Elfed High School

Overview

Elfed High School achieves an effective balance between academic attainment and supporting the well-being of its pupils and staff, with core values of ‘honesty, integrity, respect, high aspirations and self-belief’ at its heart. Many pupils demonstrate a strong sense of belonging, good behaviour, and a positive attitude to learning, engaging enthusiastically in extra-curricular activities. However, the report notes that self-evaluation processes focus too closely on operational matters rather than the impact of teaching, and progress in key foundational skills remains underdeveloped.

Strengths

• Support for pupils’ well-being is identified as a particular strength of the school.
• The headteacher has a clear vision, shared effectively with staff, pupils, and parents, ensuring students leave ready to thrive.
• In the majority of lessons, teachers plan suitably, provide clear explanations, and ensure the majority of pupils make at least sound progress.
• The specialist resource base, ‘Hafan’, provides a safe, calm, and supportive environment where many pupils make good progress in literacy and numeracy.
• Pupils demonstrate strong physical skills in PE and make good progress in writing, speaking, and listening.

Areas to improve

• Refine self-evaluation and improvement processes to focus sharply on teaching and its impact on pupils’ learning.
• Strengthen the progressive development of reading, numeracy, digital, and Welsh language skills across the curriculum.
• Improve the attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals, which remains a concern.

Safeguarding

The report states that the specialist resource base, ‘Hafan’, is a “safe, calm and supportive learning environment,” reflecting the school’s effective support for pupil well-being.