Ysgol Pen Rhos is a recently established school following the amalgamation of two schools in Llanelli, within Carmarthenshire local authority. There are 447 pupils on roll aged from 3 to 11 years, including 23 part-time children who attend the nursery. The school organises pupils into four Welsh medium and 13 English medium classes.
On average over the last three years, about 34% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is considerably above the national average of 18%. The school identifies about 37% of pupils as having special educational needs. This is notably above the national average of 21%. Few pupils have English as an additional language and a very few pupils speak Welsh at home. A few come from an ethnic minority background.
Community Profile
The Tyisha 2 ward is in the top 3% most deprived areas in Wales and is ranked in the top 10% across all key domains. It is a Flying Start and Communities First area. The school notes that there are challenging community safety issues such as those related to drugs and alcohol misuse. Some areas are identified as somewhere residents do not feel safe and are afraid to go out at night and during the day. Often, youths may congregate in certain areas and at times this results in anti-social behaviour such as night noise, rowdiness and theft. Many of the school’s pupils live within this community and can often be exposed to these issues.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
The school has actively trained all staff in attachment and trauma informed practice using its school education improvement grant. School leaders have identified key teachers and learning support assistants who have undertaken high-level training to meet the identified wellbeing needs of pupils. This is a bespoke response that is funded by the school to meet the complexity of the issues it faces. The school expresses itself as an ‘adverse childhood experience (ACE) informed school and the headteacher is a proactive in sharing the school’s approach across Wales and internationally. A range of wellbeing surveys and measures across the school identify those learners who need support. As a result, tailored intervention is provided to support the wellbeing of pupils using its own trained staff. Some examples of the resources that the school can provide include a trauma mental health informed practioner, a school trained counsellor, a bereavement counsellor, a mindfulness practitioner, and a ‘drawing and talking’ therapist. The school also has eight fully trained nurture group practitioners, and Ruby the dog as part of the reading dog initiative. As a result, more often than not the school can respond to its own needs using its own staff.
The school also provides an accredited course on resilience for parents and wellbeing open days to the community. Recently, the school opened on Sunday mornings weekly, to provide support and learning opportunities to pupils and their families.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
The strategy has been developed around a culture that staff who have the skill set and drive are supported and funded to undertake professional development to respond to pupils’ wellbeing needs. The vision is to create its own highly specialist teams to support pupils and develop a learning organisation that is bespoke and unique. These staff also trained to support families in difficulty.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
This provision means that the school can respond quicker and more effectively to pupil wellbeing needs rather than having to wait for specialist external support. Rarely does the school find it needs to exclude pupils and a few of the most vulnerable pupils in key stage 2 and in the foundation phase achieve well at school. The school’s ‘before and after’ surveys of wellbeing demonstrate that nearly all pupils report a positive change in their lives.
How have you shared your good practice?
The school has shared its work with the ERW consortium, the Welsh Government and internationally with schools, health providers and research groups who are working with the school on refining the model and practice.
