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 T McMath Headteacher Loxwood Primary School Nicholsfield Loxwood West Sussex RH14 0SR

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – physical education (PE)

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 21 January 2009 to look at work in PE.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – physical education (PE)

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 (ECM) particularly ‘being healthy’.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – physical education (PE)

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 (PE)

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

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – physical education (PE)

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

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Achievement and standards

 Progress is good in all lessons and better in Key Stage 2 because of the quality of teaching. As a result standards are above those expected especially in games. All pupils have outstanding opportunities to attain the swimming expectation because of the emphasis placed on this by the school. The programme starts in Key Stage 1 and pupils continue to access swimming in the curriculum until they can swim 25 metres.  Pupils make good progress in understanding health and fitness and when they acquire and develop their skills. Pupils select and apply their skills well when choreographing their own dragon dances and making up their own games in Key Stage 1. However, limited use is made of the ‘evaluate and improve’ strand of the National Curriculum in lessons.  Personal development is a strong feature within PE including pupils having opportunities to feed back on provision and reporting on inter- school matches to parents and their peers. Pupils work well individually

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Achievement and standards

and cooperatively in team situations. Behaviour is exemplary and pupils are very good ambassadors for the subject in and around the school.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PE

The quality of teaching and learning is good with outstanding features.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PE

 Staff have good subject knowledge that they use well to engage pupils in activities and to observe and intervene at the correct time to bring about improvement in pupils’ performances. They give good feedback to pupils to help them improve further.  Lessons are planned thoroughly and consequently pupils know the next steps in their learning and are helped to make good progress. Staff use their evaluations and pupil assessments well to plan future lessons that best meet the needs of pupils in the class. However the subject leader misses the opportunity to collect, summarise and track pupils’ progress across the school and over time.  The relationships between staff and pupils are outstanding; staff know pupils and their needs very well. Specific programmes are planned to extend the needs of identified pupils. For example, selected pupils complete ‘jump ahead’ activities at the start of the school day.

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Quality of the curriculum

The quality of the curriculum is outstanding.

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Quality of the curriculum

 The curriculum is broad, balanced and covers all six areas of the National Curriculum. All pupils access two hours of physical education and school sport per week. Three quarters of pupil’s access at least one hour and just over half participate in more than two hours extra curricular sport, meaning the school is well placed to meet the new government aspiration for five hours of physical activity each week.  The school has gained Activemark in recognition of its work.  The school make good and selective use of commercial schemes of work to support teaching. Staff make good use of digital photography to record aspects of lessons, extra-curricular activities and participation rates. These are attractively displayed through a digital loop in the main entrance reflecting the high profile given to PE throughout the school.  Good links are created with a wide range of other subjects where possible. For example, Victorian people as a stimuli for different

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Quality of the curriculum

methods of travelling in gymnastics, French used as the language in warm ups and mathematical analysis of athletic events.  The extra-curricular and enrichment programmes are outstanding. Pupils spoken to were particularly enthusiastic about the range of activities available, for example the parent/child bike trails and outdoor and adventurous residential experiences in Years 5 and 6. The school make outstanding use of external coaches and parents to enhance the programme further with football coaching from professional players and parents leading netball clubs.  Excellent links have been established with local sports clubs to extend further opportunities for pupils. Examples include activities at local golf clubs plus karate and dance schools offering sessions after school.

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Leadership and management of PE

The quality of leadership and management is good.

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Leadership and management of PE

 The subject leader has a wealth of data on the subject including teachers planning, outcomes of PE lesson observations and pupils’ evaluations. However these have not been brought together to enable a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of provision or to set clear priorities for development.  You offer very good support to the subject and have a clear vision for its development.  Links and communication with the school sports partnership have been relatively slow in becoming established although these are being resolved. Initial positive aspects of the partnership have been staff access to professional development and increased opportunities for pupils to participate in festivals and tournaments.  The subject leader has accessed the primary link teacher training offered through the school sports partnership although does not make best use of the days to support day-to-day management or evaluation

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Leadership and management of PE

of the subject.  The school has outstanding facilities and resources to support PE.

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‘being healthy’

 All pupils thoroughly enjoy PE and display very positive attitudes in lessons and extra-curricular activities.  Pupils have good understanding of leading healthy lifestyles and can talk knowledgably about what foods and drinks help them achieve this.  The school has attained the National and local authority Investors in Health awards.  Good attention is paid to pupils’ safety in lessons.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 finding ways to increase the use of the ‘evaluate and improve’ strand of the PE National Curriculum  making better use of the primary link teacher time and the school’s own data to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of provision, set clear priorities and evaluate initiatives  initiate a system to collate and analyse pupils’ progress over time. 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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