Effective Practice Archives - Estyn

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Background 

Torfaen Local authority was inspected in March 2022 and due to weaknesses in leadership, outcomes for young people and evaluation and improvement processes, the local authority was judged to cause significant concern.  

There were four recommendations provided to the local authority: 

R1 Improve outcomes for learners, particularly in secondary schools  

R2 Strengthen performance management  

R3 Strengthen self-evaluation and improvement planning processes and the link between   them  

R4 Improve strategic leadership of learning and ALN 

Estyn worked to pilot monitoring visits with the local authority with the aim to support their improvement more effectively. These visits helped to identify strengths and area for improvement at different stages of the local authority’s development. They were supportive visits where written reports were provided to the local authority evaluating progress against specific recommendations. 

Since the core inspection, they local authority has engaged well with the monitoring and link inspector processes and has consistently been open and transparent about the progress they have made. 

The local authority has worked pro-actively with all stakeholders and secured notable improvements in many aspects of their work. As a result, the local authority was removed from causing significant concern in October 2024 

Activity 

Developing a vision and sharing high expectations 

The Leader, Executive Member for Children and families, and Chief Executive responded positively to the recommendations set as part of the core inspection promptly. They were clear about their high ambitions for the education service and in their aim to secure the best service possible. 

The Chief Executive implemented a restructuring of the leadership of the education service and appointed a Director of Education as well as increasing the capacity of the education senior leadership team. Since his appointment, the Director of Education has provided strong, strategic and compassionate leadership. He has ensured that all staff understand their role in driving improvements.  

The Director of Education and his team worked proactively with the Chief Executive, Strategic Director, leader and Executive Member to secure and share a clear, and well understood vision for education in Torfaen. All the services’ work is underpinned by this vision which is focused on ensuring that every young person in Torfaen gets the best chance to succeed.  

Through improved performance management arrangements, distributed leadership and helpful professional learning, the Director of Education has ensured that all staff understand well their role in securing improvements. He secured a shared responsibility where all members of staff value the support they receive but are also accountable for delivering against their improvement priorities. This approach is helping to ensure that their services are delivering for the young people and the schools in Torfaen. 

Improving relationships with schools 

An integral aspect to the local authority’s improvement has been securing more effective relationships with their schools. Through this work the local authority has ensured that school leaders understand the expectations of the local authority and their role in jointly supporting improvements for all children and young people across the borough.  

Through regular headteacher meetings, the introduction of strategic headteacher groups and regular visits to schools, the director the education leadership team have developed an open culture where school leaders and local authority staff are transparent about strengths and issues. This enables them to work constructively together to overcome identified challenges.  

The Chief Executive and Strategic Director for Children and Families have supported these strengthened relationships through their regular engagement with schools. They actively support the Director of Education’s decisions and actions and this is also helping to secure the required improvements.  

Improving relationships with the school improvement service 

The local authority has worked closely with EAS to develop a trusting, positive and open relationship. Leaders in EAS have responded well to the increased support and challenge and have welcomed the way in which the two services can work in tandem to improve outcomes for young people in Torfaen’s schools.  

Senior leaders in EAS meet regularly with the Chief Executive and Director of Education and both services are willing to be open, honest and reflective about strengths and areas for improvement in each of their services. The Principle School Improvement Partner attends the extended leadership team in the local authority and this has supported the local authority’s knowledge of their schools. This has helped officers to take quick and decisive action where any issues arise.  

The EAS has worked positively with all local authorities to improve the information they provide about individual schools and tailor this well to support Torfaen’s individual needs. As a result, the local authority now has a better view of the performance of individual schools as well as how well pupils across Torfaen’ schools are achieving.  

The local authority and EAS take a shared responsibility for securing improved outcomes for young people and this has helped both services to improve the way in which they work with schools and to avoid duplication of services.  

Developing a culture of distributed leadership and continuous improvement 

The improved leadership of the education service in Torfaen has been notable. The Director of Education has worked relentlessly to ensure that all staff understand their roles and feel accountable for delivering a high-quality service. The development of the senior leadership team has been a key factor in securing the local authority’s ongoing improvements. Leaders now have a clear understanding of effective line management, performance management and are clear with all staff about their expectations.  

The local authority has provided regular and helpful professional learning for staff at all levels. This is particularly the case for the extended leadership team. The associate leadership programme provides opportunities for officers at all levels to take part in leadership groups as well as have supporting many staff to broaden their understanding of the education service’s work and to think and plan more strategically. These groups have helped to distribute leadership and encouraged staff to challenge and support each other constructively. This is helping the education service to secure important improvements and develop leadership capacity.  

Improving evaluation and improvement processes 

The core inspection identified important weakness in the local authority’s evaluation and improvement processes. Since the core inspection, leaders have established effective evaluation and improvement processes across the education service.  This is enabling the Leader and the Executive Member for Children and Families to understand the education service’s strengths and areas for improvement well. Members engage regularly with officers and have a clear overview of schools and settings across the authority. 

The Director of Education has worked proactively with his teams to ensure that staff have an improved understanding of evaluation and improvement processes. This included working with the Local Authority Link Inspector who provided professional learning sessions to teams about effective approaches to evaluation and improvement. Through a broad range of professional learning, supportive and challenging line management and regular feedback, senior leaders have ensured that evaluation and improvement processes are well understood and implemented consistently by staff at all levels. The appointment of an evaluation and improvement officers and the effective work of the heads of service was instrumental to these improvements.  Officers use these processes robustly to evaluate regularly and accurately the work of the service. As a result, senior leaders have a strong understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement across service areas in education. This ensures a sound base for effective improvement planning. 

To improve their accountability processes further, the local authority introduced an ‘Accelerated Improvement Board’ initially chaired by the chief executive. This board enabled senior leaders and officers to monitor progress closely and to hold all staff t account for progress against service improvement plans.  The local authority also worked closely with an external mentor who provided regular challenge and support to the local authority. Following the success of this board the local authority has now used this approach across other services.  

As a result of these improvements, the Education Overview and Scrutiny committee is now provided with accurate and helpful reports. The committee members ask pertinent questions and provide regular challenge through clear recommendations, most of which have been accepted by Cabinet. 

The local authority engaged positively with the local authority link inspector throughout this processes and together they developed an honest and transparent relationship where strengths and areas for improvement were discussed openly. The local authority link inspector supported the local authority by running workshops around evaluation and improvement planning. This helped to improve officers understanding of effective practice and supported to build relationship with officers at all levels. As a result, officers became more confident to engage in an open and honest dialogue with inspectors during the monitoring visits.   

Monitoring progress 

The local authority created an Accelerated Improvement Group, which met monthly to monitor progress against the recommendations and the service improvement plan. Senior leaders and officers from the local authority along with senior leaders from EAS attended this group. This group provided helpful challenge and support to the education service and EAS and ensured that the chief executive and executive members were well informed of progress.  

