YSGOL GYNRADD PONTYBEREM

Overview

The inspection highlights that the school’s leadership is “strong and effective,” fostering an “inclusive” community where pupils feel safe and happy. A “broad and balanced curriculum” provides exciting learning opportunities that raise pupils’ awareness of their place in society and nurture their self-confidence.

Strengths

• Leaders promote “healthy relationships” with a specific emphasis on “equality, equal opportunities and fairness for all.”
• Pupils are given a “strong voice” to contribute to their learning, particularly through organising activities that support humanitarian causes.
• Staff “meet the needs of different groups masterfully,” including those with additional learning needs or behavioural challenges.
• Regular participation in sports, performances, and events nurtures pupils’ “self-confidence and their physical, expressive and creative ability.”
• Most pupils develop “very positive attitudes towards their learning” and make “sound progress from their starting points.”

Areas to improve

• Ensure that all teachers and support staff have “consistently high expectations and effective classroom organisation,” as current practice is not consistent across the school.
• Ensure that procedures to promote pupils’ skills and enjoyment while reading are “widespread and consistently effective,” as strategies for a minority of pupils have not been developed consistently enough.

Safeguarding

The report states that leaders implement procedures to ensure pupils are “in a good place emotionally to enable them to learn,” resulting in nearly all pupils feeling safe in the school’s caring community.