Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
A Journey Towards an Anti-Racist Curriculum
Jubilee Park Primary School has pioneered a whole school approach to tackling racism.
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
How does your approach to curriculum design and professional learning and development triangulate with your vision?
When considering and responding to national policy it is important that we don’t lose sight of the moral purpose and our ‘why?’. The expectation upon the teaching profession is high, never more so than in the current climate of mass educational reform in Wales. During such a period of change it is vital that, as school leaders, we remain focused on our vision principles and develop strong collaborative relationships. A positive climate for learning requires clear, open and honest communication and a commitment to our profession. The outcome of which is trust, an essential component of collaboration.
We started by working with all staff to explore our professional capacity and questioning ‘what does it mean to be a member of staff at Jubilee Park Primary School?’. This reflection resulted in a co-constructed professional charter for all staff and a collective commitment to learn, enquire and take responsibility for our professional learning.
What does it mean to be a member of staff at your school?
For staff to take responsibility for their own professional learning requires a climate and culture of trust. School leaders create such a culture through carefully considering systems and structures which focus on learning. Our structure ensures all leaders have a responsibility for professional learning, in my experience and opinion, it is not the job for just one leader. Such collaborative leadership ensures clarity, cohesion and a commitment to professional learning from the outset which is further supported by specific pathways. Our professional learning and development pathways value the choices that individual staff make within our school; whether that is a leadership role, being a teacher or teaching assistant or specialising in a specific area. Each pathway consists of opportunities that are available for all staff within the school and provide an entitlement for each individual learning pathway.
What systems and structures are in place in your school? Are they focused on learning and do they promote collaboration? Do they provide an entitlement for individual learning pathways?
Individual learning pathways do not mean that staff all work in silos and their actions are disparate across the school. On the contrary, all professional learning is focused upon our vision principles and school improvement. It is well-designed so that it includes a blend of approaches and is focused upon our common language of learning.
Our language of learning supports a collective understanding of Curriculum for Wales, a focus on reflective practice and professional growth. We make choices about our use of language, for example we do not have ‘staff meetings’ instead we have ‘professional learning and development sessions’. Such a small tweak can have a big impact across a school. Our weekly sessions are attended by both teachers and teaching assistants and are planned in advance of each term. Sessions are led by staff within our school, valuing their expertise and ensuring that the content of sessions are bespoke for our school. We maximise the time available through ensuring sessions are focused and provide time for staff to talk, reflect and collaborate.
What is your language of learning?
From experience, providing time for staff to talk and collaborate is essential. We provide time for our teachers and teaching assistants to engage in research which is directly linked to our school improvement. Each fortnight, teachers are provided with dedicated reading and research time which has been crucial for our curriculum development and reflective practice. In addition all staff engage in an individual professional inquiry throughout the year, again, time is provided for staff to fully immerse themselves in this work.
All staff are supported to become reflective practitioners. They maintain a professional learning diary which focuses on their progress and impact. They also map out a five year professional plan. We have found that moving away from thinking about progress in academic years and encouraging longer term growth has enabled staff to consider the impact they are having within the areas of the professional standards and what they need to continue to thrive as a professional.
How are you supporting your staff to become reflective practitioners?
Creating the conditions for our practitioners to thrive is enabled through high quality professional learning. Within our school, teacher agency is encouraged, collaborative agency expected and dedicated time is provided for all staff to research, collaborate and trial new ideas. There is a collective purpose and this, joined with trust, ultimately benefits staff and children. We know that children learn from everything around them – people, environment, atmosphere, routine and experiences. As a headteacher I believe that schools should be relentlessly focused on learning. For this to be a reality requires a culture of learning, effective relationships and trust, so that all practitioners and children are afforded the opportunity to thrive.
How are you building the capacity of your learning community so that all staff can thrive?
Catherine Place
Headteacher
Jubilee Park Primary School, Newport, South Wales
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Information about the school
Bryn Celyn Primary School is situated in the North East of the city and mainly serves the Bryn Celyn estate and surrounding areas. The school has 199 pupils and is one form entry. The school has a Flying Start Setting on site that supports early education and transition into the school nursery. The school currently has 74% of pupils eligible for free school meals.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
Develping effective partnerships with parents is vitally important in order to support pupils’ learning. Research has shown that the single most important influencing factor in a child’s education is parental support.(Soroya Rene Fyne-Sinclair, 2016) ‘Children whose parents are involved in their education have a tendency to progress and flourish in all aspects of their life (Vaden-Kieman & McManus 2005).
