2 November 2007 Mr W Chatwin Headteacher Elmete ... - Ofsted
2 November 2007 Mr W Chatwin Headteacher Elmete ... - Ofsted
2 November 2007 Mr W Chatwin Headteacher Elmete ... - Ofsted
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Personal development and well-being<br />
The attendance of the pupils, overall, is stubbornly low at 70%. It is much lower at<br />
the Stonegate Road site. The school is making strong efforts to tackle this, but feels<br />
it has been hampered by staffing issues in the local authority’s attendance service.<br />
Each pupil now has an attendance target and the school’s attendance policy has<br />
been reviewed. The number of fixed-term exclusions and the number of pupils<br />
receiving exclusions is high, but reflects the firm stance being taken by the school in<br />
setting out its stall with regard to what is and what is not acceptable behaviour.<br />
Generally, the attitudes and behaviour of the pupils in lessons are satisfactory. The<br />
sporadic challenges posed by individual pupils are managed effectively. Nevertheless,<br />
there are a few other pupils who display low-level disruption in the lessons which are<br />
not managed successfully by some staff. In these cases, expectations as to what is<br />
acceptable and what is not are not conveyed clearly enough to the pupils at the<br />
outset of the lesson. Equally, there is insufficient reference made to behavioural<br />
targets and the recently revised ‘bonus’ system during the lesson in order to curb<br />
this behaviour. However, the bonus system is applied consistently at the end of<br />
lessons and the pupils are responding well to the points and raffle tickets they can<br />
earn. The school has begun to gather data on the issuing of points and incidents of<br />
misbehaviour but has not enough yet for it to be analysed thoroughly.<br />
Quality of provision<br />
Clear systems are in place to develop a consistent quality of teaching and learning<br />
across all subjects. These are beginning to have an impact on assessment, the<br />
matching of work to pupils’ needs and the academic targets for pupils. There are<br />
areas of well-developed practice, but variability remains. There is a routine for<br />
explaining what pupils are expected to learn within lessons and then discussing how<br />
far they have progressed at the end of the lesson. In some lessons, such as science<br />
and music, teachers’ plans identify the skills and concepts individual pupils should<br />
master. Teachers are referring to boundaries between different levels of response<br />
when they talk to pupils and encouraging them to aspire to the next level. As yet,<br />
pupils see the next steps more in terms of behaviour or concentration rather than on<br />
mastering skills or concepts. The very strong relationships and good role models<br />
provided by staff are more influential in ensuring good behaviour than the<br />
attractiveness of the work. However, in more lessons teachers are exploiting a range<br />
of learning styles and using technology – film clips for example – to make the tasks<br />
more appealing. There is still some lack of confidence in ICT on the <strong>Elmete</strong> Lane site<br />
and technical difficulties are inhibiting the use of ICT at the Stonegate Road site. This<br />
is hampering attempts to make the work more engaging. Teachers make good use of<br />
praise to encourage and motivate pupils and work well with behaviour support<br />
workers to maintain momentum within lessons. When faced with significant<br />
resistance on the Stonegate Road site, the adults are calmly persistent and find<br />
every opportunity to draw pupils into cooperating.<br />
In some lessons teachers are not providing enough challenge. Sometimes this is<br />
because they devise tasks which keep pupils busy in order to reduce opportunities<br />
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