The local authority also appointed an external mentor who regularly visited the local authority and provided a helpful critical eye for the service and the chief executive. This regular and helpful support and challenge enabled the local authority to reflect carefully about strengths and areas for improvement across all aspects of their work and to plan to secure improvements.  

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Children engaged in a painting activity at a classroom table, with one child in a yellow shirt looking at the camera, holding a paintbrush.

Information about the setting

Cylch yn yr Ysgol is a Welsh medium setting situated in the small town of Builth Wells for children aged 3-4 years, Monday to Thursday, term time only. The pre-school has charity status and is led by a voluntary management committee with three practitioners. Children are welcomed from all backgrounds and abilities with almost all children having English as their home language.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The setting understands the importance of strong partnerships in developing children’s sense of curiosity about people’s lives and beliefs. Practitioners strive to ensure that the children benefit from drawing upon the strengths of the community.

It is located in Builth Wells Primary School and all practitioners embrace the opportunity to work in close partnership with the school, not only regarding transition, but to share ideas, knowledge, resources and training through regular face to face discussions. This partnership is also extended to other pre-schools in the area. It also works closely with colleagues at Mudiad Meithrin and the Powys early years team.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Working closely with the primary school, the setting is encouraged to utilise the school’s extensive grounds, subtly supporting the children’s future transition by developing their confidence around the school environment and becoming familiar with school staff and older children.

The school encourages the children who attend the setting to join in with key events and celebrations such as sports day, Eisteddfodau, Christmas performances and the school holiday club, providing an ideal opportunity for children to become familiar with the wider school community.

The headteacher of the main feeder primary school is also the Responsible Individual (RI) and this promotes consistency for the children as they transfer into school. When appropriate, practitioners are invited to attend school training events, supporting the professional learning of the practitioners. When the school hosts information events for parents and carers, invitations are extended to the parents and carers of the children in Cylch. Setting practitioners support these events by providing childcare to enable families to attend. The setting also ensures distribution of any written communication to families on behalf of the school.

During ‘formal’ transition sessions, teachers visit the setting to meet the children before they spend three mornings in their prospective classroom, with Cylch practitioners supporting. Face-to-face discussions with the teacher, headteacher and Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator (ALNCo) are held to fully discuss each child and share any concerns, with involvement from the county’s Early Year’s ALN team where necessary. The school’s ALNCo also visits the setting to meet any children with emerging or identified ALN and discuss the support a child may need. Setting practitioners also share successful behaviour strategies to ensure consistency and arrange opportunities for parents to be part of these discussions.

The setting acknowledges the value of working in partnership with organisations such as Mudiad Meithrin, Menter Iaith, and local dance, music and art groups. These groups work with practitioners and children to support Welsh language development, staff training, and with policies and procedures.

Practitioners regularly meet with practitioners from other settings in the area to share good practice, ideas and resources. These meetings help practitioners to reflect and make improvements to provision. Staff often mentor and support new setting leaders.

Partnership working frequently includes the wider community. For example, the children experience travelling on a local bus service, visit a café, a church, the library, and visit the local police and fire stations. They also visit a nearby old people’s care home and participate in community competitions such as the best dressed float in the local carnival. The children’s artwork is often displayed in the local supermarket. Local people are also invited into Cylch to share their expertise. For example, visitors came in to run football sessions, baking activities, and help the children learn about cultural events such as Diwali and Holi. Recently, a local farmer was invited to bring in a pet lamb as the children were showing a particular interest in farming.

What impact has this work had on provision and children’s standards?

Having multiple and successful partnerships has been very beneficial in providing the children with extended opportunities and experiences to support their learning and well-being. It has enabled practitioners to access resources, draw on expertise and explore new ideas to provide continued high levels of quality provision. The children have an enhanced sense of belonging and greater depth of knowledge about their local area, which in turn helps break down barriers within the community, form positive relationships with others and encourage respect and tolerance for people from different backgrounds. Having strong community links has also helped financially with numerous local fundraising events being held on the setting’s behalf.

The transition process has proved to be very successful for the children and parents as the process is woven continually into setting life and steps are small and progressive, developing confidence and reducing anxiety.

How have you shared your good practice?

Practitioners at Cylch yn yr Ysgol have previously written good practice case studies about effective partnerships, which were shared with the foundation learning advisory team in Powys as well as other settings. Practitioners have also shared information with other Powys settings about how they use their Early Years Development Grant (EYDG) to support identified children and their families, as well as how to identify and support RADY children. This includes working closely with the main feeder primary school to share information and strategies. Parents/carers are kept informed about their child’s experiences via the setting’s social media closed group.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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A classroom scene with students in uniform seated at desks and a teacher at the front, discussing a topic near a whiteboard.

Information about the school/provider 

St. Julian’s School in Newport is a large, diverse, and inclusive comprehensive school serving 1,428 pupils aged 11-18. The school hosts a local authority resource base centre, the Learning Development Centre (LDC), for pupils with moderate to severe learning difficulties. The school has an above national average percentage of pupils receiving free school meals. Nearly half of the school’s cohort live in areas with the highest levels of deprivation in Wales. Compared to the national average, a much higher proportion of pupils at the school have either an individual development plan (IDP) for additional learning needs or special educational needs. The number of pupils who speak English as an additional language is significantly higher than most schools in Wales. The school has faced significant challenges in recent years. In November 2014, it was placed in the statutory category of significant improvement by Estyn, and in June 2017, it was placed in special measures. In April 2020 a new headteacher was appointed which led to a restructuring of the leadership team. The school was successfully removed from special measures in November 2021. St. Julian’s continued its upward trajectory, culminating in a positive Estyn inspection in May 2024, which highlighted numerous key successes and recognised the school’s progress and achievements. 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice 

The decision to focus on improving oracy skills at St. Julian’s was driven by both internal evaluations and external recommendations. A key recommendation from the Estyn inspection in December 2014 highlighted the need to improve the development of pupils’ literacy skills. Initially, the school concentrated on improving reading and writing skills by devising and embedding separate whole-school strategies and clarifying the subject teacher’s role in supporting whole school reading and writing development; this impacted on learners’ proficiency in these areas. However, through ongoing monitoring, review, and evaluation processes, it became evident that pupils’ oracy skills needed further development. This need had become more pronounced following the pandemic, as many pupils had spent extended periods at home with often limited opportunities to interact and express themselves verbally and engage in meaningful dialogue.  

Description of nature of strategy or activity 

Oracy Framework 

Following the success of the implementation of clear reading and writing frameworks, the school devised a similar approach for oracy aimed at enhancing pupils’ ability to express themselves clearly by using subject specific vocabulary, listening attentively, and engaging meaningfully during structured oracy tasks and classroom talk.  