Fostering positive relationships with the local community has been crucial in order to raise standards throughout the school. The school takes every opportunity to involve parents in its life. It often has to reach out to parents in order to seek their views by using a wide range of approaches to engage as many parents as possible. One method of achieving this is by asking parents to contribute to the School Improvement Plan by completing an annual questionnaire. The school provides parents with the support they need to access the questionnaires. Staff make themselves available in the playground at the end of the school day with ipads to complete questionnaires and offer drop in sessions to support parents in school. Feedback from questionnaires highlighted the parents’ desire for more opportunities to work with the school on ways they could develop their own literacy and numeracy skills in order to support their children’s progress in learning.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
The school used many strategies and agencies to help engage with the parents. It recognises that getting to know parents and developing trust and mutual respect is key to parental engagement. Meeting and greeting each morning along with more formal activities all help to form working relationships with parents that benefit the pupils.
The school works with a number of groups to support parental engagement including, Cardiff and Vale College Families Learning Together Courses. Here, parents develop their own literacy and numeracy skills to enable them to work with their children at home. Parents can earn points that enable them to achieve an National vocational qualification (NVQ) and attend other courses offered by the college. Parents enjoyed learning how to decorate cakes with an acredited course. One of the parents used these new skills to start their own cake decorating business. Curriculum evenings have helped parents understand how and what their children are learning in school. Reading clubs have shown parents a range of strategies to further improve their children’s reading. Drop in sessions after school, where staff support parents to complete job applications and school applications, are offered. This has resulted in many parents gaining secondary school places for pupils in a timely manner and a few parents accessing courses and gaining employment. ‘Family Phonic’ sessions run by staff enable parents to learn how to teach their children phonics and help them on their journey to become successful readers. Stay and play sessions encourage parents into the school environment and help them understand how children’s skills develop through play, especially in the early years. The school’s bring a parent to school week was a successful event and was especially useful in building links with families. During a week in the autumn term parents applied to come to school with their children. They took part in literacy and numeracy sessions with their children. This built relationships with parents, and helped them to see how learning is structured and how the school organises its classes. Parents gained a real understanding of how their children learn, along with some strategies they could use at home. Parents reported that they were able to find out about their child’s day by asking them more informed questions about their learning. Class assemblies were an excellent way to showcase pupils’ learning and develop opportunities to speak with families about their child’s learning. Coffee mornings help to build relationships and parents helped make resources for the children’s learning. Enterprise weeks, where pupils generate ideas and make products to sell, are a good way of linking with families and building entrepreneurs of the future!
The most successful event that the school held was a careers fayre. Raising aspirations for pupils is a priority for the school. The area has high unemployment and the aspirations of pupils are often low. The school utilised its contacts and found representatives from heath, finance, education and industry to support the event. To ensure that pupils visited a range of stalls they were given a card to get stamped by at least five stall holders and Key Stage 2 pupils worked on generating questions to ask the representatives before the event. Stamped cards were put into a prize draw at the end of the event. The careers event was held after school and an unintended positive consequence of the event was that parents who were with their children accessed the information themselves, finding out about different careers they were interested in. The school hopes that this has raised the aspirations of parents to find employment or enter training. The evaluation of the event was very positive. Many pupils and parents found the event valuable; it had made them think about what they wanted to do when they left school, and how they were going to achieve their chosen career. The school now works closely with the Cardiff Commitment, ‘open your eyes week’. This builds knowledge from the initial career fayres and gives pupils an insight into a variety of careers from people working in them.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
Parent questionnaires show that more parents feel better equipped to help their children at home with learning. Parents feel confident to approach members of staff and ask for help when needed. Parents and school staff work together to benefit the pupils. Parents feel that school is a safe place and that they can ask for support in many aspects of their life, such as help to apply for jobs and to ask advice. All these activities have helped integrate the school into the community and take away barriers to furthering pupils learning.
How have you shared your good practice?
The school has shared some ideas with the High School Cluster.
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Information about the setting
Camrose and Roch Playgroup is an English-medium playgroup in the village of Pelcomb. It welcomes children aged from two to four years of age, five mornings a week, term time only. The setting currently has children with additional languages and this has enhanced language learning opportunities for all.
Context & background to the effective or innovative practice.
