Manorbier V.C.P. School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

The headteacher, staff and governors are committed to placing the school at the heart of the community. Following an uncertain period after a fire at the school's permanent site, they have created a warm and nurturing environment for pupils to continue to learn and grow in a temporary location.

This ensures that pupils feel safe and secure and enjoy coming to school. Most pupils show care and respect for each other and for staff and many engage well in lessons. The school works effectively to develop its support for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN).

The school is developing a curriculum that reflects the needs of pupils and their community. The focus on well-being supports vulnerable pupils to begin to develop a...ppropriate attitudes to learning and enables all pupils to contribute their ideas about what and how they learn. Teachers often provide interesting lessons and are beginning to plan authentic and creative learning experiences that help pupils to make progress.

Younger pupils develop their independence well. Older pupils are beginning to think more deeply about their learning, asking, and answering questions and working together to solve problems. The school is beginning to develop opportunities for pupils to reflect on their learning but opportunities for older pupils in particular to improve their work following feedback are limited.

Pupils develop their reading skills well. They make strong progress in Welsh and develop as confident speakers. This is a significant strength of the school.

However, teachers do not always have high enough expectations of pupils in all areas of the curriculum. They do not plan carefully enough for pupils to build their writing and digital skills successfully. As a result, they do not always make the progress they are capable of.

The headteacher and teachers carry out a useful range of self-evaluation and improvement processes. They accurately identify priorities for school improvement, provide high quality professional development for all staff, and monitor progress suitably. However, leaders do not always evaluate the quality of teaching well enough by considering the difference that it makes to pupils' progress.

Recommendations R1 Ensure that monitoring and evaluation processes focus on the difference that teaching and learning experiences makes to pupils' progress R2 Improve pupils' writing and digital skills R3 Ensure that feedback to pupils is timely and that they have suitable opportunities to improve their work