Penygaer Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Leaders have developed an inclusive culture at Penygaer Primary School where pupils interact well with adults and each other. They are courteous and polite, and nearly all pupils behave very well. Staff encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own well-being and behaviour and this contributes effectively to their enthusiastic approach to school life.

This inclusive culture helps pupils to build confidence and develop their self-esteem, whilst also respecting the views and feelings of others. In a few areas of the curriculum, pupils make good progress in developing their skills, for example in oracy and mathematics. However, as pupils move through the school, the progress they make is inconsistent.

As a result, too... many pupils do not develop their skills well enough or make sound progress from their starting points. This has a negative impact on their work in other areas of the curriculum. Although the school is beginning to develop its curriculum appropriately, progress towards implementing the Curriculum for Wales is slow.

Teachers use an increasing range of visits and visitors to enhance pupils' experiences. However, the school's curriculum does not offer opportunities for pupils to use and develop their skills systematically over time. The quality of teaching across the school is variable.

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

Teachers' feedback to pupils does not always help them to understand what they need to do to improve their work. 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.

Self-evaluation and improvement activities, as well as professional learning opportunities for staff, do not focus beneficially on improving the quality of teaching and learning. The local authority and governing body recognise the challenges facing the school and are providing additional support. Members of the school's governing body are keen and enthusiastic, but they have been unable to provide effective support and challenge to the school due to an over-reliance of information from leaders about the quality of the school's work.

Recommendations R1 Develop leadership at all levels so that leaders have the necessary skills to bring about school improvement R2 Ensure that evaluation processes clearly focus on the quality of teaching and pupils' standards R3 Improve teaching and assessment across the school R4 Improve the curriculum and provision for the progressive development of pupils' skills R5 Address the safeguarding issue that was identified during the inspection 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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