Glan-Yr-Afon Primary

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Glan-Yr-Afon Primary School is part of the Rainbow Federation with nearby Bryn Hafod Primary School. They share an executive headteacher and a governing body.

Both schools collaborate highly effectively to secure equity of provision across the federation. For example, staff work closely together to ensure that all pupils benefit from the same broad range of exciting learning experiences. In addition, staff from both schools have equal access to valuable opportunities for professional learning and to develop as effective leaders.

This consistency impacts positively on the well-being and progress of pupils. Staff build strong, positive relationships with pupils and their families. They set high expectations for pupils' behav...iour and engagement with learning.

They support pupils well to meet these expectations. The federation's curriculum provides a rich range of experiences that stimulate and motivate pupils successfully. As a result, most pupils engage with their learning enthusiastically and make good progress in developing a suitably broad range of skills and knowledge as they move through the school.

However, teachers do not provide enough opportunity for pupils to use their numeracy skills purposefully in their wider learning. Teachers take good account of pupils' previous learning to set clear goals for their progress. This supports pupils to feel confident in their work and to apply themselves readily.

Teachers use questioning skilfully to monitor pupils' progress and to extend their learning beneficially. However, teachers do not provide sufficient opportunity for younger pupils to develop their skills independently through exploration and play. Staff place a high emphasis on securing the safety and well-being of all pupils.

They make well-planned provision to support pupils' emotional needs so that they feel happy and secure in school. The school provides valuable support for parents to develop their own skills and to help with their child's learning at home. For example, staff provide opportunities for parents of pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) to meet informally with specialist teams and other parents to gain advice and share their experience.

These opportunities are beneficial and strengthen the trust between staff and families. Leaders provide clear and principled direction to the work of the school. They foster a strong team ethic that ensures all staff are aligned to the federation's goals and priorities.

As a result, they have secured strong progress in key areas, such as developing the federation's curriculum, providing effective and coherent support for pupils with ALN and improving pupils' reading skills. Recommendations R1 Improve the quality of foundation learning provision R2 Improve opportunities for pupils to use their numeracy skills in their wider learning 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 leading effective collaboration across the federation, for dissemination on Estyn's website.