At Camrose and Roch Playgroup, the aim is to provide a caring, warm and safe environment where children can grow, learn and develop through play. The setting values the children’s ideas and fascinations and listens to what they say. Staff work well together to ensure that activities and resources are planned using the children’s interests and schemas as a starting point. The setting provides highly valuable experiences for the children both indoors and in the outdoor areas. The children are fortunate to have their own woodland, which is used a great deal. Children have plenty of opportunities to revisit skills in the learning environment. Staff make good progress in supporting the children with their Welsh language development.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
The setting is constantly aiming to improve the children’s language and communication skills through daily songs, rhymes and story time. The setting used ‘World Nursery Rhyme’ week as a focus, and flexible plans were put in place to share a variety of traditional nursery rhymes. Both staff and children focused on their favourite nursery rhymes, both in the Welsh language and also some new rhymes for the children to learn. ‘Provocations’ were set up in the environment for children to explore and they were able to return to these experiences freely. Curiosity, awe and wonder were added and the language opportunities flowed when the children had to search for the little mouse from ‘Adeiladu Ty Bach’ who had disappeared from his house. Rich mathematical conversations developed naturally as the children chatted with staff about how many cakes of different sizes they had made. They used weighing scales with the purpose of seeing who had more dough linking to the rhyme ‘Pat-a-cake Pat-a-cake’. ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’ encouraged counting and number recognition skills as children made their own clock using natural resources such as pebbles and driftwood. ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ provided opportunities for prediction and problem solving as the children explored how to move the spiders along the waterspout. The block area enabled the children to create their own house for a little mouse. Children had opportunities to role play with props from ‘Sing a song of sixpence’ imitating the King counting his money or the maid pegging out the clothes. The enabling adults challenged the varying needs of the children and added to their experiences.
What impact has this work had on provision and children’s standards?
In the setting children choose activities independently, at their own pace. By providing learning opportunities linked to familiar nursery rhymes, children are highly motivated and engaged because the learning is meaningful to them, building their confidence and self -esteem. The focus rhymes are reinforced during daily song time. As a result, children develop a love for nursery rhymes and singing.
Staff observe how children use resources and activities and follow their lead when deciding when to move on to something new or notice how learning could be further developed. Staff know the children well and as a result can provide appropriate challenges for their next steps in learning. Children re-visit activities independently, leading to deeper levels of engagement and allowing time to develop their play and learning.
How have you shared your good practice?
Practitioners plan to share their good practice with the setting’s network of Foundation learning settings at their next meeting. They will also share their plans and have the opportunity to discuss their case study with other leaders. The setting shares the children’s daily experiences with parents and carers through an online app.
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Information about the setting
Cylch Meithrin Pontrhydfendigaid is a Welsh-medium setting that is situated in a community hall. Full day care is provided for children between two and four years old, five days a week during term time.
The setting is registered to admit 16 children and 10 children were receiving funded early years education at the time of the inspection. A majority of children come from non-Welsh-speaking homes.
The setting is a focal point of this close-knit and unique community. The main room is small but the setting has worked with the community to develop the outdoor area further. The outdoor area is available to the children throughout the session. The leader has been in post since October 2020.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
One of the setting’s strengths is its interactive relationship with the community. By working with the hall’s committee, the football team committee and the children’s parents, the community extended the setting’s outdoor environment. Through the conscientious work of the whole team, the outdoor area was developed to create an environment of a high standard that promotes particular skills and ignites children’s curiosity. The team have high expectations of themselves and work together effectively to ensure improvements to the environment. The budget and grants have been used efficiently and stimulating resources have been created to promote exciting, ambitious and relevant experiences for children. The role of the community has been key in creating an outdoor area of a high standard, which has a positive effect on children’s learning experiences.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
While planning the outdoor area, practitioners have succeeded in combining the children’s interests and extended their skills and independence. As a result, children develop the confidence to make mature decisions about their play and learning. They explore the wide range of areas that are available confidently and adapt resources according to their interests, for example by adapting the large car to be a work van for builders. Children make decisions to add technological resources or equipment to the provision completely independently. They enjoy using apps to track aeroplanes that fly over the setting while sitting in a wooden aeroplane in the outdoor area. Then, they examine the globe and pretend to fly to other countries. Some resources have been developed in co-operation with local businesses and these resources promote children’s independence and skills successfully.
The setting has ensured that the resources in the outdoor area provide a good level of challenge to extend children’s skills. As a result, children make independent decisions about how they would like to use the equipment and what level of challenge is most appropriate for them. For example, children choose how they would like to use the climbing equipment.
The leader ensures that she takes advantage of the expertise of staff and people in the community to improve children’s skills. Practitioners are creative when using recycled resources to create imaginative resources that are of interest to the children. For example, they create Welsh cobs from leftover pieces of wood and make a fuel or electrical pump for role-play cars.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
Developments in the outdoor area have had a positive effect on the children’s behaviour and well-being. They feel at ease, eager and completely confident when using the wide range of resources in the environment. The open-ended resources provide various opportunities as they play and these opportunities change in line with the children’s interests and creativity. When making choices for themselves, children are more eager to communicate and there is a spontaneous excitement to talk to others. Resources have also provided opportunities to stretch confident speakers by creating situations to enrich and deepen their understanding of language. For example, they discuss the condition of the silage or identify the area’s birds of prey.
