Y.G.G. Blaendulais

Highlights from Latest Inspection

A group of children in a gymDescription automatically generatedA child and child playing with sandDescription automatically generatedA person and child sitting at a tableDescription automatically generatedYsgol Gymraeg Blaendulais is a happy, homely and caring school that encourages pupils to take pride in their community, their culture and their Welshness. Nearly all pupils behave maturely and respectfully towards others and take pride in their school. All staff have a very productive working relationship with pupils, their families and members of the community, which promotes positive attitudes in terms of learning and pupils' well-being.

As a result, most pupils make sound progress from their starting points and are very aware o...f how to take care of their well-being. Teachers and assistants work diligently to provide a good range of beneficial experiences that focus on developing pupils' awareness of their 'cynefin' (local area). They use the local area effectively to enrich pupils' outdoor learning experiences and nurture their skills.

The strong emphasis on developing pupils' oral skills is a strong feature of provision. As a result, most pupils use polished spoken language and natural dialect successfully. Overall, teachers plan a good range of learning experiences that reinforce and apply pupils' skills across the curriculum.

However, they do not always provide enough opportunities for pupils to apply their numeracy skills regularly enough. At times, over-direction by teachers and assistants also hinders the development of pupils' independent learning skills and thinking skills. Although they are relatively new to their roles, the acting headteacher and acting deputy headteacher work effectively with stakeholders to maintain and improve provision and pupils' outcomes.

With energetic support from the chair of governors, leaders and staff are committed to providing the best possible start to pupils at Ysgol Gymraeg Blaendulais. The very strong team ethos that exists across the school supports this well. Although leaders are successful in improving specific elements of provision, self-evaluation processes are not always robust enough to identify clearly what they are doing well and what needs to be improved.

Recommendations R1 Provide regular opportunities for pupils to apply their numeracy skills across the curriculum R2 Expand opportunities for pupils to develop their independent learning skills and make decisions in relation to their learning R3 Strengthen self-evaluation and planning for improvement processes

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