Llanidloes High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Ysgol Uwchradd Llanidloes High School is committed to providing all its pupils with 'great opportunities for all to learn'. The school is a caring and supportive environment where all are valued and encouraged to give of their best.

Leaders and staff ensure that the well-being of staff and pupils is their highest priority. They secure a positive safeguarding culture where most pupils feel safe and free from bullying. Pupils are encouraged to care for and respect each other and nearly all are polite and friendly around the school.

Most pupils behave well in their lessons and interact positively with each other during the school day. Overall, staff foster positive working relationships with pupils in lessons, they provide in...teresting learning opportunities and, as a result, many pupils engage well and make good progress. In a few particularly effective lessons, teachers set high expectations, they question skilfully, and pupils make rapid progress in their knowledge, understanding and skills.

In a few instances pupils do not make enough progress, mainly because of teachers' low expectations and weak planning. The school's curriculum offer is a particular strength. It provides personalised opportunities which aim to engage, enthuse, and benefit pupils of all abilities.

Pupils at key stage 4 and in the sixth form benefit from the careful curriculum planning that considers a wide range of subject choices including those suitable for the local economy. Pupils benefit from a range of valuable support for their well-being and learning. Staff know the pupils well and provide beneficial guidance when needed.

They work effectively with outside agencies ensuring that pupils access the support they require to develop as individuals. Pupils with additional learning needs, including those who attend the school's Autism Spectrum Centre (ASC), benefit from purposeful and bespoke interventions and support. Leaders foster a real sense of community within the school and in the locality.

They provide strong support for families from low-income households. Additionally, they have an ambitious vision for developing the use of the Welsh language across the school. Leaders collect a wide range of relevant information to identify areas of strength and areas in need of improving.

However, they do not prioritise precisely enough the aspects of provision that need the most improvement. Although leaders at every level have a genuine ambition to improve their work and have broadly identified the main areas requiring improvement there are shortcomings in a few areas of the school's work. These include aspects of teaching and the progressive development of pupils' skills.

Leaders have focused carefully on improving pupils' attendance. They regularly monitor pupils' attendance and challenge those who miss school. While this work is having a generally positive impact over time, whole-school attendance rates are lower than for the same period last year.

The team has brought a health and safety concern to the attention of the school. Recommendations R1 Ensure that leaders prioritise precisely the aspects of provision that need the most improvement R2 Improve the quality of teaching to address the shortcomings noted in the report R3 Ensure that there is a well-co-ordinated and understood approach to the progressive development of pupils' skills R4 Improve school attendance R5 Address the health and safety issue identified during the inspection What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to show how it will address the recommendations. Estyn will review the school's progress.

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