Opportunities to make a range of decisions about their learning in the outdoor area has had an effect on the children’s perseverance skills as they concentrate for extended periods. Practitioners are able to interact skilfully with the children by encouraging them to extend their ideas and promote the children’s independence to make decisions. For example, the children understanding that cement is needed to build a wall, so they get shaving foam to imitate the cement when building a wall independently. Children have taken ownership of the areas and are completely confident when considering that all of the resources are available to them throughout the session. If something is not available to them, they know that they can make it.
How have you shared your good practice?
Good practice is shared with the non-maintained sector and schools within the local authority in county-wide training on foundation learning modules. The setting’s experiences are used to exemplify the practical principles of pursuing children’s interests and the way in which this has a direct effect on children’s lives, confidence, skills and well-being.
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Context and background to practice
Anglesey authority’s Learning Service has made great strides during the last three years. Purposeful restructuring to add a number of senior managers has allowed the Learning Services to employ a senior manager with specific responsibility for co-ordinating and safeguarding learners’ well-being. The Learning Service’s senior leaders place great emphasis on promoting the well-being of the island’s children and young people and work closely and successfully with different departments within the authority smoothly and without barriers.
There is a strong culture of planning services that are aligned closely with the Well-being of Future Generations Act. The Learning Service has developed a ‘Tîm Môn’ ethos and mindset, where everyone works together and everyone’s contribution is valued, nurtured and used for the benefit of the island’s children and young people.
Within the Learning Service, a Senior Officer was appointed to pay particular attention to promoting well-being and cooperating across services and partnerships. The Well-being of Future Generations Act is at the heart of all of the work plans. Schools are aware of how their contributions to providing inclusive provision in their schools contribute within a wider context to regional and national priorities.
The principle of preventative working is at the heart of all of the authority’s work. For example, an integrated method of co-operation has ensured that families in need have quick access to food banks.
The strong co-operation between different departments and agencies provides an integrated experience of support for all learners in the county, including those who are at risk of becoming disengaged and their families. The Learning Service works productively with partners, including social services, welfare officers, the Gwynedd and Anglesey inclusion services and youth services. They work proactively to prevent problems at an early stage to respond to the needs of vulnerable learners who are showing symptoms of anxiety to encourage attendance.
An ‘Early Intervention Hub’, which includes around twenty different agencies, is a good way of working together and planning efficient support for vulnerable learners and their families jointly, without duplicating the support unnecessarily. This, in turn, ensures that the children and young people of Anglesey are able to continue with their education at school, and exclusions due to anti-social behaviours are decreasing.
There is a strong focus on developing all practitioners’ awareness of trauma and the effect of trauma on children and young people. Training is co-ordinated at several levels, including teachers and assistants in schools and non-maintained settings, in addition to other stakeholders within the council who support children and young people. This practice has equipped the workforce to be able to communicate clearly when discussing the effect of adverse experiences on the development, self-image and confidence of individuals.
The preventative strategy ensures that there is a youth officer in every secondary school on the island. They facilitate the ‘drop-in’ service for learners and support provision of personal and social education. They also prepare employment courses for learners who are at risk of becoming disengaged so that they can gain alternative qualifications and experiences. Units from Agored Cymru, the John Muir Certificate and First Aid have been provided. Youth workers ensure that all secondary schools have established a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer + (LGBTQ+) group and evening youth clubs strengthen the link for young people to activities in the community and the link with school. As a result, projects such as ‘Prison Me No Way’ and ‘Gangs Getaway’ have had an influence within communities.
The ‘Y Daith i Saith’ (The Journey to Seven) scheme by the Family Support Team promotes the development and well-being of the youngest pupils and is being developed jointly with a range of stakeholders, including a health service and a group of primary schools. As a result, this work strengthens the ethos of community focused schools and the preventative strategy at an early stage and provides the best opportunity for children on their learning journey.
The Learning Service ensures a strong link between national, regional and corporate priorities in terms of well-being and the practical and preventative work that takes place in non-maintained settings and schools across the authority. The close co-operation with different departments within the authority facilitates the work of schools in ensuring that inclusive provision in the classroom is manageable. The corporate strategy of providing training to improve practitioners’ understanding of the effect of trauma and adverse childhood experiences on pupils’ achievement and well-being is having a positive effect on the quality of provision in schools and now across services.
One of the strengths of the co-ordinated work is the way in which the Learning Service succeeds in involving headteachers in different forums to seek their views, influence, shape and plan new provision. For example, Safeguarding Champions has succeeded in raising the status of preventative work within safeguarding across their clusters and, as a result:
- all schools submit safeguarding referrals of a high standard when concerns arise
- investment in a common electronic platform has provided consistency in recording causes for concern across the county
- all schools have adopted robust trauma-informed styles that align with a good safeguarding ethos
In addition to this, schools take confident action to make referrals to the Children’s Services Early Intervention Hub in conjunction with parents, where appropriate. All of this strengthens preventative work in schools and there is an ongoing commitment to safeguard and improve the well-being of learners. As a result, the most vulnerable pupils are given the best opportunities to engage with their education.
