The Primary Department
Standards
The attainment of pupils overall is in line with their abilities and progress is good. Pupils who speak English as an additional language make very good progress.
In the Maternelle department, from age 3 to age 5, pupils are working towards the early learning goals for the age group. Their attainment is satisfactory overall. The experiences and the support that the children receive promote their personal, social and emotional development. Children learn to listen attentively and by the end of Maternelle 3 have developed a good degree of personal independence and are able to work and play on their own in small groups. In promoting communication, language and literacy, children are given opportunities to talk and use language accurately to explain what they are doing clearly. For example, children in Maternelle 3 described the pasta shapes they were about to use in a collage as curly, twisty and in spirals and recognised links with the spiral stairs and slides they had discussed previously. They listen to stories attentively and with enjoyment, benefiting from the wide range of story books and other reading material available.
Standards from Onzième upwards match pupils’ ages and abilities. Pupils in Onzième speak confidently and listen carefully. In writing, they use their growing vocabulary well and place capitals, full stops and commas accurately. In Dixieme, many pupils choose words for variety and interest and suggest how they can improve their expression. In one class, for example, pupils suggested that a sentence could be improved by changing ‘she is thoughtful and generous’ to ‘her thoughtfulness and generosity’. Pupils in Neuvieme are confident and mature in spoken responses and questions. They enjoy exploring ideas and using words for dramatic effect. Some pupils in Huitieme wrote persuasive and descriptive sentences as they pretended to be Christopher Columbus requesting sponsorship from King Ferdinand. In Septieme, pupils express themselves clearly, listen carefully and offer thoughtful opinions. By this stage, pupils are confident readers at all levels of ability and achieve high standards of writing in a wide variety of forms.
Progress
The rate of progress in the Maternelle classes is sound, but could be accelerated. It is adversely affected by two factors: the staffing ratios in Maternelle (1:16) are insufficient to allow high levels of individual discussion and support, and some teaching methods, at times constrained by the accommodation, are not well suited to the needs of the children.
Form Onzieme onwards, pupils make rapid progress. The writing of the younger pupils develops well and by Neuvieme is securely established. Thorough preparation for writing through discussion and modelling leads to a clear understanding of writing for different purposes and readerships. The writing of the most able pupils in Huitieme and Septieme is well above average. Although, in line with the French system, formal reading instruction begins later than in the UK, pupils in all years have good understanding of stories and non-fiction texts and by Septieme standards of independent reading are in line with those in the UK. Pupils in Huitieme and Septieme use their previous knowledge well, displaying a mature appreciation of texts and characters.
The progress of pupils for whom English is an additional language is rapid, particularly from Onzieme onwards. They gain confidence in listening and speaking English and, over time, fluency and accuracy in reading and writing.
Learning
The quality of learning and behaviour is good, though in a small minority of classes, pupils’ behaviour needs more skilful management and teaching needs to be better planned.
On the whole, from Onzieme onwards, pupils are highly motivated and keen to learn. They work hard, both in small groups and as a class. They concentrate well. Many use dictionaries and word lists to good effect. There were many instances from Neuvieme onwards of pupils who were eager to get down to writing and to make use of new vocabulary. In Huitieme and Septieme, pupils’ intellectual curiosity leads them to ask relevant questions and give thoughtful answers. With the support of parents, homework is completed well and is of a high standard.
Teaching
The quality of teaching is good overall. In the lessons inspected, it was good or better in almost two-thirds and satisfactory in a quarter. Two lessons had some unsatisfactory features.
Effective joint lesson planning achieves a good balance between listening, speaking, reading and writing. The teaching takes account of the range of language backgrounds and capabilities in each class. Teaching strategies engage all pupils actively in oral work. Written tasks are appropriately challenging and based on good preparation. Pupils are introduced to a wide range of texts and reading is taught systematically from Onzieme, using a balanced range of strategies
The knowledge and expertise of the teachers underpin the good standards achieved. In most lessons, pupils are well managed and relationships are very good. High expectations are a feature throughout both in lessons and in homework. Homework is set regularly, using a wide range of tasks, including the learning of spellings in context and research task for older pupils. Work is marked promptly and thoroughly, with clear comments in most instances on what has been done well and how work might be improved. Marking often takes place in drafting books and successfully encourages pupils to use comments to improve their own writing.