The oracy framework at St. Julian’s was designed to develop pupils’ speaking skills, from the initial stages of organising their thoughts to the final execution of well-structured oral performances or coherent and articulate classroom talk.  

Teachers of all subject areas were asked to provide regular and meaningful opportunities for pupils to actively speak and listen in their lessons. Using the oracy framework, a structured approach to improving oracy has been embedded across the school. The framework consists of five stages. This model is displayed in all classrooms to reinforce the framework and ensure consistency in the school’s approach to oracy.   

Stage 1: Purpose, Audience, Format and Tone (PAFT) – Pupils are firstly asked to consider the purpose of the speaking activities in which they are engaging. Activities are considered to be either formal, such as presentations, debates etc. or informal, such as spontaneous classroom discussions or responding to teachers’ questions. Then, if relevant (particularly for formal activities), the audience, the format of the activity and the tone or register need to be identified to support the following stages. 

Stage 2: Planning – The next step is aimed at ensuring pupils prepare what they are going to say. In essence, learners are encouraged to think before they speak to foster thoughtful and meaningful contributions. The strategies to help pupils plan depend on whether they are engaging in a formal or an informal speaking task. Teachers use strategies such as ‘turn and talk’ or ‘everybody writes’ to support pupils’ thinking time and help them organise their ideas and thoughts. For more formal speaking tasks, comprehensive planning tools, such as mind mapping or flowcharts, are suggested.   

Step 3: Precision – In the next phase, the emphasis is on ensuring that pupils’ speech is accurate and articulate. By honing precision, pupils are able to communicate more clearly and effectively. Teachers play a crucial role here as good language models. They support pupils’ by introducing key phrases or sentence starters to help pupils refine their spoken language. Strategies include encouraging pupils to use full sentences and more formal language, while also focusing on eliminating colloquial fillers. Teachers intervene and challenge pupils’ spoken contributions by asking them to rephrase or use varied vocabulary. 

Step 4: Performance – If relevant, teachers provide strategies to help pupils refine their presentation skills, such as adjusting their speaking pace, projecting their voice, or using appropriate body language. Real-time feedback allows pupils to continuously practise and enhance their oracy skills. Performance-focused activities, including rehearsing speeches, role-plays, and public speaking exercises, are integral in building pupils’ confidence and ability to present their ideas effectively. 

Step 5: Participation – Finally, pupils are encouraged to actively involve themselves in classroom discussions and speaking activities by listening and responding, asking questions, joining in choral responses, thinking about what has been said and building on the views of others. Teachers reinforce classroom expectations to create a supportive environment where all pupils feel that their contributions are valued.   

Central to the oracy framework is a focus on vocabulary development and the quality of questioning. Teachers are trained to model rich vocabulary and use probing questions that challenge pupils to think deeply and articulate their thoughts clearly.  

Behaviour Curriculum 

In response to challenges following the pandemic, St. Julian’s implemented a behaviour curriculum to support pupils who were struggling to understand the behavioural and engagement expectations of secondary school. Although teachers had effective strategies for managing behaviour, it became apparent that pupils needed clearer guidance on how to behave and engage appropriately in class to support their own learning and that of others. 

The behaviour curriculum was designed to address this gap, with a focus on teaching pupils’ specific behaviours and engagement techniques each month, such as how to enter and leave the classroom, how to listen to teachers and peers, how to speak to teachers, how to answer questions, and how to raise concerns. These sessions were delivered by form tutors, who were supported by professional learning sessions every two weeks. The implementation of this curriculum was not only meant to improve behaviour for learning but also to impact pupils’ oracy skills, as it developed learners’ metacognitive skills around how to engage in discussion, ask questions and listen to others as well as the importance of these skills.  

Professional Learning 

To ensure the success of the oracy framework and behaviour curriculum, St. Julian’s invested in ongoing professional learning for teachers. These sessions were crucial in equipping teachers with the strategies needed to foster oracy skills and support appropriate classroom behaviour effectively. Teachers were trained to become facilitators of oracy, creating environments where pupils felt confident to speak and participate. The professional learning sessions also emphasised the importance of teachers as good language models, highlighting how their use of language and questioning could significantly impact pupils’ communication skills. 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards? 

The integration of the oracy framework and the behaviour curriculum proved to be highly effective. As pupils learned how to behave appropriately in different school contexts, they also developed better communication skills. The focus on listening, speaking, and responding in the behaviour curriculum complemented the oracy framework, leading to improved pupil engagement and participation in classroom discussions. The oracy framework has supported pupils to become more confident in expressing their ideas, speaking clearly and concisely in lessons and to enable them to use more ambitious and subject specific vocabulary when speaking.  

How have you shared your good practice? 

The school has shared this practice with the local authority, consortia and other schools through network meetings and professional discussion. 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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A group of four educators, wearing ID badges, are engaging in a lively discussion in a classroom adorned with educational posters and student work.

Information about the school/provider 

St. Julian’s School in Newport is a large, diverse, and inclusive comprehensive school serving 1,428 pupils aged 11-18. The school hosts a local authority resource base centre, the Learning Development Centre (LDC), for pupils with moderate to severe learning difficulties. The school has an above national average percentage of pupils receiving free school meals. Nearly half of the school’s cohort live in areas with the highest levels of deprivation in Wales. Compared to the national average, a much higher proportion of pupils at the school have either an individual development plan (IDP) for additional learning needs or special educational needs. The number of pupils who speak English as an additional language is significantly higher than most schools in Wales. The school has faced significant challenges in recent years. In November 2014, it was placed in the statutory category of significant improvement by Estyn, and in June 2017, it was placed in special measures. In April 2020 a new headteacher was appointed which led to a restructuring of the leadership team. The school was successfully removed from special measures in November 2021. St. Julian’s continued its upward trajectory, culminating in a positive Estyn inspection in May 2024, which highlighted numerous key successes and recognised the school’s progress and achievements. 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice 

Following the Estyn inspection in November 2014, two key leadership recommendations emerged, which were to improve the school’s self-evaluation and development planning processes and to strengthen the role of middle leaders, ensuring they are fully accountable for standards, provision, and quality assurance within their departments. A primary focus for the new senior leadership team (SLT) was to embed an ethos of continuous improvement focused on ‘improving rather than proving’. Senior leaders focused on developing a rigorous self-evaluation cycle, supported by effective monitoring, review, and evaluation (MRE) processes and driven by meaningful and manageable improvement plans which would positively impact pupils’ education. Another key approach to school improvement adopted by senior leaders was ‘autonomy with accountability’. This concept aimed to ensure that all teachers had the professional freedom to make decisions about their teaching while still being accountable for pupils’ outcomes and progress. In line with this approach, senior leaders set out to empower middle leaders to take responsibility to lead improvements in their own subject areas. 

