Blaengwrach Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Blaengwrach Primary School is a happy and caring school where the well-being of all is a priority. Pupils benefit from the many interesting and varied experiences staff provide to help them to develop into thoughtful and well-rounded citizens. During their time at the school, most pupils make good progress and apply the skills they learn effectively across the curriculum, particularly in numeracy.

This includes pupils with additional learning needs, who receive valuable robust support from staff. Across the school there is a strong focus on developing pupils' thinking skills and provision to develop pupils' ability to speak Welsh is effective. However, the quality of feedback to pupils to support their next steps in learning is at ...an early stage of development and does not always support progress as well as it could.

The school works hard to foster a sense of place and identity among pupils and they benefit from numerous trips and experiences to understand the culture and heritage of Wales and to develop their sense of belonging. For example, pupils enjoy learning about the history of their village and why it is named the Valley of the Witches. The school plays a pivotal part in the village and pupils work hard to contribute positively to the life of the community.

Parents appreciate the guidance the school provides to help them to support their child's learning at home and the information they receive about important news and events at the school. Over time, leaders have worked to ensure that the school continuously improves and the headteacher is beginning to develop leadership at all levels across the school. This enables a positive approach to evaluation to drive forward leadership across the school, for example by involving staff beneficially in evaluation and improvement work.

However, while evaluation work ensures that leaders have a good overview of the school's main strengths and areas for improvement, leaders do not always evaluate well enough the difference that teaching and learning experience make to pupils' progress. The school's governing body is proactive and has a sound knowledge of its strengths and areas for development, as a result of frequent visits to work with staff and pupils. Together, leaders, staff, pupils and parents work for the benefit of their school, which is at the heart of its community.

Recommendations R1 Ensure that monitoring and evaluation focuses more sharply on developing teaching and assessment to bring about further improvement in pupil progress R2 Improve the quality of assessment and feedback to pupils to inform next steps in learning