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Information about the school
Sandycroft Primary School is in Mancot, in Flintshire local authority. There are 354 pupils on roll. The school has 14 single aged classes, including three nursery classes. Around 24% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school identifies around 32% of pupils as having additional learning needs. Around 14% of pupils speak English as an additional language and a very few pupils speak Welsh at home. Currently, around 5% of pupils are members of the gypsy traveller community.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
Sandycroft Primary School has large grounds, made up of a traditional playing field and an area of what was wasteland, which had not been used by the school for many years.
The school systematically developed the grounds over many years using a variety of different strategies and approaches. The bulk of this work was driven by staff, parents and governors in their own time after school and in holidays. This kept costs to a minimum. The school was also able to gain funding from local businesses and grants with various organisations. Using the grant funding, it was able to purchase large play equipment such as a castle, pirate ship, play pods and a climbing wall. Local businesses were also involved practically, and they provided their staff to work on projects, such as planting an arboretum and installing sports equipment such as a basketball area.
However, the main drive behind the work was the school using parents’, staff’s and governors’ own DIY skills to develop a range of outdoor classrooms, an outdoor scrapyard and outdoor provision areas to support learning and well-being across all age ranges. The school has also invested in ample storage to ensure that resources are rotated on a regular basis to maintain pupil interest.
In addition to this, the playground has been organised into a range of play, sport, craft and practical areas to accommodate the broad interests of the pupils. Pupil voice is a key aspect of this planning. This enables them to be actively engaged at break times with a range of activities and sports.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
The school aims to provide high quality outdoor learning and experiences that encompass one or more of the following elements:
- generally takes place outdoors
- often has an adventurous component
- involves physical activity
- respects the natural environment at all times
- develops curiosity and innovation
- promotes cooperation and teamwork
- encourages resilience and determination
- develops gross and fine motor skills
There is a whole-school focus on outdoor learning. Equal weighting is given to outdoor learning that occurs in lessons and during play times. All staff are involved and understand that the outdoors can be used to develop understanding in each area of learning and experience. There is a large breadth and range of activities and resources that the pupils can access. As a result, the outdoors is very flexible to meet the needs of the curriculum. The school provides a range of outdoor clothing for staff and pupils including waterproofs, wellies and PPE where appropriate to ensure that the weather does not restrict opportunities for outdoor learning.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
- A whole school focus on outdoor learning encourages and enthuses pupils to attend regularly and is used exceptionally well to enhance pupils’ physical and mental health.
- The pupils thrive in the extensive and well-developed outdoor areas, no matter what the weather.
- The stimulating outdoors ensure that the levels of engagement are good.
- The range of activities ensures that outdoor learning is used across the curriculum. For example, the youngest pupils develop their knowledge of number in the outdoor environment. They collect and count natural objects in the school grounds and use the objects to make repeating patterns. By Year 2, pupils confidently measure planks of wood in standard units and problem-solve how to fill a gap with a suitable length of wood, when building a bridge.
- Older pupils show resilience when problem-solving, both in the classroom and at break times, often through interesting and authentic experiences in the workshop. They persevere with tasks and attempt alternative ways of working.
- Nearly all pupils investigate their surroundings and develop their imaginations. For instance, the youngest pupils plant seeds to develop their school garden areas, use diggers to build sandcastles when creating imaginary towns and sing and dance on the outdoor stage.
- Older pupils develop many useful life skills, for example when caring for the school’s free-range chickens, and when working as teams to problem-solve in the forest school.
- Pupils enjoy using their creative and artistic skills. For example, they create three dimensional observational pictures using natural materials and fruit that they collect from the school’s orchard.
- The development of pupils’ physical skills is excellent.
- Most pupils develop balance, co-ordination and strength very well when using the extensive outdoor provision, such as the climbing wall, castle structure and forest school.
- Pupils develop their gross and fine motor skills in the outdoor ‘scrapyard’, which is particularly impressive. They use a wide range of tools, such as socket sets, spanners and screwdrivers, safely to dismantle household objects and machinery. This also helps them to begin to explore the mechanics of how these items work.
The outdoors is an essential part of every pupil’s daily life in school. The impact on them is not isolated to any one area; it develops them holisticially.
How have you shared your good practice?
The school gets regular visits from other schools and has hosted a working group for the consortium focused on health and well-being.
