ESTYN Inspection
December 2023
Recommendation 1
Ensure all pupils make effective progress in the development of their numeracy and reading skills.
The school has improved provision for teaching reading and numeracy skills and pupils are now making effective progress in these areas. Leaders have developed useful long-term planning for mathematics, which focuses clearly on the development of pupils’ skills.
Leaders have a clear vision for developing a positive culture of reading and they have developed a strong focus on teaching reading progressively across the school. Teachers consider the skills they need their pupils to learn over time and plan carefully for their development.
By Year 2, pupils are developing fluency and self-correct efficiently when they realise that they have made a mistake. Pupils in Years 3 to 6 read a range of texts and develop comprehension skills well. Older pupils infer meaning and provide opinions, justifying these successfully by referring to the text.
Recommendation 2
Improve the quality of teaching to ensure all pupils make effective progress.
Leaders have secured effective improvements to the quality of teaching. There is now a clear and consistent approach, which adapts to how pupils progress at their various stages of development and enables most pupils to make strong progress. This is reinforced by welcoming learning environments, where wall displays support a culture of developing independence among pupils. There are strong working relationships between staff and pupils, and pupils co-operate very well together on tasks or to offer each other support. This contributes to the good standards of behaviour and an atmosphere conducive to learning.
Recommendation 3
Ensure pupils from nursery to Year 2 develop their create and problem solving skills through effective opportunities for exploration and play.
Leaders have invested significantly in the development of outdoor learning environments. All classes from reception to Year 2 now have well-resourced outdoor areas and the youngest pupils benefit from ‘free flow’ access to the outdoors. A range of quality resources, such as woodwork benches, provide effective challenge.
Recommendation 4
Improve the process for identifying and reviewing individual targets for pupils with additional learning needs.
The acting additional learning needs co-ordinator has developed beneficial processes to ensure that provision for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) is effective. Across the school, including the learning resource bases, teachers identify beneficial short-term targets for pupils which are reviewed regularly. As a result, pupils with ALN now make effective progress from their starting points.
Whole school processes for tracking and monitoring pupils’ learning over time have been developed well. This supports the early identification of pupils with ALN across the school successfully. Staff offer a wide range of programmes to provide extra support for pupils when needed. They consider individual pupils’ next steps in learning carefully and match them with well-planned interventions. This ensures that most pupils make effective progress in their literacy, numeracy and social skills.
Recommendation 5
Ensure that monitoring and development processes identify all important priorities and secure effective improvement.
The headteacher has developed a comprehensive program of monitoring and evaluation that involves a wide range of stakeholders and focuses clearly on pupil progress and the quality of teaching. This enables the school to evaluate the progress it is making towards meeting its priorities and ensure any barriers to improvement are addressed promptly. As a result, the school has made strong progress in addressing the recommendations from the core inspection.
Leaders monitor the quality of teaching robustly, providing clear and candid feedback to staff. Identified action points are now followed up rigorously to secure any necessary improvements. Expectations of staff are high, and leaders address underperformance robustly.