Where teaching falls short of this high standard, the teachers did not benefit fully from the joint planning. Activities were not well planned to match pupils’ age and experience and, as a result, pupils made slower progress and did not achieve the standards of which they were capable. In a small number of lessons, the behaviour of some pupil needed more skilful management.
Organisation and Management of the Department
Leadership and management
The primary department is extremely well led and managed. The ethos is excellent. The pupils, who only attend the department for two sessions a week, have a strong sense of security and of belonging to a community. This is the result of the care, kindness and commitment of the staff and the drive and dedication of the head of the primary department, ably assisted by the head of early years and the administrative staff.
Arrangements are very thorough for induction, appraisal and professional development. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of planning and teaching enhance the formal appraisal cycle. The programme of in-service training is carefully considered and training is provided in the department during the weekly planning sessions. External courses provide a good system for keeping staff up-to-date. However, not all teachers avail themselves of opportunities to attend outside courses.
Curriculum
The curriculum is underpinned by planning and policy documents that are revised and kept up-to-date. The time allocated weekly to teacher planning is very well spent and impacts significantly on the quality of most teaching and learning. The National Curriculum and the Literacy Strategy, which are central to planning in the UK, are used well to guide planning and teaching. Appropriate selections and adaptations are made in light of the Section’s time allocation and of the French system’s requirements. Elements of the programmes for history, geography and science are woven into the programmes to support language teaching.
Assessment
Day-to-day records are kept in the primary department from Onzieme onwards, linking closely with the French system where appropriate. Records are kept for children in the Maternelle classes but these need to be fuller and used for on-going monitoring of children’s achievements.
Assessment procedures have been under review and recent developments and changes should lead to more detailed analysis of data from nationally standardised tests. This should be incorporated into a profile of developing language competences and linked with standardised assessments at age 11 and 14. These would then enable the British section as a whole to assess the progress of pupils over time.
Staffing
The number, qualifications and experience of the staff are satisfactory overall, except for the Maternelle classes where the staffing levels are lower than in the UK. In the UK, a second member of staff, either a teacher or a trained nursery nurse would be allocated to a group of sixteen pupils. In the remainder of the primary sector, staffing levels are good, at least in line with the UK independent sector and often better. Staff are well deployed to support pupils’ learning.
Resources
The primary department is exceptionally well resourced with books. The quantity, quality and range of attractive fiction and non-fiction are outstanding. They are used very well to support teaching and pupils’ private reading. Other resources to support teaching and learning, including materials to support project work, are readily available and efficiently stored.
ICT provision is more limited, although the pupils are taught ICT as part of the French curriculum and good support is available at home for homework tasks, both research and presentation. ICT is not used to its full potential of in the classroom to support teaching and day-to-day activity by pupils.
Accommodation
The teaching of primary aged children takes place in three locations. The classrooms at the Lycee, where the bulk of the teaching of Onzieme to Septieme takes place, are pleasant and well equipped with good storage and display space. The rooms at the Le Pecq site have the advantage of being in a primary school but are not adjoining, which places some constraints on classroom management.
Accommodation for the Maternelle classes has some strengths but many constraints. The strengths include greater security at Jehan Alain and access to dedicated and secure playgrounds at both sites. Classrooms have to be shared with other age groups at the Lycee and currently with other users at Jehan Alain and are not as well adapted to the needs of the youngest pupils in their organisation and display. Accommodation is not always as secure as would be required in the UK.
Recommendations
In order to further improve teaching, standards and pupil welfare:
1. undertake a review of planning, teaching, assessment and recording, use of resources and accommodation in the Maternelle classes;
2. provide further advice and support for classroom management, planning and teaching strategies where these are needed;
3. consider what policies are appropriate for health, safety and child protection.