality of teaching and learning

 Lessons are conscientiously planned and the needs of the different abilities are taken into account.  Teachers have good knowledge of history and use this well to extend the pupils’ learning. Questioning is incisive as a result.  Learning objectives are routinely shared with the class.  Time is effectively used, with explicit timescales given for particular activities.  Pupils are interested in history and maintain their concentration on the activities set.  The pupils’ work is regularly marked. However, comments tend to be general and do not always explain how the work could be improved. Targets for improvement are not routinely identified for the pupils.

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Quality of curriculum

 The curriculum is broad, balanced and meets requirements. It has recently been reviewed and reorganised. Schemes of work are being rewritten.  There is a good emphasis on the key elements of history, with appropriate development of the pupils’ historical skills.  The curriculum is enriched by a good range of visits to places of historical interest, both local and further afield. For example, pupils undertake local history work in Market Harborough and also visit museums in Leicester. There are plans to extend this to regular visits to Kenilworth Castle. This is also supplemented by the use of relevant visitors in school.  Further enrichment occurs during whole-school thematic days, for example on the Ancient Greeks.

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Leadership and management

 The subject co-ordinator is part-time but she has worked hard to ensure that history continues to have a high profile in the school. She is supported well by other enthusiastic staff.  The co-ordinator has a good understanding of the strengths of the subject and areas that need further development. She has developed this through regular monitoring and evaluation of provision, including the observation of lessons. However, she has not yet been trained on how to observe lessons.

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Subject issue: ICT

Teachers are competent users of ICT. Lessons are characterised by the use of interactive whiteboards and Power Point presentations. Older pupils stated in discussion that they had undertaken some research work on the internet in the recent past. However, scrutiny of pupils’ work shows that their use of ICT is underdeveloped.

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Inclusion

 Staff know the particular needs of those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities well.  Lessons are planned so that the needs of all abilities are taken into account.  Teaching assistants work intensively with identified pupils and enable them to make good progress.

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

 strengthen marking and assessment procedures so that they enable all pupils to enhance their progress  ensure that pupils’ skills in ICT are routinely developed in the teaching and learning of history.

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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 history 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. All feedback letters will be published on the Ofsted website at the end of each half-term and made available to the team for the next institutional inspection.

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