To ensure middle leaders concentrated primarily on school improvement, senior leaders established five key expectations of the role. These expectations (self-evaluation; development planning; support, challenge and professional learning; monitoring, review and evaluation; and curriculum development) provided clarity on the key tasks required for effective leadership of departments and people. They were regularly reinforced and used by senior leaders to develop and hold middle leaders to account. Leadership meetings focussed on professional development to support middle leaders’ ability to carry out these tasks as well as providing opportunities to share good practice.  

Description of nature of strategy or activity 

The school’s improvement strategy consists of three specific elements that are integral to each other:  

  • self-evaluation 
  • development planning 
  • monitoring, review and evaluation (MRE)  

Self-evaluation 

The school has developed a bespoke self-evaluation (SSE) document using the Welsh Government’s ‘National Resource: Evaluation and Improvement’ guidance and the Estyn inspection framework. Although a self-evaluation report is no longer required prior to inspection, senior leaders feel it is vital to thoroughly evaluate all aspects of the school’s work to ensure the appropriate identification of the priorities that would impact most on school improvement, particularly pupils’ learning.  

The school self-evaluation (SSE) document is updated termly considering evidence from previous school development plan (SDP) evaluations, the current SDP evaluations, national priorities, on-going MRE and stakeholder views gathered throughout the course of the year. Strengths and areas for development are then identified and inform the selection of key priorities for improvement. The SSE comprises five sections (learning and pedagogy, curriculum, student support, inclusion and equity, and leadership) that are evaluated using a number of key questions. 

At department level, middle leaders consider a series of evaluative questions focused on learning and pedagogy, curriculum and leadership. They then identify key strengths and areas for development for each section on the department self-evaluation.  

Development Planning 

The school development plan (SDP) process is structured around the key improvement priorities identified from the SSE. Success criteria, actions, timescales, people, evidence and resources/costing are then considered to support the implementation of the plan. To ensure SDP priorities are aligned with the SSE and have been carefully considered as the area for development that will have the most impact on pupils’ education, a rationale is included for each priority on the SDP. Each term, senior leaders evaluate each of the SDP priorities that they are responsible for against the success criteria set out at the start of the cycle, adjusting, removing or adding actions throughout the course of the academic year.  

Middle leaders use their department self-evaluations to identify key improvement priorities and take the same approach to form department development plans. 

Monitoring Review and Evaluation 

To support evaluations in the SSE and SDP with robust and accurate evidence, the school has established a structured multi-layered quality assurance process. There are three strands to the school’s MRE process: learning reviews, leader MRE and soft intelligence.  

Leader MRE – Senior and middle leaders engage in a range of regular MRE activities, focused on evaluating all aspects of school life. The type of MRE activities vary depending on the evidence that is being sought and these are carefully planned out at the start of each improvement cycle to align with improvement plans. Joint MRE between senior leaders and middle leaders supports an ongoing professional dialogue around how to evaluate and improve learning.  

Soft Intelligence – Senior leaders rely on soft intelligence to support self-evaluation, this form of informal MRE may include lesson pop-ins or general conversations with different stakeholders. It allows all leaders to gain an informal picture of the school’s strengths and areas for development, and supports the formation of key lines of enquiry that may be followed up through the school’s two other strands of MRE. 

Learning Reviews – The third strand to the school’s MRE process is aimed at forensically evaluating teaching and learning to gather an accurate picture of the quality of teaching for departments and the whole school, as well as providing development support for individual teachers. Learning reviews are conducted during two six-week windows in early autumn and spring. These reviews are formal activities that involve a five-stage process. One class on a teacher’s timetable is chosen by senior leaders as a focus for all activities. To ensure consistency, MRE tasks are conducted jointly with middle leaders leading the process, whilst senior leaders support and quality assure. Leaders have been provided with professional learning to help them to effectively conduct these MRE tasks, and comprehensive guidance for each activity has been produced. The process is as follows:  

  • Step 1 – Teacher Self-Evaluation: Teachers use a self-evaluation toolkit devised by the school to assess the impact of their teaching on learning, focusing on the chosen class. Teachers also revisit development areas from previous cycles. A professional dialogue takes place between the middle leader and teacher to discuss their self-evaluation, identifying strengths and areas for development. 
  • Step 2 – Work Reviews: Leaders jointly review all pupils’ books/work in the class focusing on the appropriateness of activities (teaching), pupils’ responses to activities (learning), the quality of feedback, and the response to teacher feedback.  
  • Step 3 – Learner Discussions: A representative sample of five pupils participates in a discussion with leaders. Questions assess the level of pupils’ knowledge acquisition and retention, pupils’ use of subject terminology, and pupils’ ability to apply knowledge. 
  • Step 4 – Lesson Observations: A 30 to 60-minute observation evaluates the effectiveness of teaching. 
  • Step 5 – Feedback and Coaching: Middle leaders, observed by senior leaders, provide coaching-based feedback, engaging teachers in reflective dialogue. Strengths and development areas are jointly agreed upon, with differentiated follow-up plans. 

The outcome from each learning review is documented in an individual report and shared with the teacher, the middle and senior leaders, and the headteacher. Leaders use a ‘cause and effect’ style of evaluation to emphasise the impact of teaching on learning. The 5-step process gives a complete/holistic picture of the quality of learning and teaching, which one or two MRE activities would not give alone. 

The findings of each review are then used for two different purposes: 

  • Firstly, middle leaders are responsible for following up on individual teacher development areas, with support from senior leaders as needed. The MRE activities used for follow-up are differentiated according to the teacher’s individual development point. The follow-up activities and timings are noted on the individual learning review reports. Scheduled meetings between middle leaders and teachers take place at key points during the academic year to allow teachers to reflect on their progress and provide evidence to middle leaders of the progress against the specific development actions. In turn, senior leaders meet with middle leaders regularly to discuss individual and department progress from the learning reviews. Support is provided by middle and senior leaders to individuals who need further help to make progress against their identified development points. Finally, a meeting between the headteacher and heads of departments takes place at the end of the academic year to discuss the impact of the middle leader’s support and challenge to teachers, and the effectiveness of any department professional learning provided.  
  • Secondly, the deputy headteacher responsible for school improvement, creates a summary report using all the learning reviews’ findings, highlighting strengths and areas for development and an ongoing evaluation of the process to ensure that it continues to be highly effective. This summary is used to update the SDP and SSE. General feedback is given to all staff, with concerns addressed through professional learning, advice or reminders. Some areas for development may be noted for future development plans. Effective individual or department practices are also shared with colleagues.

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards? 