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Information about the school
Christchurch is the only Church in Wales School in Swansea. It is a diverse school of 155 pupils with 57% from ethnic minority groups, representing 19 home languages. The percentage of pupils in receipt of free school meals is currently 24%
The character of the school is heavily influenced by its designation as a Church in Wales Primary. The school vision reflects the belief that the roots to success are embedded in the four ‘R’s: Respect, Reflect, Responsibility and Reaching potential.
Context and background to sector-leading practice
The school’s objective was to create a co-constructed Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) curriculum for pupils. Staff recognised the importance of involving all stakeholders in the creation of this curriculum to ensure a transparent and well-understood approach to the teaching of RSE.
The Welsh Government invited the school to be one of 15 to take part in an RSE pilot scheme to explore RSE in practice and to support the refinement of the RSE code and statutory guidance. The pilot set out to explore practitioners’ experiences and perceptions as they considered how to embed RSE within their school.
The school also wanted to ensure that they were ready to deliver an RSE Curriculum as set out in the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021, as a compulsory, developmentally appropriate subject by September 2022.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
The Process
Together, the headteacher and the Health and Well-being lead mapped the content of the RSE Code and Guidance against the Area of Learning and Experience for Health and Well-being. The document was distributed to the teaching staff, who worked within their different phases to identify how the activities would be delivered and to include enrichment activities that could accompany and enhance the provision. Parents were invited to be part of the process along with governors and pupils.
The RSE lead worked alongside the local authority and other groups identified by the Welsh Government to ensure that the views of the wider community, such as religious leaders and representatives of the LGBTQ+ and BAME communities, were considered.
The staff
The school felt that understanding how the staff felt about teaching and delivering the new RSE curriculum would be crucial to its successful implementation. A questionnaire was distributed to the staff, to gain an understanding of their strengths, weaknesses and training needs regarding the delivery of the RSE curriculum. There were several requests for training and guidance as many staff members were anxious about teaching certain sections of the RSE Code. To assist them in the successful implementation of RSE, staff were given the opportunity to participate in external training sessions, as well as in-house training provided by the RSE lead. This significantly increased the staff’s confidence and willingness to teach some of the more sensitive subjects.
Parental involvement
The school recognised that it was essential to collaborate closely with parents on the creation and implementation of the curriculum.
An initial parental questionnaire was issued to parents to survey their opinions and level of understanding of the topic of RSE. It was also used to identify any parents that would be interested in participating in a parent focus group to help co-create the curriculum. A large number of responses were received, with 93% of respondents requesting more information and 83% wanting to join the focus group.
A number of effective parent meetings took place with staff working alongside parents to discuss the elements of the RSE Code and to generate ideas as to what the developmentally-appropriate sessions might look like within the primary classroom.
Pupil voice
The school valued the views of pupils and they were given opportunities to raise questions about different RSE strands. Staff ensured that planning incorporated the pupils’ contributions.
Governors
Leaders ensured that the governing body of the school was regularly informed of the progress and involved at each of the curriculum development stages. Governors attended information sharing events and presentations. As critical friends, governors were invited to ask questions and regularly discussed the content of the RSE Code, guidance, and curriculum.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
Co-constructing the RSE curriculum had a beneficial effect on staff, pupils and parents as it encouraged collaborative working, transparency and the development of a shared vision of what an effective RSE curriculum should look like.
Opportunities to share and exchange ideas with parents, by including them in important discussions regarding their children’s education, had a positive impact on their respect for staff and trust that teachers would deliver lessons in a sensitive and developmentally appropriate way.
The most recent Estyn inspection in October 2022 noted, ‘how the head teacher has successfully engaged staff and parents in the process of creating a vision for the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum. Parents appreciate that their views and opinions matter and value the contributions they make to improving the school’s provision.’
Sharing best practice and planning with both staff and pupils has greatly improved outcomes. Staff are more confident following training and team planning, and pupils feel that their views and questions have been listened to and acted upon. This in turn has significantly improved provision.
Staff provide regular opportunities for pupils to express their views and to influence how and what they learn. As a result, pupils feel that the school values their ideas and opinions.
How have you shared your good practice?
Christchurch Primary School has worked with other schools across Swansea, Carmarthen and Pembrokeshire to share their good practice in teacher training sessions, parent meetings and conferences. The school works closely with the Local Authority Adviser for Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) / RSE who has supported them with the delivery of seminars for teachers and school leaders in South Wales.
The school regularly holds information sharing evenings for parents where the progress and roll out of RSE has been shared with them.
Leaders within the school continue to support individual RSE Leads as they begin the journey within their own schools.
