Pontlliw Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Pontlliw Primary is a nurturing, happy and hard-working school that places a high priority on the well-being of its staff and pupils.

Leaders have created a strong culture of mutual support when working together towards the school's core values of 'Respect, Care, Community'. These values are shared across the school community and encourage respect and kindness between staff and pupils. Staff ensure that the local community is a key part of the school's life and work.

As a result, the school forms a central part of community life and there is a strong culture of belonging and community pride. The school's curriculum provides a wide range of interesting and stimulating experiences across many of the areas of learning and exp...erience. Pupils' views are an important part of the process of planning activities and, as a result, most pupils apply themselves enthusiastically to their experiences.

There is a positive environment in the classrooms and most teachers use a good range of effective teaching techniques to deliver interesting and engaging learning experiences. However, there is a tendency for teachers to over-direct learning. This limits the development of pupils' independent learning and thinking skills.

The headteacher has a clear vision for the school, based on developing pupils' well-being, sense of citizenship and belonging. She shares this vision successfully with everyone in the school community. Leaders support the headteacher effectively and there is a strong sense of teamwork across the school.

Governors are very supportive of the school's vision and work, although they do not play a robust enough role in the school's self-evaluation processes. As a result, their role as critical friend to the school is underdeveloped. There is effective support for pupils with additional learning needs, and the school thinks carefully about how to support pupils' basic skills in literacy and numeracy as well as addressing their social and emotional needs.

As a result, the school is an inclusive environment where staff work hard to ensure that pupils make good progress and are becoming ambitious and capable learners. Recommendations R1 Improve opportunities for pupils to develop their independent learning skills and make decisions in relation to their learning R2 Ensure that members of the governing body play a full part in self-evaluation processes to support the school to identify all strengths and areas for improvement 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 a case study on its work in relation to the school's commitment to partnership working with parents and carers, for dissemination on Estyn's website.