As a result of forensic and robust ongoing self-evaluation and MRE processes, leaders are able to accurately evaluate. Subsequently, they have become adept at identifying appropriate improvement priorities and specific actions for securing improvement. The rigorous monitoring of school and department improvement plans, including the follow-up of individual learning reviews, has led to significant improvements in teaching and learning. 

The implementation of clear school improvement processes led by middle leaders whilst supported and quality assured by senior leaders, has significantly strengthened the role of middle leaders at St Julian’s School. Nearly all middle leaders now have a comprehensive understanding of their department’s strengths and areas for development. This has improved their ability to monitor, review, and evaluate their departments, leading to the implantation of effective actions for improvement. In addition, they are now far more confident when discussing their work with stakeholders. As middle leaders have become more accountable and empowered, they have become pivotal in driving school improvements and ensuring high standards across the school. 

How have you shared your good practice? 

The school has shared this practice with the local authority, consortia and other schools through network meetings and professional discussion.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Children playing on a playground, with one child in front smiling and holding onto wooden equipment.

Information about the school/provider 

Ysgol Bro Eirwg is a Welsh-medium school situated in Llanrumney, in the east of Cardiff. There are 394 pupils on roll, including 64 in the nursery class. Twenty-eight point nine per cent (28.9%) of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school is part of the Ffederasiwn y Ddraig federation, which was established in September 2019, and the school works very closely with the other school in the federation, namely Ysgol Pen y Pîl, to provide all pupils with the best education. 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice   

The school has two reception classes and two part-time nursery classes. It has large classrooms with extensive outdoor areas. The staff were keen to develop the teaching environment so that the youngest pupils learn through play and have practical, ‘real life’ experiences in a welcoming, attractive but fuss-free environment, without being overstimulating. Developing the whole area was important to the staff – that the outdoor area is an integral part of the continuous learning environment.  

Having established their vision, the staff researched by reading articles, blogs and books, searched for suitable training and then set out to experiment, trial and reflect to decide on the most suitable way to proceed. 

Description of nature of strategy or activity 

The early years teaching environment has been transformed. Staff have developed specific areas using natural materials that calm pupils rather than exciting them. The outdoor area is an extension of the indoor area and pupils move back and forth naturally between the two areas. The environment is stimulating and encourages curiosity. 

Staff plan together carefully to provide activities that give pupils opportunities to learn through observation, investigation, experimentation and play. The child’s voice is important and by discussing with pupils and observing them informally on a regular basis, staff plan, adapt and develop provision and activities in line with their ability and interests. 

All of the activities that are provided offer plenty of opportunities and variety for pupils to make their own decision which encourage and nurture their creativity, independence and freedom to explore. Pupils spend their time choosing their learning rather than completing a series of closed tasks and there are opportunities to take risks and understand boundaries, for example using large equipment to practise balancing and climbing. Pupils enjoy exploring and investigating on their own and with others. 

Staff model a positive attitude to learning, encouraging and supporting pupils’ natural curiosity by playing in the areas with them. The most is made of spontaneous learning that occurs naturally as staff sit and play with pupils, or while observing them carrying out their activities.  

‘Dydd Gwener Gwyllt’ (‘Wild Friday’) is held weekly in the nursery class, where pupils spend their time outdoors, whatever the weather, exploring, observing and experimenting and, as a result, learn about the wonders of nature. 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards? 

This work has had a large impact on the school’s youngest pupils. This approach to teaching and learning has increased pupils’ independence and confidence, encouraged their creative skills and their ability to investigate and experiment. It has given pupils an opportunity to think creatively, solve problems and think about how to improve and develop. By having an opportunity to choose what they do and create, they feel ownership and pride in the learning and towards the school. By having the freedom to learn individually or with others, the work has had a positive effect on pupils’ well-being, leading to them working and playing happily together. The freedom gives them more personal control and has led to positive attitudes to learning. They are willing to take risks and learn from their mistakes. They enjoy and are happy at the school. 

How have you shared your good practice? 

The school has shared this work with other schools in the cluster and staff from other schools have been to observe the good practice. 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school/provider 

Romilly Primary School is in Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan local authority. There are between 680 and 750 pupils on roll aged from 3 to 11 years, throughout the year. The school has 21 single-age classes with an additional 4 part-time nursery classes catering for 130 pupils. There are 22 full-time and eight part-time teachers with over 70 teaching and learning staff in total.   

Most pupils are white, British and come from homes where English is the main language. A very few pupils speak Welsh at home. The three-year rolling average of pupils eligible for free school meals is approximately 15%. This is lower than the national figure of 22%. The school identifies about 4.5% of pupils as having additional learning needs. This is lower than the national figure of 16.1%. Around 3% of its pupils have English as an additional language.  

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice 

Leaders at Romilly Primary School have invested in the professional learning and development of all teaching staff, as they recognise this as having the greatest impact on ‘closing the gap’ for those pupils who live in poverty, and ensuring equity of provision for all. 

 At Romilly Primary School, leaders and staff believe that teaching and learning is ‘curriculum’. With the changes brought about by Curriculum for Wales, leaders asked themselves questions such as, ‘Are we doing the right thing?’, ‘What does assessment look like now?’ ‘Do we need more outdoor learning?’ They also identified that pupils needed more authentic learning experiences including through the use of trips and visitors. Leaders and staff recognised that the most important aspect of the school’s work is getting the teaching and learning right and holding on to the school’s shared values and beliefs. 

The school holds true to its vision of; ‘Ensuring excellence in access, attitudes and achievement’, which is embodied in its mission statement of ‘Learning, growing and succeeding, together’. Leaders believe that all teachers and learning staff will, and can, deliver excellent teaching and learning with the right culture and support; by seeing professional development as an entitlement for all, with innovation being encouraged.  

Description of nature of strategy or activity 

At Romilly Primary School leaders recognise that an improvement strategy that may work in one school, may not work in the context of another school, and needs to be tailored to the individual needs of its staff and the pupils.  

The ethos of leadership at Romilly Primary school is that of ‘low threat high challenge’, which helps develop the trust needed for staff’s personal and professional growth. Lesson observations by the leadership team have been replaced with learning walks and teacher triad observations as well as teachers filming themselves and reflecting on their practice. All of these focus on specific areas for improvement. Teachers inform the leadership team about the areas on which they want feedback and support. Leaders then provide teachers with the opportunity to re-teach the lessons and review how these changes have impacted on the progress of pupils. In many cases, teachers share their most effective practice with their colleagues through an electronic teaching library. The teaching library platform is a resource bank of effective practice for teachers and support teachers to access to see what good looks like in action, and to identify who they can go to if they want support in a particular area. The type of practice that staff share ranges from the effective use of the silent stop signal, beneficial classroom routines and ways to develop positive attitudes towards learning through peer assessment, self-assessment, silent modelling, partner talk, pitstops, and quality questioning.   