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Information about the school
Ysgol Caer Elen is a Welsh-medium 3-16 all age school that was established in the town of Haverfordwest in the south of Pembrokeshire in 2018. There are now 840 pupils on roll. Ninety-three per cent (93%) of pupils come from non-Welsh-speaking homes. The percentage of pupils who receive free school meals is 9.88% on average over the last three years and 13% of pupils are on the additional learning needs (ALN) register. The senior leadership team includes the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher and three senior teachers.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
As the school is situated in the south of Pembrokeshire, a very high percentage of pupils start in the nursery and reception without any grasp of the Welsh language. They come from non Welsh speaking homes. The school wants to ensure that pupils are proficient and confident in their use of the Welsh language by the time they reach leaving age. To succeed, there is a continuous focus on creating a whole-school approach to developing plans to promote language skills and the use of the Welsh language. The ethos and culture aim to create Welsh speakers who have full access to the curriculum and who also take pride in their cynefin (locality).
Description of the nature of the strategy or activity
On a strategic level, developing pupils’ Welsh language skills is given due attention across all priorities in the school improvement plan. The developments of the Curriculum for Wales, pedagogy, structures and strategies for promoting well-being and leadership across the school help learners to develop their language skills. There is an unwavering focus at whole-school level on the vision to create Welsh speakers who take pride in their cynefin and in their use of the Welsh language in the classroom and socially. All staff are aware of their responsibilities in terms of realising the vision and guiding pupils on their language journey. Every opportunity is taken to celebrate Welshness and a reward system is applied across the school that recognises pupils’ efforts to develop their Welsh language skills.
The ‘Welsh Language Charter’ questionnaire is used as a means of gathering evidence in terms of pupils’ attitudes towards the Welsh language. The questionnaire’s responses and findings form a basis for developing an action plan to promote the use of the Welsh language in the classroom and beyond. It is ensured that pupils have input into this plan. The plan is shared with key stakeholders and link governors play a prominent part in the process of monitoring and evaluating progress against the targets.
Across the school, teachers are prompted to consider which experiences and learning activities are delivered as part of their plans and the way in which these lay and then build on the necessary linguistic foundations. Teachers and support staff are encouraged to think of creative, consistent and appropriate ways of modelling language and immersing learners in it. There is a focus on using a range of language drilling techniques and planning learning activities that engage children’s curiosity, confidence and interest. Children are immersed in fun but structured language experiences and activities. A variety of strategies are used to develop correct syntax and language patterns. Teachers plan together specifically to promote pupils’ knowledge of vocabulary. A wide range of visitors are invited to the school to hold discussions and information sharing and question and answer sessions to emphasise that the Welsh language is a living language in the community. Regular enrichment experiences are organised for pupils to have an opportunity to hear and use the Welsh language outside the school’s boundaries.
When immersing pupils in a language, specific emphasis is placed on developing speaking and listening skills. Individual and group play activities are developed both inside and outside the classroom, which allow pupils to be immersed in the spoken language. In the primary, there is a focus on creating a learning environment that is stimulating and magical and is rich in terms of language. The aim is to inspire and engage pupils’ interest in the language. Stories, songs and nursery rhymes are used purposefully and consistently. Provision to promote reading, speaking and listening and writing skills is mapped carefully and cohesively with the aim of ensuring that learning activities encourage pupils to delight and show pride in the fact that they are strengthening their language skills. Teachers in the primary organise a special parents’ evening with the aim of sharing ideas about how they can support the child’s linguistic development at home. Teachers in progression step 3 share a package with parents to support the child’s language development at home. The ‘Clwb Cwtsh’, which is available to parents/carers on the school grounds during the day, provides an opportunity for them to learn Welsh.
At Ysgol Caer Elen’s Language Centre, pupils who are latecomers to Welsh-medium primary education are immersed in the language. Since the school opened in 2018, over a hundred children have transferred successfully from the English-medium sector to Welsh-medium education. At the Language Centre, pupils receive three days of immersion in the first instance and then the intervention is tailored based on the progress made by the pupil. There is a focus on speaking and listening to develop pupils’ confidence and a range of drilling strategies are used to ensure that pupils develop their proficiency in the language quickly. It is a source of pride that all pupils who have attended the Language Centre have succeeded in gaining full access to the curriculum and are thriving in the mainstream.
The school’s ‘Welshness Committee’ includes pupils from Year 3 to Year 11, in addition to staff, and members are responsible for developing a programme of activities to promote the use of the Welsh language both inside and outside the school. The committee has worked with Menter Iaith and the Urdd in Pembrokeshire to invite a variety of notable musical groups to perform at the school. The committee has also invited artists such as Mei Gwynedd and Mr Phormiwla and poets such as Ceri Wyn Jones and Mererid Hopwood to hold workshops with older pupils. Following a request from the Welshness committee, there is now a wide range of clubs available during lunchtimes and after school for children of all ages.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
Leaders provide high quality professional learning opportunities for staff so that they can develop their ability to promote pupils’ language and literacy skills. This has ensured that they are confident practitioners who understand the immersion and language acquisition methodology. The purposeful planning across the school ensures that language promotion methods are consistent across the school. The stimulating learning environment that teachers have created promotes language skills.
