2 November 2007 Mr W Chatwin Headteacher Elmete ... - Ofsted

for them to distract each other. Some pupils find these tasks too simple. On other
occasions the lack of challenge stems from teachers not wishing to intimidate pupils.
Staff can become over-protective, offering answers to questions rather than leaving
space for pupils to take more responsibility for their response. However, there were
good examples of more effective practice when teachers asked questions and left
time for the pupil to reflect before answering. Teachers were conscious of the need
to maintain a good pace, used questioning skilfully to draw pupils into the activities
and offered opportunities for them to evaluate their own work.
A similar systematic approach is supporting the development of the curriculum. Very
thorough monitoring of medium and long-term planning has identified areas of the
curriculum where planning needs to be improved to give pupils a consistent
experience. The programme for personal social and health education (PSHE) has
been fully planned and agreed with good support from Education Leeds’ consultants.
The priority area of sexual and relationships education is well under way. After
internal monitoring identified fundamental flaws in the provision for physical
education (PE), the scheme of work has been radically changed to emphasise skills
rather than activities in both the lesson plans and assessment approaches. Support
staff are undertaking specialist PE training and the school is offering pupils
opportunities to train as junior sports leaders. Senior managers are exploring ways of
providing further PE opportunities in partnership with a nearby secondary school.
Recent appointments of subject leaders for PE and PSHE have added stability to
these improvements. An after-school club in creative arts, open to all pupils, has
been established this term in conjunction with the youth service.
The newly appointed parent and family support worker has been successful in
liaising with some individual families and this has resulted in improved attendance in
these cases. The impact of the recently established multi-disciplinary team within the
school is yet to be evaluated, although early evidence suggests this is a positive
development. A pilot project pulling together the pupils’ behaviour, academic,
attendance and healthy and safe living targets into an individual learning plan is
being prepared for implementation for Key Stage 3 pupils at the Stonegate Road site.
This involves the pupils, parents and carers and has much promise.
There are examples of good written feedback being given to pupils about their work.
The best clearly identifies what they have mastered, the level of their work and also
describes what they need to do to improve further. However, this practice is
inconsistent across subjects and in some cases within a subject.
Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in February 2007:
� Ensure pupils achieve well by improving the quality of teaching and the
curriculum – satisfactory.
Leadership and management
The senior staff are working well as a team and, as a consequence, are delivering
consistent messages to staff. Staff are responding well to the challenges set and
they are fully involved in school development through their membership of various
‘change’ groups, such as those looking at teaching and learning and the
Page 4 of 6