Pantside Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Pantside Primary is a happy, caring school where all pupils are treated with respect and kindness.

The headteacher and staff work with dedication to create a warm and valued environment for pupils and the wider school community. Staff promote positive behaviour effectively, and most pupils engage actively in lessons. The school provides strong support for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) particularly those in its resource base classes.

As a result, although most pupils start school with skills at or below the expected level, many make suitable progress and are developing as confident learners, who enjoy being part of their school. Pupils develop their speaking skills effectively and most listen well to others. F...rom an early age, they enjoy expressing themselves, sharing their ideas and talking about their own experiences.

The school offers a well-planned range of experiences to enhance pupils' speaking and listening skills and also encourages participation in creative performance activities. For instance, all pupils are provided with opportunities to learn to play a musical instrument. Pupils develop their early reading skills suitably.

However, a minority of older pupils do not develop secure enough reading skills and struggle to make sense of the texts they are reading. When given the opportunity pupils write well, particularly in their science and technology work. The school is beginning to develop more regular opportunities for pupils to write in a wider range of contexts to help develop their creativity and improve their redrafting skills.

Pupils develop secure number skills and are beginning to apply these to other areas of the curriculum. However, teachers do not always ensure that pupils have enough opportunities to use these to solve problems or practice and apply their skills at a suitably challenging level. Overall, the school effectively promotes the use of the Welsh Language, with a strong commitment to developing these language skills in both pupils and staff.

Leaders and governors reflect well on what the school is doing well and how it can further improve. Teachers receive useful professional development and support, and the school manages its resources well. However, overall school improvement planning is too broad and does not always focus clearly enough on the quality of teaching and how this can further improve pupils' progress.

Recommendations R1 Sharpen self-evaluation processes to focus more clearly on the impact of teaching on learning R2 Improve teaching to ensure that all pupils are challenged effectively R3 Refine the curriculum to ensure that pupils make systematic progress in developing their knowledge and skills across all Areas of Learning and Experience