Ysgol y Waun

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Ysgol Y Waun is a caring and inclusive school at the heart of its community.

Despite being across two separate sites, the school provides a collective family feel where all pupils and families are made to feel welcome. Nearly all pupils settle quickly to school life and make rapid progress in all areas of learning. Progress in literacy skills, particularly the development of writing skills, is very successful with most pupils writing exceptionally well by the time they leave the school.

This is due to the high-quality teaching and support pupils receive from all staff across the school. Most pupils make good progress in their maths skills, but they have limited opportunity to apply these skills in real-life situations. The... headteacher, all leaders and staff have developed a positive culture of teamwork.

They ensure that pupils are well-cared for and that all pupils have their needs met appropriately. For example, the nurture class on The Lloyd's Lane site provides beneficial support to those pupils who need it. Across the school pupils develop positive working relationships with adults and they trust them to act in their best interests at all times.

Most pupils further develop their sense of safety and well-being through regular activities in the school's forest area. As a result, nearly all pupils show respect and behave well across the school. Leaders and staff work collaboratively to ensure that provision across both school sites is well-led and managed.

They undertake a range of suitable activities to identify school strengths and areas for improvement. However, their evaluations of learning do not always identify clearly enough the areas that the school needs to focus on. Governors and leaders monitor pupil attendance carefully and staff work closely with families providing additional support and advice when needed.

Overall, the school has a generally suitable approach to health and safety and safeguarding its pupils. Recommendations R1 Address the health and safety concerns identified during the week of inspection R2 Refine self-evaluation processes to ensure that school development planning and grant planning targets are well focused R3 Improve provision to support pupils' application of their numeracy skills across the curriculum and in real-life situations 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 its work in improving the quality pupils' writing skills, for dissemination on Estyn's website.