It was a pleasure to visit the school on 25^th May. As always, I was inspired by the work that takes place, committed staff teaching hardworking, enthusiastic children. It is a privilege to see the school at work.

Mathematics

Hannah Darko, fellow governor, and I met with Lorna Dermody to discuss progress in mathematics. We observed three maths lessons, classes from Years 3, 4 and 5. We saw teaching and learning in the classroom and had the opportunity to look at the work that children complete in their books.

The mathematics curriculum is well established, and it is evident that the pupils enjoy their lessons. Teachers use good questioning techniques to ensure clear understanding and the children articulate their thinking very well. In all lessons, the pupils had the opportunity to discuss the problems they were solving. The conversations were rich and meaningful and helped the children to understand their work. In one lesson, we saw excellent use of purchased resources when the children were learning about time. They used model analogue clocks, clock diagrams and mini whiteboards to support their learning and to consolidate their understanding.

Internal monitoring indicates that learning in mathematics continues to be very good. There was evidence of standardised methods for problem solving and calculation, as well as progression over time. A noted area of improvement was to ensure that children working at greater depth are given opportunity to move onto more complex work quickly.

Design Technology

I met with Becky Bryan, subject lead for DT and looked at work produced by the children in all year groups.

The DT curriculum continues to evolve and develop at pace. All children are given the opportunity to design and make using a variety of media and techniques. Each year they learn new skills and develop those learned earlier in their school career. Work is show cased and recorded in floor books which clearly show progression over time. There is clear evidence that the children have made progress from year to year.

Becky is a driven, enthusiastic subject leader. Her thorough planning and guidance have ensured that teachers are confident to deliver high quality lessons in DT. I saw a recording the Year 6 children doing a food lesson. The teacher led the pupils into excellent discussion which enhanced their learning. They worked well together and produced high quality end products.

From internal monitoring, Becky has highlighted the area for improvement, better use of IT for DT lessons. She has already booked some training and is considering the purchase of new software.

Computing

I met with Jo Kervick, subject lead for Computing. The curriculum has been established by use of the bought package Purple Mash. This has been an excellent starting point for the introduction of computing lessons and all children are accessing the curriculum. Central planning and the booking of IT facilities have ensured that teachers are able to deliver good quality computing lessons.

During the lock down, the children developed their skills in using certain software packages, Teams, Word etc, but some other areas were not developed as well. Since the return to full time in school learning, wider skills have been successfully developed using Purple Mash.

Given the increased competence and confidence of the teaching staff, Jo is now developing the curriculum further. Children will be accessing a wider range of opportunities, other packages and bespoke lessons will be introduced. In the second half of the summer term Crumble kits, easily programmable computers, are being introduced. The pupils will be able to further develop their coding skills.

Internal monitoring confirms that computing is well taught and that technical skills are at their highest across the whole school. Students make good progress which is monitored by Jo centrally.