Setting

Aviation House 125 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0300 123 1231 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs J Foster Headteacher Archdeacon Cambridge C of E Primary School The Green Twickenham TW2 5TU

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social, and health education (PSHE)

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and pupils, during my visit on 19 March 2010 to look at work in PSHE.

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social, and health education (PSHE)

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of PSHE, the visit had a particular focus on learning to stay safe.

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social, and health 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.

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social, and health education (PSHE)

The evidence used to inform the judgements included: interviews with you, staff, pupils and a group of parents; scrutiny of relevant documentation; analysis of pupils’ work; and observation of three lessons.

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social, and health education (PSHE)

The overall effectiveness of PSHE is outstanding.

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Achievement in PSHE

 Pupils are very confident and highly reflective. They are very sensitive and caring towards each other and are able to discuss important issues honestly, respecting the views of others.  Pupils are very self aware and have a very good understanding of feelings. They know how to recognise emotions in others and are very skilled in managing their own moods. These skills have made a big difference to pupils’ ability to become independent learners.  Pupils have an extremely good knowledge of how to stay healthy and they know the importance of a balanced diet and regular exercise.  Pupils have a very good understanding of the dangers and effects of drugs, including tobacco and alcohol. They have a good knowledge of body changes and a very good understanding of changing relationships in the family.  Pupils have a very good knowledge of the world of work and they collaborate very well in teams and groups. They have a secure

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Achievement in PSHE

understanding of how to manage their pocket money and a very well- developed concern for and understanding of the sustainability of the environment.

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Quality of teaching of PSHE

The quality of teaching of PSHE is good.

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Quality of teaching of PSHE

 Teachers’ relationships with pupils are very positive, trusting and purposeful. They manage pupils’ behaviour extremely well, so lessons run smoothly.  Lessons are interesting and relevant. Extremely good links with other subjects make learning enjoyable, as seen in a Year 5 lesson where pupils were learning about risk-taking and being under pressure, through an analysis of Macbeth.  Teachers make good use of questions to help pupils understand and think at a deeper level. They listen to pupils’ answers and then use subsequent questions to explore issues further. However, occasionally, teachers’ less secure subject knowledge means the question and answer sessions take too long. This slows the pace of the lesson, and there is less opportunity for pupils to learn actively.  Teachers make good use of the interactive whiteboards to make learning more interesting and they use exciting resources, such as swords and

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Quality of teaching of PSHE

cloaks, well. Teaching assistants make a good contribution to pupils’ learning.  Teachers are using assessments of pupils’ learning in social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) well, but there is not enough information to demonstrate pupils’ progress in the subject overall.

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Quality of the curriculum in PSHE

 The use of SEAL materials is very effective and has had a significant impact on improving pupils’ emotional development, meeting their needs extremely well.  Very good use is made of trips and visitors, for example to develop pupils’ understanding and skills in road safety. Good use is made of trips to enable pupils to practise their skills, for example, in water safety when doing a river survey.  The PSHE curriculum is organised in a creative and interesting way by linking subjects together. This means pupils thoroughly enjoy lessons, for example, they learn about money management through a topic on Wallace and Gromit’s vegetable garden.  Pupils’ financial capability is not sufficiently developed. Further work to improve this is already planned.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in PSHE

The leadership and management of PSHE are good.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in PSHE

 There is a strong emphasis on the development of the subject, which is reflected well in the very successful introduction of the use of SEAL materials.  The introduction of SEAL has been evaluated well and there is a clear action plan for the future development of the subject.  There is a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the subject, although the monitoring of the quality of lessons is less well developed.  Although there has been training in SEAL, there has not been enough training for PSHE as a subject.

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Subject issue: learning to stay safe

 Pupils are making very good progress in learning how to stay safe. For example, they know how to travel safely on public transport and have a very good knowledge of e-safety.  There are good opportunities for pupils to make choices and develop their decision-making skills, sometimes linked to particular risks.  There is very good provision to ensure that pupils learn how to use specialist equipment, such as sharp tools.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 providing more training for teachers to develop their subject knowledge.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

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, include:

As I explained previously, 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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