Pentrebane Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Most pupils in Pentrebane Primary School behave well.

They are courteous to each other, to staff and to visitors. Staff at the school support the well-being of pupils effectively. They have created an inclusive, nurturing environment where pupils feel safe and cared for.

Teachers and teaching assistants deliver an appropriate range of interventions to support pupils' emotional health, and this is having a positive impact on pupils' well-being. As pupils move through the school, the progress they make is inconsistent. This means that too many pupils do not develop their skills in writing, numeracy, information and communication technology (ICT) or Welsh well enough.

These weaknesses have a negative effect on their ...work in other areas of the curriculum. The school is beginning to use an increasing range of visits and visitors to enhance pupils' experiences. Pupils enjoy these and respond positively, talking enthusiastically about what they have learnt.

However, the school's curriculum does not offer opportunities for pupils to develop and use their skills in a co-ordinated and progressive manner. Across the school, staff have forged strong working relationships with pupils. However, the quality of teaching across the school is too variable.

Often, teachers' expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low and the pace of learning is too slow. Teachers regularly structure activities too tightly and guide pupils' learning too much. This hampers pupils' capacity to become independent learners who can work things out and think for themselves.

Teachers' feedback to pupils does not always help them to understand what they need to do in order to improve their work. The school does not have a stable and effective leadership structure. This is impacting significantly on the school's ability to meet the needs of its pupils and ensure the progressive development of their skills, knowledge and understanding.

Over time, leaders have not monitored the school's work robustly enough. This means that they have not identified major shortcomings in the school's work or put in place actions to address them. Consequently, important national priorities such as planning to implement the curriculum for Wales are still at an early stage of development and the overall quality of teaching and learning is not good enough.

Leaders have not promoted the importance of good attendance successfully enough. They have not analysed attendance issues or addressed persistent absence effectively and therefore attendance rates remain too low. Members of the school's governing body are keen and enthusiastic but due to an insufficient number of members, and an overreliance on the views of leaders about the quality of the school's work, they have been unable to provide effective support and challenge to the school.

Recommendations R1 Address the safeguarding issues identified during the inspection R2 Establish an effective leadership and governance structure that evaluates the impact of teaching and assessment on raising pupils' standards appropriately R3 Improve the quality of teaching and assessment so that pupils make appropriate progress, particularly in writing, numeracy, ICT and Welsh R4 Develop an effective curriculum that engages all pupils and supports the progressive development of their skills across the curriculum R5 Improve pupils' attendance What happens next In accordance with the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that special measures are required in relation to this school. The school will draw up an action plan to show how it is going to address the recommendations. Estyn will monitor the school's progress usually every four to six months.

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