Coedffranc Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

When considering the school's impressive improvements over recent years, the influence that leadership has had should not be underestimated.

The headteacher has created a powerful team ethos amongst staff, which is built on positive relationships, trust and collaboration. This approach brings out the very best in the school's staff by encouraging and enabling them to make the very best use of their skills and experience, for example by providing outstanding support for families in the local community. School leaders address national and local priorities well, including curriculum and additional learning needs (ALN) reform.

Leaders across the school, including school governors, have consistently high expectations of themsel...ves and staff and high aspirations for all pupils. Nearly all pupils enjoy their time at Coedffranc Primary School. They develop high levels of respect for the adults who look after them and trust that staff will always act in their best interests.

They behave well, engage positively with the varied range of learning experiences and opportunities that school provides and develop a strong sense of belonging to the school community. During their time at the school, most pupils, including those in the Phoenix Centre make good overall progress. They develop positive attitudes to reading and speak with enthusiasm about their work across the curriculum, especially opportunities to be creative and physically active.

They develop good mathematical skills and knowledge but do not use these skills often enough or as well as they could in their work across the curriculum. Overall, pupils' attitudes to learning are good. They are keen to do well and to take on new challenges.

In a few classes, pupils are beginning to develop useful skills that help them to reflect on their learning and to think about how they could improve their work. However, pupils do not generally have enough influence over their own learning or in decision making processes. Staff know the pupils, their needs and interests very well.

In the mainstream school and the specialist Phoenix Centre, they provide high levels of care, support and guidance that support pupils to enjoy school and participate effectively in learning. Staff provide a broad and balanced curriculum that matches the spirit and aspirations of the Curriculum for Wales. This is evident in work to explore concepts such as 'Belonging' that provide valuable opportunities for pupils to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding, using their locality and its features as a stimulus for much of their learning.

Teachers use a range of strategies, such as effective questioning techniques to enhance learning. In a few instances, teachers provide sequences of lessons that support pupils to build their skills progressively. However, teachers' planning for progression across the school is inconsistent overall.

At times, this limits their ability to plan precisely for pupils' next steps in learning. Recommendations R1 Further develop a shared understanding of staff expectations for pupil progression through the school and improve the use of assessment strategies to support pupil progress more effectively R2 Improve opportunities for pupils to use their numeracy skills in their work across the curriculum at the level of which they are capable R3 Extend pupils' influence over their learning and the life and work of the school What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection. Estyn will invite the school to prepare case studies on its work in relation to its family and community strategy and leadership development, for dissemination on Estyn's website.