Ysgol Gynradd Tycroes

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Leaders, staff and governors at Tycroes Primary School provide a safe and stimulating environment for pupils.

The headteacher is a compassionate leader who places pupils' and staff's well-being, happiness and learning at the heart of the school's work. Leaders and governors manage change well. They pay careful attention to the development of staff to ensure that all embrace the school's values and contribute to the strong team ethos.

Subsequently, staff and pupils are happy and feel valued and safe. Pupils feel a firm sense of pride and belonging to their school and their locality. Their behaviour is exemplary.

Parents are highly appreciative for the quality of education and the strong, supportive care their child...ren receive. Leaders and staff nurture pupils' personal, social and communication skills well. Pupils' interactions with adults are courteous and respectful.

The school's curriculum is engaging, relevant and planned well to ensure that pupils develop their knowledge and skills progressively. Pupils focus on their learning well and attend school regularly. However, too often teachers over-direct pupils' learning and do not provide sufficient challenge or opportunities for pupils to develop their independent learning skills and make decisions about their learning.

Leaders have developed an effective system for the assessment of all pupils as they move through the school; they use this to track the progress of every pupil. However, teachers' use of daily assessments of pupils is not effective enough to plan subsequent learning. Pupils' evaluation of their own successes and next steps in learning is underdeveloped.

Leaders at Tycroes Primary are reflective and strive for success. They have a comprehensive process of self-evaluation in search of school improvement. Leaders and staff at all levels work hard to improve the school.

However, while leaders have established a rigorous cycle of evaluation activities, reviewing the impact these actions has upon the quality of teaching and learning is not robust enough. As a result of effective leadership and provision, most pupils, including those with additional learning needs (ALN) and those whose circumstances make them vulnerable to underachievement, make good progress. Recommendations R1 Strengthen review processes within self-evaluation activity to have a clear focus on the impact of improvements on teaching and learning R2 Ensure that teachers use assessment information to refine their teaching to support and challenge pupils appropriately R3 Embed systematic opportunities for pupils to develop their independence and their skills in evaluating and improving their own learning What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection.