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 T Willmott Headteacher St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School Whitefields Road Solihull B91 3NZ

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – E-safety

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 18 May 2009 to look at work in e-safety.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – E-safety

As outlined in my initial letter, this visit looked at:  the extent to which schools teach learners to adopt safe and responsible practices in using new technologies  e-safety training for staff.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – E-safety

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 – E-safety

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included interviews with staff and pupil, scrutiny of relevant documentation and an analysis of pupils’ work.

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Ofsted survey inspection programme – E-safety

The overall effectiveness of e-safety was judged to be good.

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Outcomes for learners

 Pupils have an excellent grasp of the potential risks when using the internet. The oldest pupils have extremely mature attitudes. They talk knowledgeably about how a straight forward search might lead to links with inappropriate material and are clear about what to do should this occur.  Several of the Year 6 pupils use ‘chat rooms’. They showed an excellent understanding that on-line conversations could be hacked into and how to avoid this.  Younger pupils also have a mature understanding and are highly aware of e-safety issues, for example, that people sending a message might not be who they say they are. These pupils are also aware of the potential misuse of mobile phone texting.  All pupils are aware that they should keep their passwords secret and that they should avoid providing any personal details to strangers.  Apart from one incident out of school, which was followed up immediately, pupils say they do not know of any instances of cyber

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Quality of provision

 The issue of e-safety is raised frequently during day-to-day lessons. Every time that pupils are to access the internet, their attention is drawn to the SMART guidelines (secret, meeting, accepting, remember, tell) which remind them, for example, of the need to keep their personal details secret and to tell an adult if anything untoward comes up during their computer work.  Pupils are taught how to stay safe when using new technologies. This starts at a basic level in the Early Years Foundation Stage when children learn that they should tell an adult if they access the wrong program. Pupils receive very good guidance in the older classes. This includes input six times a year when volunteers from a telecommunications company lead sessions on communication using different kinds of media and include references to e-safety.  You are reviewing the curriculum in the light of the Rose report, with the intention of extending cross-curricular links. Staff are aware that

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Quality of provision

the curriculum for e-safety needs to be clearly set out in the proposed curriculum map, to help ensure that the provision is less intuitive and more systematic.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of e-safety are good.

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Leadership and management

 Senior staff are well aware of e-safety issues. As a member of the local authority’s sub-committee for safeguarding children, you keep colleagues up to date with relevant issues.  A comprehensive policy on e-safety provides excellent guidance for staff and is regularly reviewed and up-dated. Staff are well aware of the content of the policy and this makes a significant contribution to pupils’ safety when using new technologies.  Every parent has been sent a CD outlining how they can help their children stay safe when using computers and mobile phones, and an annual questionnaire seeks their views on safeguarding issues, including e-safety. The ‘parents’ file includes useful e-safety advice for parents and pupils.  School leaders are fully aware of the areas for development and these are included in the school development plan.

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Quality of training

 The ICT coordinator attends regular training sessions and disseminates e-safety information across the school.  E-safety is an agenda item for staff meetings through the year; ideas are shared and communicated through the school. As a result, all staff have a very good awareness of the need to emphasise e-safety in their teaching and to be vigilant when pupils are using the internet.  Time on inset days is allocated to e-safety training.  Specific e-safety training sessions are planned by the local authority in respect of the introduction of the learning platform.  The outcomes of training have been effective so far, but the school is aware that training needs to be more systematic to ensure these positive outcomes are sustained as staffing changes and issues emerge.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 ensuring that curriculum planning includes specific guidance about teaching e-safety across subjects and year groups  sustaining the current impetus on e-safety by organising a systematic training programme for all staff.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop e-safety 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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