Setting

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 0207 421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs J Hamiliton Headteacher St Johns Primary School Mortimer Road Kenilworth Warwickshire CV8 1FS

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Education (PSHE)

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff, during my visit on Tuesday 17 March 2009 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 the subject, the visit had a particular focus on economic well-being.

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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 you, your deputy headteacher, the PSHE subject leader, the PSHE governor, and other staff involved in PSHE, scrutiny of relevant documentation, discussion with a group of Year 6 pupils, analysis of pupils work and observation of two assemblies and three PSHE lessons.

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Education (PSHE)

The overall effectiveness of PSHE was judged to be good with some outstanding features.

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Achievement and standards

 Pupils’ personal and social skills are outstanding. They are confident, polite and have good self-esteem due to the leadership roles and responsibilities they adopt throughout the school.  They have good knowledge of drugs and sex education and can talk in an open and mature way about issues they may encounter in later life.  They have a good awareness of personal hygiene and what constitutes a healthy, active lifestyle.  Pupils can understand and express their feelings well and show respect for the views of others.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PSHEE

The quality of teaching and learning in PSHE is good.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PSHEE

 Staff plan thoroughly for PSHE lessons and use a wide range of different activities and stimulating resources.  Relationships between staff and pupils in PSHE lessons are outstanding. As a result, pupils are confident to share their feelings with the teacher and the rest of the class.  Assessment is developing well in PSHE. Draw and write activities, pupil questionnaires and end of year reports inform subsequent developments.  There are some missed opportunities in PSHE lessons as the learning objectives are not always made clear to pupils or regularly consolidated.

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Quality of the curriculum

 The PSHE curriculum is well-mapped across the school with good use made of a commercial scheme of work, supplemented with additional resources.  Good use is made of external agencies including local services, theatre companies and other visitors to the school.  Extra-curricular activities and residential visits to outdoor pursuit centres and to France enhance the PSHE curriculum.  There is a good focus on community service and global sustainability within the curriculum.

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Leadership and management of PSHE

The leadership and management of PSHE are good.

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Leadership and management of PSHE

 The subject leader for PSHE manages the subject well, monitors teaching regularly and supports individual staff with their planning and use of resources.  There has been some purposeful training for sex and drugs education for staff and parents.  A knowledgeable governing body is used well to support developments in PSHE.  Success criteria in the PSHE action plan lack sufficient measurable outcomes.

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Subject issue: the contribution of PSHE to economic well-being

 Pupils attend school regularly; develop into confident, articulate and polite young people, ready to take their place in society.  Pupils are well-prepared to cope with changes in their lives at points of transition.  They contribute well to their local community, for example, helping to pack bags at the local supermarket, and collaborating on various initiatives with other local schools.  They develop enterprise skills by running a stationery shop in school, and by designing and making their own games for the annual winter fair.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 ensuring that the learning objectives in all PSHE lessons are clear, measurable and consolidated throughout the lesson  ensuring that the PSHE action plan has clear and measurable success criteria.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

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