Inspection 2001

Introduction

The review was carried out by Martin Skelton. Martin has been a teacher and head teacher of a number of schools and is now a director of Fieldwork Education. Fieldwork works with British schools in the UK and overseas and with a large number of other international schools throughout the world. Martin is also a Registered Inspector in the UK, which means that he leads inspections of schools on behalf of the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED).

The main purposes of the review were to look at the quality of children's learning and the quality of teaching which contributed to that learning. Where time allowed, Martin was also asked to look at school curriculum documents, policies and anything else which might have an impact on children's learning.

In the three days he spent in the school he observed ten lessons or parts of lessons. He met with the head teacher and with each member of staff. He had informal discussions with some parents and some members of the administration staff. He looked at the school resources and at various school documents.

Most of his time at the school was spent in classrooms where, using the criteria developed for the inspection of schools in the UK, he made four different judgements.

First, he made a judgement about children's levels of attainment. This means the National Curriculum level at which most children were working. In making this judgement he was seeking to find whether children were working at levels appropriate to their age as defined by the National Curriculum or higher or lower than those levels. Second, he made judgements about the progress children were making. This means how much new learning (or consolidation of previous learning) was taking place within each lesson. Third, he made judgements about the quality of teaching. This means how much teachers were actually helping children learn. Fourth, he made judgements about children's attitudes and behaviour. This means the extent to which children are contributing towards their own learning.

Children's attainment

In the lessons I observed all of the children in the school were working at a level which was at least appropriate to that expected of them for their age by the National Curriculum. In four of the lessons I observed children were working at a level higher than that expected of them by the National Curriculum.

At other times, children showed evidence of working at levels above those expected of them. In science, some of the youngest children could identify a range of materials and knew a number of their properties. In English a class of Year Two and Three children were developing very good skills of analysis and were able to talk about the styles of different authors. For example, one child pointed out that 'Dickens used lots of 'ands' because it helps him describe messy situations.' In their writing these children were beginning to use grammatically complex sentences. In a computer class, children were able to combine pictures and text to make posters and to use paint and draw programmes to interpret the style of different artists.

Children's progress

In the majority of lessons I observed children were making more progress than might be expected of them in a single lesson. This is a very positive judgement about the school as it means that significant learning was taking place.

(The reason that this is so positive is straightforward. 'Progress' is a better judgement of a school than 'attainment'. Children's attainment can be put down to a wide range of factors including the innate ability they bring from home. Their progress, on the other hand, is directly related to how well the school is organised and to what teachers are doing in the classroom. Also, children can have high attainment ­ due to their innate ability ­ without making much progress as a result of their schooling. A school is responsible for the progress of children of all abilities, not for those abilities themselves.)

Teaching

In four of the lessons I observed, teaching was satisfactory. Although this sounds faintly demeaning it is in fact a positive judgement. It means that in these lessons teachers were doing what was necessary to make sure that children's learning was taking place. In three of the lessons I observed, teaching was good. This means that in these lessons, these teachers were doing more than might be expected to ensure that children's learning was taking place.

In another three of the lessons, the teaching I saw was very good. This means that these lessons were as good as they could have been and the teachers provided every possible chance for children to learn.

(These judgements should not be taken to read that one teacher was necessarily better than another teacher. A teacher who taught a 'very good' lesson during one of the lessons might have taught or 'good' or 'satisfactory' lesson during another observation. Like the rest of us, the quality of teachers' work can vary from session to session. What is important is to make sure that all teaching is at least satisfactory.)

Children's attitudes and behaviour

In every lesson I visited, children's behaviour and attitude to their learning was at least good. In the majority of lessons I visited it was very good. This means that children were keen to learn, responded well to their teachers and were able to work well both independently and collaboratively.

Other issues

The school has begun to develop a very good system of recording the results of the assessment of children's work. In the future, the analysis of these assessment records will play a major part in ensuring that appropriate targets are set so that individual children and groups of children can make as much progress as possible. A method for assessing children when they join the school was also seen to be in preparation. This will help the school to assess both the attainment and potential progress of children as they move through the different classes.

The school already has a system for monitoring what goes on in classrooms. Each classroom is visited by the headteacher who provides feedback to teachers on what she has seen. This is discussed with teachers and a report is written of both the classroom visit and the discussion. As this process develops it should have an enormous impact on further improvements in the quality of teaching and learning in the school.

The school provides a good range of information to parents. Newsletters are informative and written in an accessible style. A termly letter to parents lets them know about the themes their children will be studying. This could be extended to provide information about what children will be learning within those themes. The web site is attractive and informative, although the language is not quite as accessible to parents as the newsletters.

Conclusion

My visit took place towards the end of the school's first year. This would have been an eventful time in the life of any school but, as we all know, The British School of Boston had to begin its existence in a way none of us would have wished.

For the first term, the four teachers who were appointed to the school not only taught their classes but also did much to maintain the momentum every organisation needs in its early days. They were given valuable support in this but much of the credit goes to them. The current head teacher then took over the school in what were, inevitably, different circumstances.

In the light of all that happened in the school's first year it would have been enough for the school to have simply made it through. But the school did much more than this. By concentrating on establishing good learning and teaching in classrooms and by beginning to develop all of those processes and systems any organisation needs the school has done more than might be expected of it.

Children are happy in the school. They work well in classrooms. Teachers plan interesting lessons and teach in ways that help children to make progress and develop their learning. The head teacher and teachers are committed to the school. By the end of its first year the school was achieving the kind of stability which must have seemed unlikely just a few months earlier. It is in the best position possible to continue its development as an effective school.