Ysgol Y Castell

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Ysgol y Castell is a happy, caring school where pupils work and play together confidently.

Staff focus well on pupils' well-being, and this allows pupils to thrive in the school's inclusive environment. Pupils say that they feel safe, secure, and happy in school. They know that adults in the school care for them and that they can turn to them when they face challenges or have difficulties.

Support for pupils' emotional well-being is highly effective and is a strength of the school. Most pupils have positive attitudes to school, behave well and enjoy their learning. They form strong relationships with adults and one another and show respect and courtesy for all members of the school community.

Most pupils focus wel...l in lessons and demonstrate interest in their learning. As a result, most pupils make good progress as they move through the school and achieve well. The school provides a rich, broad, and balanced range of learning experiences and additional provision that meets the educational and wider needs and interests of pupils well.

Staff are encouraged to try new approaches to teaching and to develop the range of learning experiences they offer pupils. They listen carefully to what pupils want to learn about and weave their ideas into well planned sequences of lessons that build systematically on pupils' knowledge and understanding. Teachers plan a wide range of opportunities for pupils to develop their literacy, numeracy, and digital skills, however, pupils do not always receive the challenge or opportunity to use these skills across the curriculum as well as they could.

School leaders have high expectations of themselves and everyone within the school community to do their best for pupils. They set a positive and ambitious tone for the school's work. They foster collaboration among staff, build professional expertise and strengthen partnerships with parents successfully.

This helps the school to address national priorities such as curriculum reform and pupils' well-being successfully. They set clear goals for improvement; however, monitoring activity does not always focus sharply enough on the difference improvement work makes to pupils' learning. The governing body plays an important part in the life of the school.

Governors support and challenge leaders effectively. They have a wide range of knowledge and expertise that helps them to carry out their roles well. Recommendations R1 Focus self-evaluation and improvement work more sharply on what pupils know, understand and can do R2 Challenge all pupils to improve their digital and extended writing skills across the curriculum R3 Improve pupils' confidence and ability to speak in Welsh, both in lessons and around the school What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection.