Ysgol Pen Y Garth

Highlights from Latest Inspection

A majority of pupils make suitable progress indeveloping and applying newskills.

They develop to become confident Welsh speakers, although only aminority persevere with speaking Welsh in informal situations and withtheir peersin lessons.Most pupils have a sound understanding ofmathematical concepts and, when given an opportunity to do so, manyusetheir numeracy skills in tasks across the curriculum. They develop digitaland physical skills suitably; however, on the whole, theopportunities theyare given to develop their creative skills are limited.

Overall, a minority ofpupils do not make the expected progress in lessons, particularly those whohave been identified as having additional learning needs (ALN) and moreable pupils....The standard of teaching is too inconsistent. Inthe best practice, teacherscreate an effective learning climate and provide interesting lessons that capture pupils' imagination.

Too often, activities do not challenge pupils todevelop their skillsto the best of their ability.Learning experiences for theschool's older pupils also do not build purposefully enough to developtheirskills over time and do not always stimulate them. As a result, a few pupilsdisrupt the flow of lessons.

Too often, feedback provided by teachers onpupils' work is too basic and they donot provide purposeful enoughopportunities for pupils to improve their work.The school has recently begun toadapt provision appropriately to introducethe Curriculum for Wales. Inthe best practice, this is beginning to have apositive influence on teaching, for example by placing an increasingemphasis on using real life stimuli in lessons.

On the whole, the schoolprovides a broad curriculum. However, pupils are not given enoughopportunities to celebrate their Welshness, for example through the expressive arts.Although there have been recent improvements to the school's leadership,they have not managed resources well enoughover time.

There alsocontinue to be shortcomings in the way in which leaders respond tocomplaints and the governing body does not ensure that the school meetsall requirements in relation to eatingand drinking healthily.RecommendationsRecommendationsR2 Ensure that self-evaluation and planning for improvementprocedures are rigorousenough to address the areas forimprovementR3Provide activities that set an appropriate level of challenge so that all pupils canachieve to the best of their ability consistentlyR4Providestimulating learning activities that support older pupils to develop and applytheir skills purposefully over timeR5Ensure that teachers' feedback on pupils'work is purposefuland providesregularopportunities for pupils to improve their workWhathappensnextIn accordance with theEducation Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that special measures arerequired in relation to this school. The school will draw up an action plan to show how it is goingto address the recommendations.

This is the most intensive level of statutory follow-up. Estyn will monitor the school's progress on a termly basis following the publication of the inspection report.School contextSchool contextYsgol Pen yGarthLocal authorityVale of Glamorgan CouncilLanguage ofthe providerWelshType of schoolPrimaryNumberof pupils on roll331Pupils of statutory school age243Number in nursery classes (ifapplicable)50Percentage of statutory schoolagepupils eligible for free schoolmeals overa three-year average(The nationalpercentage of pupilseligible for free school meals overathree-year average in the primary sectoris21.

3%)5.0%Percentage of statutory schoolagepupils who speakWelsh athome45.6%Percentage of statutory schoolagepupilswith English as an additionallanguage0.

0%Date of headteacher appointment19/05/2022Date of previous Estyn inspection (if applicable)01/04/2016Inspection start date14/11/2022During the inspection,an acting executive headteacher was in charge of the schooland was working at the schoolon a part-timebasis while also continuing with herusualduties. She wasappointed to the role in May 2022.A full-time, permanentheadteacher hasrecently been appointed to the school and will begin in the role in January 2023.

© Crown Copyright 2023:This report may be re used free of charge in any format or mediumprovided thatit is re used accuratelyand notused ina misleading context.The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyrightand the title of the report specified.Publication date: 20/01/2023Please note that the photographsdisplayed may not be of the school that isthe subject of thisreport.