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 Grime Headteacher St Cuthbert’s Church of England Primary School St Alban’s Road Darwen BB3 0HY

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education (PE)

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and pupils, during my visit on 17 September 2010 to look at work in PE.

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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 without their consent.

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education (PE)

The evidence used to inform the judgements included interviews with staff and pupils; scrutiny of relevant documentation; analysis of pupils’ reports; and observation of three lessons and playtime.

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education (PE)

The overall effectiveness of PE is good.

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Achievement in PE

 Pupils enjoy lessons a great deal and their behaviour is outstanding. A good proportion of pupils in Key Stage 2 takes part in extra-curricular PE and sport-related activities.  Pupils have a good understanding of the effects of exercise on the body and its importance as part of a healthy lifestyle. They dance with exuberbance and persevere in refining actions and planning dance sequences. They recognise good points and what may need improving in their own and each other’s performances.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress in lessons. Pupils in the Primary School Resourced Provision make outstanding progress in PE sessions.

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Quality of teaching in PE

 Good planning sets out clear learning outcomes that are shared with pupils so that they know what is expected of them. It is not always clear how tasks will be adjusted to meet pupils’ different needs so occasionally more able pupils are not fully challenged.  Lessons include good levels of physical activity and challenge. Well- structured opportunities build on skills and structure dances. Pupils receive good feedback from teachers on how well they are doing. They are fully involved in reviewing performance for improvement.  Pupils’ progress is recorded each term against the National Curriculum skills expected. This information is used by teachers to plan lessons but it is not yet refined sufficiently to fully identify differences in pupils’ progress wthin different parts of the curriculum.

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Quality of the curriculum in PE

The quality of the PE curriculum is good.

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Quality of the curriculum in PE

 The school enables all pupils to access at least three hours of PE or school sport each week. In addition to the two hours of curriculum time, pupils have well-organised exercise sessions, known as ‘Wake and Shake’, and lunchtimes provide plenty of opportunity for organised games and play.  Local authority schemes of work provide a good basis for progression. Links are often made between PE and the themes around which the school curriculum is planned. As a result, pupils are interested in and excited by lessons, for example, dance lessons relating to the study of mini-beasts or the Second World War.  Swimming is provided for sufficient time to enable most pupils to reach the Key Stage 2 goal for distance. The facilities used restrict opportunities to develop a full range of water-safety skills.  A good programme of competitive and recreational extra-curricular activities, well supported by the school sport partnership, is offered mainly

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Quality of the curriculum in PE

to Key Stage 2 pupils. Plans are in place to extend the provision for Key Stage 1 pupils.  The Primary School Resourced Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities makes excellent use of PE and sporting activities to develop personal and social skills and build confidence alongside pupils’ physical development. Pupils with gross and fine motor skill difficulties from across the school are identified quickly and well-tailored programmes help them to improve coordination, balance and overall confidence.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in PE

The effectiveness of leadership and management in PE is good.  Self-evaluation is accurate and based on senior- and middle-leader monitoring of provision and outcomes.  Good consultation with staff, pupils and parents is leading to further improvements, for example, in the provision of extra-curricular activities.  Effective liaison with the school sport partnership brings benefits to the quality of provision, wider opportunities for pupils to participate in competition and recreational activities and useful well-focused professional development.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 ensuring that lesson planning includes activities that match pupils’ different needs, especially for the more able  developing the systems of assessing and recording progress to more readily reflect pupils’ progress in different strands of the curriculum  finding ways of providing more opportunities for pupils to learn water- safety skills  providing more extra-curricular opportunities for Key Stage 1 pupils.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

I hope that these observations are useful as you continue to develop PE 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 published on the Ofsted website. It may be used to inform decisions about any future inspection. Except in the case of academies, a copy of this letter is also being sent to your local authority.

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