Monitoring and evaluation of the impact of teaching on learning and progress is carried out throughout the year through professional discussions, book looks, listening to learners, learning walks, videos, and the discussion of data during progress meetings. These activities are undertaken by the leadership team but also by staff, and governors. Training is delivered to staff and governors on how to carry out book looks, and the types of questions to ask pupils during listening to learner sessions, to find out if they understand their learning and what their next steps are.  

Each year, leaders provide teachers with the opportunity to decide upon an area that they want to research, that they feel their pupils will benefit from. They work individually or in teams. They share the impact of their action research with their colleagues and governors at various points of the year, including the successes and failures of the initiatives they have trialled. The focus of their research has included, increasing independence in Year 6, improving the quality of peer assessment, improving attendance of vulnerable groups, and developing speech and language in the early years. They have to give a rationale as to why they have chosen this area, alongside an evidence base to justify it, regarding the individual needs of the pupils they have in their class.   

Monitoring of the impact of the teaching on the pupils’ learning is not just a termly activity but integral to everything they do.  

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards? 

Teaching and learning experiences across the school are strong. The staff provide high-quality verbal feedback to pupils to encourage them to think more deeply and to prompt them to reflect on the quality of their work across curriculum areas. For example, as a result of focused and timely feedback, pupils’ standards of writing have improved significantly. 

There is a strong culture of self-improvement and reflection in the school. Creating time and high-quality opportunities for all staff to collaborate, reflect on and improve their practice for the benefit of pupils has contributed strongly to the delivery of high standards of well-being and significant improvements to the quality of teaching. 

How have you shared your good practice? 

Romilly Primary School has strong links with the local high school. Together they have collaborated to further enhance the professional learning of both their own staff and that of the high school, by sharing excellent practice across the settings. This is a two-way developmental process, where staff observe teachers in each other’s setting to learn and gain ideas that they can then use in their own classes within their own schools.   

The school supports other schools within the consortia to help develop the equity of provision and also improve the quality of feedback to accelerate pupil progress. This has been done through learning walks, sharing of learning and professional dialogue and improvement planning.   

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school 

Dylan Thomas Community School (DTCS) is an 11-16 English-medium school maintained by Swansea local authority. The school is situated in Cockett in Swansea and serves communities that experience significant levels of socio-economic challenge. There are 701 pupils on roll, which represents a three year high and increase of 136 pupils since the same date in 2021. Nearly 79% of the pupils live in the most deprived 20% of all areas in Wales and 66% live in the 10% most deprived. The three-year average for pupils eligible for free school meals is around 51%, which is significantly above the Wales average of 21.2%.  

Around 10% of pupils speak English as an Additional Language (EAL). Around 36% of pupils have additional learning needs, which is significantly higher than the local authority average of 19.5%. Many (up to 75%) children entering the school have a reading age below their chronological age. Very few pupils hear or speak Welsh at home or in the community. 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice. 

Curriculum for Wales prompted the school to evaluate how they develop pupils’ sense of ‘cynefin’ across the curriculum as a whole. As a result of this evaluation, a working party was established with the aim of enhancing the Welsh dimension across every area of learning and experience (AoLE). Significant work was undertaken across all AoLEs to ensure that the curriculum provides authentic opportunities for pupils to interact with Welsh language, history and culture.  

In 2021, the school felt they should be doing more to develop the love and use of the Welsh language as well as promote and enhance pupils’ Welsh identity and the way in which they consider themselves as being ‘Welsh’. As such, Physical Education (PE) lessons were identified as being a vehicle for supporting the school drive to develop pupils’ Welsh language skills. The Assistant Headteacher and the AoLE lead for Health and Sport and staff from the local ITE partnership developed an innovative programme to deliver bilingual PE lessons. This was initially trialled for pupils in Year 7 as a pilot and linked with a targeted programme of professional learning for staff. 

Description of nature of strategy or activity 

At the outset of the bilingual PE project, the Health and Sport AoLE team received tailored support from staff at the local ITE partnership to develop their Welsh language skills. Staff in the PE department taught PE lessons bilingually without exception. A member of the Welsh teaching team was also timetabled to ‘team teach’ and support colleagues in these lessons and overcome any barriers should there be any. At the end of the first year the pilot was evaluated and it was agreed that it would be further rolled out to the point that all of Key Stage 3 now receive their PE lessons bilingually. 

To complement and support this project all staff have been provided with professional learning in the Welsh language and support from senior colleagues to improve their confidence and use of Welsh across the school. This is helping leaders to drive Welsh further forward across the school  

The work of the School Council is a strength of the school, and has been harnessed to further improve the development of the Welsh dimension. In addition to the existing LGBTQ+, Eco and BAME steering groups already in place, a Welsh Dimension steering group was also introduced to allow pupils to have a more significant impact on how the school develops the Welsh language and ‘cynefin’ across the curriculum and in the wider school community. The pupils involved in the Welsh Dimension steering group have: 

  • Established an extra-curricular Welsh club that is planned and run by Year 10 and Year 11 pupils on a fortnightly basis 
  • Delivered whole-school assemblies to promote the Welsh language and key Welsh events 
  • Planned and executed activities to mark whole-school celebrations of events such as Dydd Shwmae, Dydd Santes Dwynwen and Dydd Gwyl Dewi  

Following the evaluation of the Welsh language and ‘cynefin’ across the curriculum by the ‘Welsh Dimension Working Party’, a significant amount of work took place to ensure that learning is focused on local and national themes that engage pupils, and develops pupils’ skills across the curriculum.  

These learning opportunities have enhanced the way in which Welsh is perceived by all members of the learning community and have led to purposeful opportunities to develop the sense of ‘cynefin’. A number of co-ordinated whole-school activities take place on a regular basis. For example, a weekly ‘Welsh Wednesday’ was established across the school, where form tutors lead a Welsh language or cultural based activity that is planned to reinforce the language being studied by pupils in Welsh lessons outside of the Welsh classroom. This is also an opportunity for form tutors to promote the ‘Brawddeg yr Wythnos / Phrase of the Week’.  

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards? 

The amount of Welsh used across the school, not only within PE lessons, has significantly increased. It is common practice that staff and pupils use Welsh across the school as part of everyday communication. In all lessons, pupils are accustomed to receiving and responding to Welsh instructions. 

The school’s commitment to developing pupils’ Welsh language skills and sense of ‘cynefin’ across the school has had a direct impact on how pupils achieve in Welsh as a subject. Pupils’ attitudes to learning have improved and as a result the number of pupils achieving A*-C in GCSE Welsh second language has more than doubled since the school first embarked upon this work in 2019. In addition, the proportion of pupils achieving A*-A in Welsh second language has also improved. This is testament to the high expectations that all staff have regarding Welsh across the school, which has notably enhanced the status of the subject both inside and outside of the classroom.  

