Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Department for Education and Skills - Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners

The Department for Education and Skills - Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Departmental Strategy


Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners


Chapter 3:Primary Schools

Goal: Excellence and enjoyment for every primary child

1. In Excellence and Enjoyment: A Strategy for Primary Schools, published in May 2003, we set out how the fusion of excellence and enjoyment makes good primary education great. Excellent teaching gives children the life chances they deserve; enjoyment is the birthright of every child. But the most powerful mix is the one that brings the two together. Children learn better when they are excited and engaged - but what excites and engages them best is truly excellent teaching which challenges them and shows them what they can do.

2. Primary education in England is already a success story, with many schools delivering very high quality education as part of a rich and fulfilling primary experience. In the vital skills of literacy and numeracy - which underpin so much later learning - we have seen impressive strides in recent years. The maps opposite show the dramatic progress in English, with LEAs where more than 75 percent of pupils reached the expected level shown in blue.

3. Not only have primary schools made impressive and necessary progress in literacy and numeracy, but as the chart above shows, teaching has improved in every single curriculum subject in primary schools since 1997.

4. Ofsted also judge over two thirds of nursery and primary schools as good or better; and teaching is rated at least good in three quarters of primary schools.

Issues and challenges

5. But we cannot be complacent about primary education.

6. In meeting these challenges, we will make the following offer:

Our offer to children and parents

What this means in practice

7. The key policies and programmes that will enable us to make this offer are set out below.

Literacy and Numeracy

8. Improving standards of reading, writing and maths in primary schools remains our top priority. This is an essential platform for achievement at later stages. As the chart overleaf shows, 71 percent of those who reach the expected level at 11 go on to get five good GCSEs, compared with only 14 percent of those who do not.

9. We have not reached any kind of 'ceiling' in children's performance. If all primary schools helped add as much value (taking into account children's different starting points) as the top half of schools, overall performance would already have exceeded our target of 85 percent.

10. Not only this, but the vast majority of children working below the expected Level - Level 4 - are only just below, at Level 3; and of these, a large number get Level 3 in one subject and Level 4 in the other. This suggests that we need to help teachers understand how to make good progress in one subject feed through into others, and provide support for good learning and teaching that crosses subjects.

11. For these reasons, we will continue to give dedicated support, time, training and focus to the teaching of literacy and numeracy, with training for teachers and materials for classrooms that continue to support the best possible ways of teaching children these fundamental skills, as well as training for good teaching across the whole curriculum.

A more personalised approach across the whole curriculum

12. The key is the personalisation of teaching and learning to the needs of the individual child. Through the successful national Primary Strategy (the combined successor to the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies) we will develop teachers' skills in tailoring teaching and learning to the needs of all pupils.

13. Better and easier-to-use information about pupils' progress will support this more personalised approach, with a Pupil Achievement Tracker which can show exactly which subjects pupils are struggling with, and how their progress compares with others starting from a similar level (which can help particularly in making sure pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN), and Gifted and Talented pupils, are being stretched as much as they should be). It can also show whether a particular group or course for certain pupils is working, and track not just pupil but also teacher performance.

14. The Strategy's training will also help teachers understand how to use this kind of information. It goes alongside day to day assessments of children's work - things like marking work or observing children in the classroom - to provide clear feedback on how pupils can improve as well as to determine the next steps in their learning. Assessment for Learning is essential if each pupil is to be helped to make the best progress they can, and reach high standards.

15. It will particularly help children who have in the past been failed by the system. Alongside dedicated support programmes - including, for example, booster work; dedicated SEN programmes and support; addressing boys' difficulties with writing; and support for children with English as an additional language - good use of Assessment for Learning will help to make sure that children are not failed by low expectations.

16. In addition, we are providing additional resource and support to all primary schools with high levels of disadvantage (more than 35 percent of children receiving free school meals), on the model of the Excellence in Cities programme. This will give funding for learning mentors to help children, extra behaviour support, and extra programmes for gifted and talented pupils. This recognises that schools may need to give children from disadvantaged backgrounds more support to help them achieve as well as they should, and in particular to stretch and challenge them. It will also help schools make strong links into the wider support provided for children with additional needs through Children's Trusts, described in Chapter 2.

Children with special educational needs

17. We set out in Removing Barriers to Achievement - our new strategy for children with SEN - how we would ensure that teachers and other professionals have the right skills and support to help all children achieve their full potential (in both primary and secondary schools). We will ensure that parents are well-informed about their children's progress and have confidence in the quality of provision available.

18. We want to break down the divide between mainstream and special schools to create a unified system which meets the needs of all children. Special schools have an important role to play in educating those children with the most complex and severe special educational needs and in sharing their expertise with other schools to support inclusion.

