Pen-Y-Cwm Special School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Pen y Cwm is a highly inclusive school where staff make pupils feel welcome and valued, and where their successes and achievements are celebrated joyfully. The headteacher has worked with staff to create a collective purpose, vision and values for the school. These are very securely pupil-centred and include for example developing pupils' aspirations, resilience, independence, respect and empathy.

The relationships between staff and pupils are a particular strength of the school. Most pupils engage positively with staff and develop trusting and caring relationships. Over time, they form respectful relationships and interact positively with their peers.

Most pupils are happy in school. Most pupils make suitable progress fro...m their starting points and against their individual targets. They also make strong progress in the development of their social skills.

Over time, they form respectful relationships and interact positively with their peers. Most pupils are happy in school. They develop a tolerance of other's behaviours, with increasing kindness and respect and, greet visitors politely and courteously.

Pupils across the school engage enthusiastically in a range of worthwhile leadership roles. As a result, they are fully involved in the life of the school. These experiences positively impact on pupils' their self-esteem and sense of connection with the school and wider community.

These experiences prepare pupils successfully for the future. Over time, most pupils make strong progress in improving their communication skills. Many pupils develop and improve their reading skills appropriately relative to their ability.

Many pupils develop their numeracy skills suitably across the school. Overall, throughout their time in school, most pupils make suitable use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support their learning. Most pupils make strong progress in developing their physical skills.

However, due to a lack of opportunity, pupils' writing skills are generally less well developed and pupils' skills in applying their numeracy skills in meaningful real-life contexts are underdeveloped also. Where appropriate, most pupils make strong progress in developing their independence skills during their time at the school. In the majority of lessons where teaching is most effective teachers and teaching assistants plan fun, multi-sensory experiences that capture and maintain the interest of pupils.

Overall, staff have a very good understanding of the needs of pupils in their class. Learning materials and support are well matched to the individual needs of pupils in the class and build incrementally on pupils' understanding. The school provides a comprehensive range of strategies that support pupils' identified health needs well.

It works effectively with a variety of external partners to support the wide range of therapeutic and developmental needs of pupils at the school. The governing body are clearly committed to the school and passionate about the wellbeing of the pupils. However, they do not have a detailed enough first-hand understanding of the school, its strengths, or areas for improvement.

Since the last inspection the pupil population has increased by 50%. To accommodate the increase, the school lost several valuable spaces including a sixth form common room, life skills room, a science classroom and office/meeting space. The governors and leaders of the school are naturally concerned about the proposal to increase the number of pupils further and the negative impact that this may have on current learning spaces, curriculum offer and ability to provide, for example, essential life skills for pupils.

Recommendations R1 Improve arrangements for self-evaluation and improvement planning, including strengthening the role of governing body R2 Review and develop the curriculum to meet the needs, interests, and aspirations of pupils, including providing appropriate accredited learning experiences R3 Improve opportunities for pupils, across the school, to develop their writing skills