Porthcawl Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

All staff and pupils are proud to be a part of Porthcawl Primary School.

The enthusiastic school team have created a clear vision to ensure that pupil well-being is at the forefront of the life and work of the school. Leaders work purposefully to create a safe and inclusive environment where pupils and staff feel valued and supported. Pupils are happy, and keen to learn.

Staff meet pupils' social and emotional needs well. They deal with pupils' concerns thoughtfully and appropriately. Learning support officers work effectively with pupils in small groups, offering valuable individual support for vulnerable pupils.

As a result, most pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) make good progress during their time at... school. Most pupils make good progress across the school and develop their reading, writing and numeracy skills well. All pupils have strong speaking skills.

They confidently talk about their work and school and contribute effectively to lessons. However, on occasions, a few pupils do not listen well enough to others and disrupt the learning taking place. Pupils are beginning to use the full range of mathematical concepts suitably in other areas of learning and use their knowledge of Welsh informally.

Across the school, pupils' digital skills are underdeveloped. Staff provide a broad and balanced curriculum for pupils that builds effectively on their knowledge and understanding. Teachers plan a variety of purposeful learning experiences.

However, they over-direct the learning for older pupils and there are too few opportunities for pupils to become independent learners. Planned lessons in these classes are not challenging enough to ensure that all pupils, including those who are more able, achieve to the best of their ability. In the Foundation learning classes, activities to develop pupils' independence do not have a clear learning intention and, as a result, pupils do not develop the intended skills well enough.

The headteacher, senior leaders, staff and governors work together effectively. Overall, they have a good understanding of the school's strengths and priorities for improvement. Recommendations R1 Ensure that teaching consistently provides opportunities to challenge pupils of all abilities, so that they develop well as independent learners R2 Provide opportunities for pupils to build their digital and listening skills systematically and coherently across the school R3 Ensure that all activities in the Nursery to Year 2 classes have clear learning intentions What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection.