Setting

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 020 7421 6855 www.ofsted.gov.uk enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs L Rushton Headteacher Ashbury Meadow Primary School Rylance Street Beswick Manchester M11 3NA

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – ICT

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 29 February to look at work in ICT.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – ICT

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

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – 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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Ofsted survey inspection programme – ICT

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included interviews with staff and pupils, scrutiny of relevant documentation, analysis of pupils’ work observation of four lessons and a visit to the Children’s Centre.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – ICT

The overall effectiveness of ICT was judged to be good.

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Achievement and standards in ICT

Overall standards and achievement are good.

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Achievement and standards in ICT

 In the Foundation Stage children start school with skills that are well below those typical for their age. They make a flying start and good progress because of emphasis on the use of technology to help them learn. Pupils make good progress but, although rising, standards at the end of each key stage are below average. School data and observation in lessons shows standards are rising, and that by the end of the year, pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 will reach broadly average standards. This represents very good achievement from a low starting point and results from good teaching and a drive to improve standards.  Pupils know how ICT can enhance and extend their learning across the curriculum. This stems from thorough teaching of ICT skills followed by regular opportunities to use them in other subjects that also improves standards. Pupils in Year 1, for example, use programmable toys to extend their geographical understanding of their local area and

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Achievement and standards in ICT

develop ICT skills using graphics software to draw maps. At Key Stage 2 pupils develop new information presentation skills using ICT to explain their work about forces. They use word processing, spreadsheets and data logging well to extend learning in mathematics and science.  Pupils learn to use the internet to research information and communicate with schools using email. An innovative project will shortly allow Key Stage 2 pupils to use video conferencing to extend their literacy and ICT skills alike.  Pupils enjoy using ICT. In lessons they are enthusiastic, concentrate on their tasks and collaborate readily together. Pupils develop the confidence to use ICT independently. Using the internet for instance Year 2 pupils find information about the Fire of London or in Year 5 to reinforce their mathematical understanding of probability.

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Quality of teaching and learning of ICT

The quality of teaching and learning is good.

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Quality of teaching and learning of ICT

 Regular lessons and thorough teaching of skills drives pupils’ good progress. Teachers are confident, understanding how the use of ICT will enrich learning and what skills pupils need to have. They make sure lessons meet pupils’ different needs and that the teaching of ICT skills is followed closely by its use in relevant subject lessons.  All teachers make good use of computer whiteboards to present lessons, for instance, to teach pupils new skills using presentation software in Year 6 or extend their understanding of road safety in Year 2. They routinely provide pupils with laptops or the opportunity to work as a class in the computer suite. This gives them good opportunities to research and consolidate learning independently using well chosen software or internet sites.  Assessment of pupils’ work is developing well. Excellent and practical class portfolios include lesson plans that are evaluated in detail by each

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Quality of teaching and learning of ICT

teacher and used to inform the next stage of learning. Pupils’ work is assessed regularly and recorded using a recently adopted computerised system. This gives teachers and pupils a clear indication of progress and makes sure pupils receive feedback about their work. This is increasingly informing teachers’ planning but as yet its use in setting pupils targets is limited.

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Quality of the curriculum for ICT

 Good curriculum plans are informed by the government’s recommended scheme of work. This make sure pupils have thorough opportunities to develop skills using ICT to research, analyse and present information in text, data and pictures.  Several lessons each week in the ICT suite give pupils time to acquire new ICT skills and apply them in other subjects. However pupils’ use of ICT in other subjects is not assessed or evaluated.  Careful planning allows pupils additional time to use computers independently out of lessons. This has a positive impact on their motivation, often leading to their use of the internet at school or home to extend learning.  The school reports that many pupils have stronger ICT skills than their families. Several good initiatives, including family learning in the adjacent Children’s Centre help build strong home/school and community links.

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Leadership and management of ICT

 You, your deputy and your two enthusiastic and knowledgeable subject leaders work together to provide very good subject leadership. Together you have a strong vision to develop pupils’ use of ICT across the curriculum and to improve standards. Recent work, for example, to identify ICT activities in teachers’ planning and regular assessment of pupils’ ICT standards is successfully improving standards.  Subject leaders are active in seeking out ways to improve practice. This good practice includes, for instance self-evaluation that focuses training for teachers and teaching assistants each year, annotation of curriculum plans to show where ICT enhances learning. Outcomes from these evaluations are used well to set in place improvements, but insufficient opportunity is made to track their impact on pupils’ achievement and standards.

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Impact of ICT on whole school improvement

There is a good impact of ICT on whole school improvement.

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Impact of ICT on whole school improvement

 Good leadership underpinned by practical actions drives up the status of ICT in the school as staff and pupils increasingly see it as central to learning.  Initiatives such as robust systems to track pupils’ performance are demonstrably helping to drive up standards. This is because teachers have ready access to data and make increasing use of it to plan learning.  Regular lessons and the growing links between ICT and application across the curriculum has a positive impact both on pupils’ achievement, standards and attitude to learning.

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Inclusion is good

 Good teaching of ICT skills in class and in the computer suite is underpinned by rigorous assessment of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities. Their specific learning needs are matched carefully to support, for instance provision of a personal laptop and accessibility software where necessary to ensure they make good progress. All pupils take a full part in lessons and well-deployed and confident teaching assistants give them extra support. Work seen during the inspection appealed equally to boys and girls and was appropriate to meet their learning needs.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 developing and implementing a system to track the impact of cross- curricular ICT on pupils’ achievement and standards  extending the use of assessment information to set pupils individual targets to improve standards.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

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:

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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