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 W Young Headteacher Victoria Junior School Victoria Road Feltham TW13 4AQ

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – Physical Education

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff, during my visit on Thursday 19 March 2009 to look at work in 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

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. The evidence used to inform the judgements made included interviews with staff and pupils, scrutiny of relevant documentation and observation of two 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

 By the end of Key Stage 2, standards are above the national average, particularly in dance and games. Intensive staff training and support in dance teaching, led by an advanced skills teacher has increased teacher competence and confidence in teaching dance. This is helping to raise standards.  The school allocates fifteen consecutive weeks of thirty-minute swimming lessons for pupils in both Year 4 classes. This is insufficient to ensure that the majority of pupils meet the minimum requirements for swimming by the end of Key Stage 2. The majority of pupils begin swimming lessons from very low starting points as most of them have never been taken swimming by their parents or carers. Although most of them make some progress, a significant number cannot swim twenty-five metres by the end of Key Stage 2.  The majority of pupils make good progress in PE lessons as a result of good teaching that promotes positive attitudes and generates high

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Achievement and standards

levels of enjoyment. Regular participation in an extensive range of enrichment activities at lunchtimes and after-school helps pupils to reinforce basic skills and know how to apply them in different activities.  Boys and girls achieve equally as well as each other. Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities, particularly those with a physical disability, make good progress because teaching assistants join in with them in lessons and provide them with good support.

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Personal development and well-being

Personal development and well-being is good.

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Personal development and well-being

 One of the school’s main strengths is that it gives pupils from over twenty different ethnic backgrounds equal access to the PE curriculum and enrichment programme. All pupils behave very well and work and play together in this harmonious, stimulating environment.  Lunchtime play leaders provide a wide range of games and play activities for other pupils to enjoy. Participation rates are high and pupils enthuse about what’s on offer.  Pupils know about the importance of leading active lifestyles and help to promote sensible eating. For example, they have led a healthy lunch box competition, helped to make ‘smoothies’ and tried different fruits with their parents.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PE

The quality of teaching and learning is good.

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Quality of teaching and learning of PE

 A detailed scheme of work and individual lesson plans instil teachers’ confidence in teaching PE, and help to develop greater consistency in lesson quality. Lesson plans contain more detail in games and dance than they do in other areas.  Teachers set high expectations. They manage behaviour well and share positive relations with pupils. Learning is made fun which helps to engage pupils’ interest and ensure they work hard and achieve well.  Regular, manageable assessment and recording of individual pupils’ progress provides teachers with a clear overview of how well pupils are doing and who would benefit from further support. Procedures are relatively new and are not yet fully shared with pupils so that they have an understanding of how well they are doing and what else they could do to improve further.

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Quality of the curriculum

 Teachers make the most of the restricted indoor and outdoor facilities to provide a broad, balanced PE curriculum consisting of games, gymnastics, dance, athletics and swimming. Two hours of PE each week is enhanced by additional sports activities during ‘golden time’ on Friday afternoons. A whole school, thematic curriculum has been recently introduced across classes in all four years. This contains relevant, specific activities related to PE, sport and healthy lifestyles.  Enrichment is a strength. Teachers and external coaches combine to provide regular after-school clubs for all age groups and fixtures against other schools. The school engages fully in the wide range of tournaments, competitions and events organised by the local school sports partnership and by the well established Feltham Primary Schools’ Sports Association.  Pupils talk enthusiastically about the annual outdoor and adventurous

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Quality of the curriculum

activity day that takes place in Year 6 and gives them opportunities to participate in enjoyable team-building and water-sports activities.  Swimming is a weakness. Despite the efforts of the school it does not have access to sufficient pool-time to ensure that all pupils can swim by the time they leave school. There are no local procedures for forwarding information about which pupils can and cannot swim to their receiving secondary schools so that they can make other arrangements to ensure that pupils can learn to swim.

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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

 Highly effective subject leadership by an experienced practitioner ensures that other teachers feel well supported in teaching PE and running after-school clubs. He has ensured that teachers have good subject documentation, resources and training. Monitoring procedures are thorough and effective. Recent formal lesson observations have been made in dance, games, gymnastics and athletics. Games lessons taught by an external coach have not yet been formally monitored.  Self evaluation is thorough and accurate. The subject leader’s decisive action to increase girls’ engagement in PE and enrichment and improve the quality of dance lessons has led to significant improvement.  The headteacher and governors demonstrate a good understanding of the Physical Education School Sport and Club Links strategy and are committed to seeking further improvements to overall provision. They know what the school’s strengths and weaknesses of PE are and

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Leadership and management of PE

acknowledge the effect that limited pool time is having on helping pupils to learn to swim.

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‘being healthy’

The school holds the Activemark, Healthy Schools and Football Association Charter Standard, illustrating its commitment to PE, sport and children’s health and well-being. It collates detailed monitoring records which show that the majority of this diverse population of pupils engage in some sort of health-promoting physical activity, either in lessons, during lunchtimes and after-school or by walking to and from school. It has taken positive action to promote girls’ participation and introduce after school activities for the youngest pupils. There is a good focus on what constitutes healthy eating; some progress has been made in educating parents about the importance of healthy lunch boxes and eating fresh fruit. Pupils have also taken responsibility for this by considering what types of food pupils are bringing to school in their lunch boxes. The school is part of the National Child Measurement Programme. All Reception and Year 6 pupils in primary schools

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‘being healthy’

in Hounslow have been assessed by medical staff to gauge overweight and obesity levels amongst children living in the borough. Data has been collated and individual parents can request information relating to their own child’s weight. The school will then be in a better position to address the specific exercise and dietary needs of those pupils identified as overweight and obese.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 work with the local authority to seek ways of improving provision for swimming in order to increase the proportion of pupils who can swim at least twenty-five metres and employ personal survival skills in water by the end of Key Stage 2  inform all secondary schools which Year 6 pupils have not met minimum expectations for swimming and cannot swim at least twenty- five metres  share assessment information with pupils so that they know what the expectations are, how close they are to meeting them and to help them identify what else they could do to improve  extend formal lesson monitoring to quality assure those games lessons taught by an external sports coach.

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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. 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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