Ysgol Gynradd Y Felinheli

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Ysgol y Felinheli is a caring and welcoming community that provides beneficial opportunities for pupils to learn about their area, culture and heritage in addition to the wider world. Leaders place a firm emphasis on safeguarding pupils and promoting their well-being effectively.

Due attention is given to respecting diversity within its community. Most pupils enjoy their time at the school and make sound progress from their starting points. They feel that all staff take exceptionally good care of them and that they are given valuable opportunities to undertake a range of rich and interesting activities.

Most pupils are well behaved and show strong motivation and a curious interest in their learning. The school's curriculum... provides a wide range of interesting and stimulating experiences. A strong feature of provision is the effective methods that staff use to provide rich creative experiences for pupils, which weave into several aspects of the curriculum.

As a result, most pupils' artistic and creative skills develop strongly and they take pride in the opportunities they are given to share this work in the local community. Learning activities are effective in supporting pupils to apply their literacy, numeracy and digital skills successfully. However, teachers do not always plan activities that stretch older pupils to the best of their ability.

Teachers share learning aims and success criteria with pupils appropriately. This provides suitable opportunities for pupils to reflect on their learning during activities. On the whole, teachers do not provide feedback that is specific enough or challenging enough to correspond to pupils' ability.

The headteacher has a clear and robust vision for the school, which is based on developing pupils' well-being. She is supported skilfully by the deputy and middle leaders and there is a strong sense of teamwork across the school. Governors play a proactive role in the school's life and work and demonstrate a sound understanding of the school's strengths and priorities for improvement.

Recommendations A1 Ensure an appropriate level of challenge to support pupils to develop their skills to the best of their ability A2 Provide purposeful feedback so that pupils improve their work in a timely and effective manner