Setting

Education (PSHE)

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 07 November to look at work in PSHE.

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Education (PSHE)

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of PSHE, the visit had a particular focus on:

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Education (PSHE)

 how the PSHE curriculum meets the specific needs of pupils in your local area, and how progress is tracked and assessed; and  the contribution made by PSHE to the future economic well-being of your pupils.

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Education (PSHE)

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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Education (PSHE)

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with yourself, the PSHE and Healthy School co-ordinator, the SEAL (social and emotional aspects of learning) co-ordinator, a group of Year 6 pupils, and the school council, scrutiny of relevant documentation, analysis of pupils’ work and observation of two lessons.

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Education (PSHE)

The overall effectiveness of PSHE was judged to be good. 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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Education (PSHE)

Mr White Headteacher Leen Mills Primary School Leen Mills Lane Vaughan Estate Hucknall Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG15 8BZ

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Achievement

 Pupils’ personal development and behaviour are excellent. They enjoy their work and have positive attitudes towards the subject. They listen well to each other and to their teachers and are developing confidence to express their ideas clearly.  In the Foundation Stage children are making rapid progress, learning about a range of cultures, celebrating a variety of festivals, learning to appreciate different tastes and developing social skills.  Pupils in other years know what is meant by a balanced diet and how to eat healthily, but they do not always put this into practice in the quality of packed lunches they bring to school.  All pupils appreciate the need for physical activity and apply this knowledge by taking part in the wide range of activities provided.  Older pupils have good knowledge of the dangers of smoking and substance misuse. They are less secure in their understanding of the mental and physical changes that occur whilst growing up.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PSHE

The quality of PSHE teaching seen was good.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PSHE

 Teachers have good subject knowledge, excellent relationships with their classes and act as excellent role models.  SEAL materials are used selectively to enhance teaching.  Effective use is made of teaching assistants to make sure lessons run smoothly.  Assessment does take place using informal methods but, except for the Foundation Stage, it is not sufficiently detailed.  Pupils are very well supported. They feel safe and secure and teachers demonstrate a high degree of care and concern for them.

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Quality of the curriculum

 The curriculum has been enhanced by the judicious introduction of Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) materials.  The school is part of the Healthy School Programme this has had a positive impact on lunchtime, healthy eating, playtime activities and the PSHE curriculum.  All pupils are enthusiastic and know about the school council and experience active citizenship through its work.  A range of activities and clubs, for example the Life Education caravan, breakfast club, gardening club, and the sports link with Fundsport uk, add greatly to provision by providing opportunities for pupils to interact socially with each other and with adults and keep fit.  There is very effective liaison with the police on the drug education programme in Year 6.  Schemes of work for PSHE are not well developed and need to be improved in order to ensure coverage of areas such as sex and relationships education, and aspects of citizenship.

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Leadership and management of PSHE

The leadership and management of PSHE is good.

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Leadership and management of PSHE

 The senior leadership of the school has created a warm and welcoming ethos where pupils are stimulated to learn. This is clearly demonstrated by the behaviour of the pupils and the excellent display around the school.  The shared understanding amongst all staff of the significance of PSHE for the pupils is strong. Developing the use of SEAL and achieving the full Healthy School Award are part of the school’s improvement plan.  Some monitoring and evaluation of the PSHE programme does take place but does not yet include lesson observation.

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well-being?

 Pupils throughout the school do have opportunities to take responsibility and handle money.  The proposed application procedure for the Playground Buddies scheme will begin to explore the world of work for some pupils.  More could be done to help pupils understand finance, for example, managing their own pocket money, and thinking about different work roles.

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Inclusion

 The school has a harmonious ethos where the pupils are happy and respectful and caring of each other.  All pupils were included in lessons by skilful questioning techniques and teachers matching work carefully to ability levels or particular needs.  The very few minority ethnic pupils are well integrated and achieve as well as other pupils.  Vulnerable pupils are identified and given extra help, such as anger management sessions.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 introducing more rigorous monitoring of PSHE and citizenship lessons by the subject co-ordinator  improving the assessment of progress made in lessons  ensuring more complete coverage of the PSHE and citizenship programmes of study.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop PSHE and citizenship 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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