ICT supporting personalised teaching and learning

19. Information and communication technology (ICT) can be a powerful tool for assessing individual progress and personalising learning to the needs of the child. Primary schools are close to meeting the 2004 target of a computer-pupil ratio of 1:8, about half have a broadband connection and about half have at least one electronic whiteboard. 87 percent of primary teachers felt confident in using ICT in 2003. Ofsted report that teaching of ICT in primary schools has improved more than any other subject, (now good in 56 percent of schools), though there is still some way to go before use of ICT is embedded across the curriculum.

20. Over the next 5 years we will help primary schools develop and maintain their ICT infrastructure, and will ensure it is used effectively to improve teaching practice through the Primary Strategy. All primary schools will have broadband by 2006. We also expect to see increasing numbers of interactive whiteboards in primary schools, more teachers having access to laptops, and increasingly sophisticated use of ICT to support learning and management systems.

Extending and enriching the primary curriculum - diversity and choice

21. As well as supporting good teaching the national Primary Strategy will support headteachers in working with their school teams to plan and develop their school curriculum.

22. We intend specifically to extend the range of opportunities for primary children in the following ways:

23. In addition, the work to support subject specialism, set out in Chapter 5, will support primary as well as secondary teachers and teaching assistants in developing their subject expertise.

Partnership with parents and the community

24. We will help all primary schools to develop and deepen their links with parents and the community. Children learn better when home and school work together; schools have a great deal to offer the community as a whole; and a supportive community can make a school a far pleasanter and more effective place to be.

25. Through the national Primary Strategy, we are offering videos and guides for parents and carers with tips on how to help children with reading or maths. We also have popular leaflets on how to get the most from parents' evening, and how to help with homework.

26. We will encourage schools to be more proactive about working with parents, supporting developments like encouraging parents to email the class teacher with any worries, or (as some reception classes do) inviting parents into school to join in the first activity of the day. We are giving schools practical advice on how they can involve parents better, learning from what the best schools do. And we will require schools to make both pupil and parent views part of their school self-evaluation.

The School Profile

A new School Profile will bring together the key information about a school's performance, the school's view of what makes it special, and what its priorities are for the future, in one short, accessible document.

The profile will:

It will include information about:

Extended Schools

27. Many schools already offer a range of services that go beyond the school day and the formal curriculum. Some already offer integrated childcare of the kind described in Chapter 2. Many offer opportunities such as homework clubs and access to arts and sport that engage and motivate children, improving behaviour, attendance, health and achievement. In some schools, multi-disciplinary teams linked to the school provide specialist help for children with particular needs.

28. We want more schools to develop extended services of all kinds. We want every primary school, over time, to be able to offer:

29. Beyond this, we expect that increasing numbers of primary schools will make the 8am to 6pm wraparound childcare offer described in the last chapter. And we are also developing a number of models for "full service" extended schools, which provide a comprehensive range of services on a single site, including access to health services, adult learning and community activities as well as study support and 8am to 6pm wraparound childcare. These models cover both primary and secondary, and also include proposals for networks of schools which between them offer the full range of services. A number of schools are working with us to try out these models and to offer the full range of services to their communities.

30. By 2006, there will be at least one full service extended school in each Local Authority area, focused mainly on areas of disadvantage in accordance with the principles of our strategy. By 2008, at least 1,000 primary schools will offer 8am to 6pm wraparound childcare. Over time, we expect that the vast majority of schools will be part of a network or partnership that, as a whole, makes a full offer to their community.

31. We do not expect schools and teachers to make these extended offers alone. The Children's Trust will help to bring together schools with voluntary and community sector providers who can help; and broker imaginative solutions that do not involve extra work for teachers. As with the childcare guarantee, parents might be asked to contribute towards the cost of some extended services, but not for things - such as study support, clubs and societies - that are currently free.

Healthy and sustainable schools, serving the needs of the whole child

32. Every school - not just extended schools - should do their utmost to serve the needs of the whole child. In particular, our aim is that every school should be a healthy school, giving good teaching and advice about nutrition and exercise backed up by its school lunches, by its PE and school sport, and by its playground activities. Through this work, we will tackle levels of obesity in children, aiming to halt the growth in obesity among under-11s by 2010.

The National Healthy School Standard

The National Healthy School Standard is jointly funded by the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health. It is part of the government's drive to reduce health inequalities, promote social inclusion and raise educational standards.

How does it work?

Local healthy schools programmes, which are managed by local education and health partnerships, provide support to schools to help them become healthy and effective, supported by funding from Government

The National Healthy School Standard Guidance provides national quality standards for local healthy schools programmes. The standards were developed through a process of consultation (with practitioners and policy makers) and research. The guidance sets out criteria for assessing school achievements in relation to the following key themes:

33. Every school should also be an environmentally sustainable school, with a good plan for school transport that encourages walking and cycling, an active and effective recycling policy (moving from paper to electronic processes wherever possible) and a school garden or other opportunities for children to explore the natural world. Schools must teach our children by example as well as by instruction.