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Evenlode Primary School is a two-form entry school for pupils from Nursery to Year 6. The school has capacity for 510 pupils (nursery has a capacity for 96 part time places and three intakes per year). 2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, 5% have English as an additional language and 3% have additional learning needs (ALN).  The school has a culture of reflection that underpins its vision and values.

Evenlode Vision

‘Evenlode Primary School is a community of belonging.  We are committed to inspire all individuals to thrive and flourish through our rich learning experiences. Every child is valued within our inclusive, vibrant and nurturing school.’ 

Values:            

The school’s values are underpinned by the four purposes:

  • As ethical informed citizens, we are respectful and compassionate
  • As enterprising, creative contributors, we are determined and able to think ‘outside the box’
  • As ambitious, capable learners, we are resilient and inquisitive
  • As healthy and confident individuals, we are positive and kind

Motto:

Belong, Believe, Achieve.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The reflective culture or ‘constant feedback loop’ is embedded in all aspects of the culture at Evenlode Primary School. Recent changes to the school’s context, including amalgamation with the local nursery, changes in leadership, the implementation of new curriculum and assessment processes, presented a unique opportunity to review strategic processes. The school has ensured that ongoing reflection of its ethos and values, pedagogy, curriculum and self-evaluation processes are central to its work and improvement.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Community: Parents’ Forum

A Parents’ Forum was set up in Spring 2023, in response to an identified need to develop stronger partnerships and communication between the school and parents. Each year group is represented at half termly meetings, where senior leaders and the Vice Chair of Governors meet to discuss aspects of the school’s work that parents would like to know more about. At these meetings, parents can raise any queries. This forum creates an effective feedback loop from parents to leaders and governors and leads to changes in school life.

Community: Anti- Racism action research.

The school was involved in the first Anti- Racist action research in the Vale of Glamorgan LA.  Staff reflected personally and professionally on the school’s values, ethos and curriculum during its work to develop as an anti-racist school. Staff were given time to research key ideas using a ‘think, pair, share’ approach: spending time reflecting individually, in year groups and as a whole staff community. As a result, the school refined its vision, made changes to its humanities curriculum and the resources, including books used to support learning. In addition, the school was involved in two arts projects exploring themes of celebration, identity and belonging through dance. Plans are in place to further develop this work by involving parents and governors.

Reflective professionals

During a three-year period, the headteacher led the implementation of a bespoke curriculum and new assessment processes. As part of this implementation and to ensure that the work had a positive impact on learning, leaders and teachers met half termly to reflect on practice and outcomes. These meetings focus on robust and honest professional dialogue about the impact of pedagogy and curriculum strategies: what is working well and what needs to change? The evaluations feed into the cycle of school improvement review and adaptations to priorities are made when necessary.  For example, the school made changes to the teaching as a direct result of professional dialogue in these meetings.  The school also uses coaching to enable teachers to reflect on their own practice is a focus.

Reflective learners

With the four purposes underpinning how the Evenlode curriculum is designed and constructed, one of the school’s key priorities is to ensure pupils reflect thoughtfully on the world around them, enabling them to be ethically informed citizens. The school has implemented philosophical enquiry as a whole school approach. Through this philosophical approach, pupils explore big ideas and concepts through ‘big questions’ and design their own enquiry questions for learning. Pupils develop as effective critical, collaborative, creative and caring learners.

The school’s ‘Hook, Book and Big Question’ curriculum, provides useful opportunities for pupils to influence their learning. Pupils select aspects of learning they would like to learn more about, have frequent opportunities to reflect on their learning, and add to their own planning boards in the classroom. Older pupils complete learning logs: reflections on their own learning, choosing how to record this information.

What impact has this work had on provision and learning?

The school’s partnership with parents includes hosting workshops that support them to understand the school’s curriculum and assessment arrangements. Leaders involve other agencies and organisations, for example to provide information on ALN support, neurodiversity and pupils’ use of smartphones. Future workshops will include Cymraeg 2050.

The school’s curriculum has been strengthened through the anti-racism action research and philosophical enquiry approach, with pupils having experience of a diverse range of perspectives. Pupils engage well with their learning and enjoy taking ownership of their progress. Pupils’ make their views clear, for example, respond to their learning: ‘‘it challenges you and engages you and you build on other people’s ideas’, ‘We find out about other people’s opinions during the sessions and keep an open mind’, ‘It links our learning in different ways’. Through a focus on opportunities for pupils to reflect on and direct their own learning, they demonstrate engagement and curiosity as well as retaining and demonstrating a depth of knowledge, skills and understanding.

Staff develop a common language and understanding of effective pedagogy and assessment, and this leads to strong progress over time for pupils. Teachers feel that the school’s approach enables them to ‘look at things with a different lens’ and find this a powerful to review, refine and adapt approaches to teaching and learning.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared its curriculum work with other schools through cluster meetings and during training. Senior leaders have presented the impact of the school’s anti-racism work with senior leaders in other schools and shared examples of reflective practice with the local Authority.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Three children are sitting at a table in a classroom, concentrating on writing on sheets of paper. Colorful crayons are scattered on the table.

Information about the school 

Ysgol Cwm Banwy is located in the centre of the village of Llangadfan, Mid Wales, and is maintained by Powys Local Authority. It is also under Voluntary Control of the Church in Wales. Ysgol Cwm Banwy opened its doors for the first time during the lockdown in September 2020, as part of Powys County Council’s transformation strategy.  

It is a small, rural school, and the rural community is at the core of its ethos. 

Ysgol Cwm Banwy is a Welsh-medium school with 50 pupils on roll. Approximately half the pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes. Approximately 11% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The percentage of pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) is approximately 26% of the school’s overall population.  

‘The Melodiousness of Many Colours: Colouring the World Together’ is the vision at the core of all the school’s work. 

The curriculum provides a coherent means of planning experiences in order to achieve the vision, together with guiding the school’s Christian values, which are seven values ​​incorporated into the school’s logo.  

Provision is rich and personal for pupils and the community. This is an adventure along a colourful, exciting and exuberant path. The impetus behind the school’s logo and the vision contained in the curriculum convey this successfully. 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice  

Following the need to restructure staffing as a result of maternity leave over a period of two years, and the challenge of employing Welsh-medium teachers, change was managed effectively through joint thematic planning across the school. There was a need to ensure quality and consistency by planning the curriculum purposefully to provide valuable and coherent experiences across the school that responded to the principles and requirements of the Curriculum for Wales.  

The clear vision of all the school’s stakeholders underpins the planning of a broad and balanced curriculum which succeeds in developing an agreed ambition. 

