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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Miss E Beale Headteacher Denmead Junior School Bere Road Denmead Waterlooville Hampshire PO7 6PH

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 08 May to look at work in physical education (PE).

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of the subject, the visit had a particular focus on assessing the PE contribution to the outcomes of Every Child Matters, particularly being healthy.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

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 – Physical Education

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

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

The overall effectiveness of physical education was judged to be good.

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Achievement and standards

In the small number of lessons observed, pupils are working at the expected levels for their age so standards are average.

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Achievement and standards

 They make good progress because of good teaching. More able pupils are not challenged enough in lessons and are capable of making better progress.  Many pupils do well in local competitions such as in the successful school football, netball or cross country teams as well as individuals in cricket and swimming. However the school hold no records of overall standards attained in PE.  Pupils have good opportunities to acquire, develop, select and apply skills but limited use was made of the evaluate and improve strand in the lessons observed. Pupils have very good understanding of developing and leading healthy lifestyles. The ‘body beautiful’ work effectively helps them make the connections between PE, science, citizenship and health.  Pupils have good opportunities for personal development through PE. Their voice is not only sought but acted upon. For example extending the range of extra curricular activities. Pupils select their own sports

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Achievement and standards

day house captains and take an active role in organising lunchtime activities though the ‘Lunch Leaders’.  Boys and girls apply themselves equally well and all display positive attitudes towards PE lessons and extra curricular opportunities. Behaviour is exemplary; they listened attentively to teachers and peer input.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PE

The quality of teaching is good overall.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PE

 The subject leader and teachers have good subject knowledge that is used well to support the progress of pupils, especially in the Year 3 class on batting and bowling skills.  Subject knowledge has been developed effectively through professional development offered from the school sports partnership and local authority, such as the Tops programmes and multi-skills. New staff have received good support in identified areas of need such as team teaching gymnastics to build confidence in delivery.  The school make good use of a commercial scheme of work to support teaching. However, it has not been reviewed and adapted to ensure it meets the needs of all pupils, especially the more able.  A good range of teaching methods are used in lessons to engage pupils in their work, the quality of questioning was particularly effective in the Year 3 and parts of the Year 6 lesson.  Information and communications technology has been used effectively

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Quality of teaching and learning of PE

over a number of years to capture dance performances so that pupils can review and improve their own work and share it with their parents. Good use is made of photographs to record and celebrate PE events and activities.  Although there is some adaptation of activities to match different ability levels, this is not consistent. Where it is used well, such as in the Year 4 tennis lesson to support pupils’ aim and rallying skills, pupils made better progress.  Strategies to assess pupils throughout lessons are starting to be used effectively, although there is no formal assessment of pupils’ progress over time.

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Quality of the curriculum

 It is broad and well balanced. Pupils have good opportunities to experience and build on their skills during their time at the school. Good use is made of the on-site swimming pool and consequently all pupils make good progress in this activity. Boys tend to be less enthusiastic about their dance experiences and all pupils say they would like more opportunities to use the large apparatus during gymnastics lessons. The subject leader has good plans in place to include more outdoor and adventurous activities once the swimming pool is decommissioned at the end of the academic year.  Good links are made between PE and other subjects through the schools approach to an integrated curriculum. For example when studying ancient Greece, pupils base dances on the struggle between Theseus and the Minotaur and during the global week, they perform dances with African drummers. Pupils talk with confidence about links

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Quality of the curriculum

they make between science and PE when they complete work on ‘our bodies’.  Currently pupils only have access to 80 minutes of PE in curriculum time, although plans are in place to increase this with short ‘Activate’ sessions throughout the day from September. The vast majority of pupils also access at least one extra curricular activity each week.  The extra curricular and enrichment programme is outstanding. Pupils have a very wide range of activities throughout the year that has developed very effectively through involvement with the sports partnership. More non-traditional activities such as karate, yoga and golf are attracting ever increasing numbers. Good use is made of external coaches to enhance provision such as the hockey coach and Portsmouth football club. The school take every opportunity offered by the sport partnership to participate in PE festivals and tournaments.  This is a highly inclusive school. All pupils are enabled to make

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Quality of the curriculum

progress through the use of adapted equipment or activities. Gifted and talented pupils in PE are identified and have accessed specific multi-skills clubs. They also have priority on attendance at extra curricular activities to extend their skills and performances.  The chances for outdoor and adventurous activity residential visits are really appreciated by pupils who honestly appraise the impact on their self confidence, motivation and team work.

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Leadership and management of PE

The quality of leadership and management are good.

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Leadership and management of PE

 The subject leader has very good awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the subject based on monitoring activities such as pupil and staff interviews, however there are limited opportunities to observe PE lessons. You give very good support to PE; as a result pupils have good experiences throughout the school.  The subject leader is well organised, passionate about the opportunities available for pupils and has good vision for future development. The school sport partnership plan identifies appropriate actions to improve provision especially in increasing participation rates however it does not fully reflect the areas of development identified by the subject leader following monitoring activities.  The subject leader makes the most of professional development opportunities, feeding back information to other staff formally at staff meetings and in many other informal ways. She works well with other

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Leadership and management of PE

staff to ensure pupils understand the relevancy of PE to their education such as with the science and healthy schools leaders. The links with the school sports coordinator ensure that pupils are offered the best possible diet of PE experiences. The lack of assessment and tracking data unfortunately means that the impact of this work is not always apparent.  Good use is made of the excellent facilities and resources because of effective planning and deployment.

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Matters particularly being healthy

 The school pay very good attention to the outcomes of Every Child Matters. The local authority audit reflects the high levels of understanding by pupils particularly about developing healthy lifestyles and staying safe.  The vast majority of pupils say how much they enjoy PE lessons and most know how to improve their work.  Older pupils make a good contribution to PE through the lunch leader roles and as sports captains.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 finding ways to assess and track pupils’ progress in physical education  extending and challenging more able pupils in PE lessons  adapting the scheme of work to better match the needs of all pupils, especially the more able.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop physical education 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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