Gilwern C.P. School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

A group of children in a gymDescription automatically generatedA child and child playing with sandDescription automatically generatedA person and child sitting at a tableDescription automatically generatedNearly all pupils enjoy their time at Gilwern Primary School. Most pupils start school with strong communication and personal and social skills. They settle into school life quickly and engage positively with each other and adults.

They are happy and confident when learning indoors but especially in the school's enticing outdoor areas. Overall, they make good progress in developing a wide range of skills from their individual starting points. As pupils move through the school, they continue to engage positively with many of the ex...periences that school provides.

In particular, they enjoy activities such as music and most make good progress in developing their creativity. They also continue to build well on their numeracy skills and learn how to apply these in real life contexts. However, pupils do not always make the progress they could as readers and writers and, as they get older, the attitudes to learning of a minority of older pupils, boys in particular, become less positive in class-based lessons.

The school provides a broad and balanced curriculum that matches the spirit and aspirations of the new Curriculum for Wales. This is exemplified in the creative 'Gilwern Around the World' project. Arrangements to develop aspects of pupils' creative skills are generally strong and often enhanced by expert tuition.

Teaching and learning experiences for pupils from reception class to Year 2 are effective overall. However, they are less successful from Year 3 to Year 6 where they do not always support pupils to progress as well as they could in important aspects of their learning or in developing effective learning behaviours. The care, support and guidance provided by the school is strong.

It ensures that all pupils experience a caring and nurturing environment and develop a sense of responsibility as citizens of Wales and the world. Support for pupils with additional learning needs is very good. Leaders have a clear vision for the education and well-being of all learners.

This is embodied in the school's curriculum offer. They have created a strong team ethos so that all staff feel valued and confident to contribute to the life and work of the school. Beyond the school, leaders and staff work well with the local cluster of schools to engage in beneficial professional learning.

Leaders generally implement planned improvements with success. However, their processes to evaluate the standard of teaching are not effective enough. Consequently, leaders have not identified some important weaknesses in the teaching provided for older pupils.

Governors undertake their roles purposefully. They support pupils to have a voice in local issues beyond the school gates. However, they do not ensure that the school has effective arrangements to promote healthy eating and drinking.

Recommendations R1 Improve teaching, particularly for pupils from Year 3 to Year 6 R2 Improve pupils' reading and writing skills, especially from Year 3 to Year 6 R3 Improve processes to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of teaching R4 Address the site safety issue that was identified during the inspection