Through planning at whole-school level, it became clear that the rich provision of cross-curricular experiences ensures that pupils benefit from a progression model in terms of experiences, skills and knowledge as they advance along the learning continuum. Experiences have been combined naturally with the requirements of the Four purposes and the six areas of learning and experience, and there is a clear commitment to the What Matters Statements. 

Description of nature of strategy or activity 

Teachers’ main aim was to involve all school stakeholders in the curricular journey of achieving the vision of the curriculum, ‘An adventure on the colour path.’ As such, it was necessary to ensure the staff’s ethos and attitude to accepting change.  

It was recognised that solid cooperation and joint planning is the foundation for success, as teachers, with input from Cylch Meithrin staff, parents and school governors, used their expertise to design the curriculum in an imaginative way. This was done by providing purposeful and valuable experiences that advanced pupils’ cross-curricular skills, which developed naturally into rich inquiry activities with a thematic approach. 

Staff set out clearly the purpose of the learning, with What Matters Statements guiding learning paths naturally.  

Examples of whole-school themes: 

  • Go for it! (Deryn story and production)  
  • An adventure on the colour path (the outset of our vision for the curriculum) 
  • This is where I’m supposed to be (Habitat) 
  • My happy world (Differences and ethnicity) 
  • Turning back the Clock (History of Wales) 

Examples of differentiated whole-school thematic mats (rich tasks):  

  • Planning and development of the Memorial Garden (numeracy, well-being, Science and Technology)
  • Colour Windows (numeracy, literacy, digital, humanities, expressive arts, well-being) 
  • Planning the Foel Eisteddfod (numeracy, literacy)
  • Come to Maldwyn (numeracy, digital, humanities, expressive arts)

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?  

Exciting catalysts at whole-school level develop all pupils’ natural curiosity, and there is a deep sense of belonging. Teachers plan purposefully and can now offer pupils firm opportunities and new learning, as they also acquire the key skills of creativity and enterprise. As a result, pupils engage well with their learning, and catalysts and experiences bring curiosity to their lives from the beginning of their time at school and along the learning continuum. Pupils respond favourably to the whole-school method of thematic learning, which has encouraged them to make their own decisions by solving problems, and to explore in inquiring ways. Through this method of planning and leading learning, teachers assess progress across the school naturally and purposefully. 

Rich experiences at whole-school level enable pupils to apply their literacy, numeracy and digital skills constantly, leading to progress and deeper learning relative to their starting points.  

The school’s timely marking strategies also help pupils from Year 1 upwards to be aware of their next steps and to upgrade their work as a natural part of their work in the classroom. This leads pupils to become independent learners who work together successfully to gain advantage from each other’s expertise as they reach their final year. They are more willing to learn from mistakes and to reflect on their ways of thinking. As a result, robust development is clearly evident in pupils’ resilience, knowledge and successes. 

How have you shared your good practice? 

The school gives parents information about what pupils are learning, either as theme titles or thematic mat objectives. Input from all the school’s stakeholders, including governors and the wider community, is crucial to the success of their work. Catalysts in terms of new themes or rich tasks are shared regularly with the wider community through a page each month in the “papur bro”, video clips or a web page on social media. The school has also shared a number of thematic, differentiated mats at whole-school level with cluster schools, within Powys County Council, and beyond. The creative, stimulating and imaginative element of the tasks is recognised as good practice. 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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An adult and three children engaging in a gardening activity outdoors, surrounded by lush green plants under sunlight.

Information about the setting 

Little Friends Nursery is a privately run childcare setting, early years education provider and non-maintained flying start setting. It is situated in Ffynnon Taf Primary School, Taff’s Well, Cardiff, and provides high-quality childcare and education that supports children’s development in a safe and stimulating environment. It supports the children to learn through play and maintains a close partnership with parents and carers. 

The setting’s vision is to work alongside families to develop and support each individual child to reach their full potential. It offers a range of engaging experiences and stimulating resources to support their play and learning.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice 

The COVID-19 pandemic identified everyone’s need to spend more time outdoors. Practitioners opened the new setting in November 2020, which was in the middle of the pandemic. With a purpose-built building, inside was safe and secure. This provided the motivation to focus attention on creating a wonderful, natural and curiosity driven garden for the children to enjoy. 

Practitioners noticed that a lot of the garden area inherited (old school playground) was hard flooring, lots of concrete and old wooden frames of sandpits etc. They took to work with a jackhammer and created natural flower beds surrounding the yard. They then had safety flooring installed to allow children to run freely without grazes! 

After spending the majority of their time outside, it allowed practitioners to identify a need for a good quality sheltered area that the children could use as a base during outdoor play. They decided that by investing in an outdoor classroom it would allow children who are less fond of the rain and wind to be sheltered appropriately whilst also reaping the benefits of natural play and fresh air.  

Description of nature of strategy or activity 

The garden area continues to develop over time. Practitioners have developed a large allotment as an extension to the flower beds, and grow their own fruit and vegetables, as well as a range of trees, flowers, herbs, spices and a forestry area. The children learn to prepare and cook different foods, explore taste and learn about all the health benefits of natural ingredients. 

Practitioners have a large construction area boasting bark and sand, which also includes resources such as mechanical diggers, ladders, beams, baskets, huts, and tool stations for the children to experience.  

Practitioners provide lots of access to bikes, scooters and cars for the children to explore freely as well as a climbing frame, balance beams, and cosy area. 

The outdoor classroom has since evolved into being much more of an expressive space rather than simply a shelter. Using the children’s interests and ideas, practitioners have developed a space where children can be creative with nature, using mud, clay, plants and flowers to create art or enjoy simple explorative play. Practitioners continue to develop and adapt this area in line with the children’s interests. At present they are developing a musical area, incorporating music manuscript as the children learn to recognise notes whilst creating their own instruments and sounds from nature.  

What impact has this work had on provision and children’s standards? 

The practice has noticeably improved via all inspection reports, with the SSTEW, Quality Assurance and CIW inspections all receiving excellent feedback in all areas. Staff are motivated to enhance the provision through implementing the new curriculum with passion and care. 

The setting offers children a wonderfully curious area where they can take appropriate risks in endless ways, supported and encouraged by staff. With staff support, the children use a wide range of equipment, building confidence as they play on the wonderful ‘stage’ in the outdoor classroom. 

Practitioners offer uninterrupted outdoor play to suit children’s own needs and requirements. They relish the opportunities for children to be outdoors and enjoy the freshness and wonders of nature throughout their time at the setting.  

How have you shared your good practice? 

The setting has welcomed visits by practitioners from other settings to see how it has developed the environment and outdoor areas in particular. Practitioners work closely with the Early Years adviser to facilitate these good practice visits.