Changing the system to underpin our offer

34. We propose to change our system to free schools to teach and to improve. We intend to strip out unnecessary bureaucracy, give teachers and headteachers more confidence, and treat different schools differently - continuing to challenge the ones that are under performing sharply, but being less directive with those that perform well, and moving towards more lateral support for them. This accords exactly with our principles for reform across the system as a whole.

More freedom from bureaucracy

35. We are developing and piloting a programme for improving the way we and Local Authorities work with primary schools. We believe Local Authorities will continue to have a strong role in supporting primary education, but that their support needs to be offered differently. Our reform programme - 'New Relationships with Primary Schools' - will mean fewer data requests, simpler communications, shorter, sharper inspections, a new school profile and a single point of contact for the school - a 'school improvement partner', working through the Local Authority.

Recognising the differences between schools

36. We will work through these primary school improvement partners to challenge and support all schools appropriately, using school self-evaluation and a single school plan to design the support they need in partnership with them. Stronger schools will be given a freer hand in the relationship than weaker ones.

37. Where schools do not respond and are not improving, they will be closed or merged with other schools. We will be intolerant of poor performance and we will make sure that as primary rolls fall over the next few years we offer firm advice to Local Authorities about taking the opportunity to close schools that are not performing well.

38. We are determined that all primary schools will be good schools; and we have set ourselves a target that the proportion of schools in which fewer that 65 percent of children reach the expected level in English and maths will have reduced by 40 percent by 2008 - a dramatic reduction in the number of schools not serving children well enough.

Three-year budgets for more autonomy

39. As we set out in detail in the next chapter, we will introduce a dedicated Schools Budget, with guaranteed national funding delivered via local authorities. All schools will receive guaranteed three-year budgets, driven by pupil numbers and needs, which will give primary as well as secondary schools an unprecedented amount of control and certainty, and much more scope to plan and shape their future direction.

40. We will also continue to support new capital investment for primary schools. Within local authorities' devolved and other allocations, we expect to see investment in primary schools increase by 25 percent by 2005-06, bringing estimated spending on the primary sector to around £1.6 billion.

Building workforce capacity

41. We will put more of a focus on teacher development by linking career progression to high-quality professional development, which will increasingly be school-based, with the best teachers coaching and mentoring others (as described in Chapter 5).

42. We will also help schools make more and better use of a more diverse and flexible workforce. The role of teaching assistants is vital in supporting children's individual needs, in helping teachers use and interpret data, in managing behaviour, and in giving teachers time to plan and prepare lessons. The reshaping of the workforce in schools also means there are more and better career pathways for those who begin working with children and decide they would like to become teaching assistants, and then teachers.

43. By September 2005, every primary teacher will be able to spend 10 percent of their time planning and preparing lessons and assessing work, because of the reforms of the school workforce announced in January 2003. As we offer schools advice on how to move towards giving every teacher this time, we will build in a wide range of suggestions and models that look at ways of using this as an opportunity to bring more skilled adults into school to share their expertise and give children a broader and more rounded primary experience. Not all of these people will be qualified teachers (for example, they might be sports coaches, languages assistants, or chefs who help with teaching cookery) - the focus will be on the skills they have to offer that will add something distinctive to children's learning.

Building capacity by supporting primary leadership

44. If they are to take on the challenges we have set out in this Chapter, we will need the best generation of primary headteachers ever. We know that many primary headteachers are outstanding; and we want to use them to support their colleagues to help improve their schools. This year was the first full year of the Primary Leadership Programme - the largest programme of its kind in the world, and one of the most ambitious.

45. It is leading the way in improving the quality and consistency of education provided in primary schools. Primary Strategy Consultant Leaders, who are successful headteachers with a proven track record in delivering high standards in their own schools, provide support and challenge to other schools to help them improve.

46. In 2003-04, Local Authorities recruited just over 1,000 Consultant Leaders, and 3,500 partner schools took part in the programme. For 2004-05, there are 1,760 Consultant Leaders who will work with 3,000 new schools, and 1,500 that will continue for a second year in the programme. By the end of 2004-05, 6,500 schools (or 8,300, including the Consultant Leaders' own schools) will have been involved in the programme.

Networks of primary schools

47. To help raise standards, we will encourage primary schools to work together in networks. Many primary schools are small; and many feel isolated. Schools that belong to networks can:

48. It may not be right for the same networks to perform all these different functions. But supporting effective learning networks of primary schools will be the single most important way in which we can build the capacity of primary schools to continue to develop and improve, and in particular to offer better teaching and learning and a wider range of opportunities to pupils and to their communities. From September 2004, there will be a funded programme for network development through the national Primary Strategy, focused on improving teaching and learning. We intend this to be the foundation for a far wider range of networking activities in future.

Timetable for Change

Taken together, our reforms mean that:

Now, in 2004:

By 2008:

Our Long Term Aim:

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