The school celebrates Welshness and promotes every opportunity for pupils to develop as confident, bilingual learners. Pupils have a very good attitude towards their education and the Welsh language. Pupils who transfer from English-medium education as latecomers make swift and successful progress in their Welsh language skills. They become confident and fluent speakers. Very quickly, these pupils develop into speakers who are able to study the whole curriculum through the medium of Welsh. Nearly all pupils have positive attitudes towards the Welsh language and show obvious pride and enjoyment in their language and culture. The Welshness committee plays an important role in organising valuable opportunities for pupils to learn about Welsh history and immerse themselves in Welsh culture. The high expectations and ethos for promoting Welshness and celebrating Welsh heritage are a strength. Valuable opportunities are organised for pupils to immerse themselves in Welsh culture and take pride in their country.
How have you shared your good practice?
Teachers from Ysgol Caer Elen have been invited to share ideas and good practice with leaders and teachers in the cluster and during training sessions organised by the regional education consortium. These leaders have also completed school-to-school support work across the local authorities
Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice
Information about the school
Ysgol Caer Elen is a Welsh-medium 3-16 all age school that was established in the town of Haverfordwest in the south of Pembrokeshire in 2018. There are now 840 pupils on roll. Ninety-three per cent (93%) of pupils come from non-Welsh-speaking homes. The percentage of pupils who receive free school meals is 9.88% on average over the last three years and 13% of pupils are on the additional learning needs (ALN) register. The senior leadership team includes the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher and three senior teachers.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
The school is completely committed to introducing the principles of the Curriculum for Wales successfully, enabling all pupils to reach their full potential academically, socially and personally in a homely Welsh community. The school’s pupils will have a high standard of digital, numeracy and literacy skills that will ensure that they thrive. To fulfil these objectives, there is a continuous focus on creating an effective continuum in terms of promoting the skills across the school. A culture is created where teachers understand their responsibilities in terms of skills development. They ensure that planning, pedagogy, evaluation and assessment at the school help pupils to make progress in the skills.
Description of the nature of the strategy or activity
On a strategic level, developing skills is a priority in the school improvement plan and a priority in the improvement plans of the leaders of the areas of learning and experience. Skills improvement plans have been aligned carefully with other plans to ensure consistency in the way in which leaders act when delivering and assessing skills and that there are clear lines of accountability. Plans include success criteria and regular opportunities to evaluate progress and effect. Skills leaders work purposefully with teachers and support staff to plan strategies jointly that will develop the skills in a co-ordinated manner.
The model for how the school’s professional learning communities act has been structured carefully. It allows teachers and support staff from primary and secondary to work together to develop a robust and shared understanding of the way in which pupils develop their proficiency in the skills from the nursery upwards. As part of the terms of reference of the professional learning communities, staff are required to complete action research based on how to develop the skills effectively. They also conduct joint learning walks and scrutiny processes to understand the learning journey in the context of an all-age school. To ensure consistency, teachers and support staff across the progression steps are also prompted to consider carefully how pedagogy and learning tasks that are applied in the classroom allow each pupils to make progress in the skills.
Evidence and examples of pupils’ work are shared on a special website that has been created specifically for the skills. This resource allows teachers to evaluate provision, share good practice and also develop an understanding of learners’ development and progress in a sophisticated manner. The website also allows teachers to have more autonomy to assess pupils’ progress. The whole-school marking and feedback policy provides teachers with guidance on how to present comments that encourage pupils to reflect on their skills and how to make further progress. Sharing examples of effective feedback is a key element of the policy.
A wide range of qualitative and quantitative data is used intelligently to devise appropriate intervention programmes to provide further support for individuals or groups of pupils. Teachers and support staff follow a timetable that has been drawn up carefully to provide sessions in a manageable and effective manner. The school’s older pupils support the younger pupils during structured mentoring sessions.
Teachers have focused on creating a learning environment across the school that ensures that pupils evaluate their progress in the skills confidently and successfully. Teachers support this process by ensuring that phraseology and guidelines that are associated with appropriate self evaluation are visible in all learning rooms. Learning areas such as a ‘Lloches Llythrennedd’ literacy area, the ‘Den Digidol’ digital area and the ‘Rhanbarth Rhifedd’ numeracy area engage learners’ interest and curiosity. A variety of extra-curricular clubs are provided, such as the Coding Club, Reading Club and Numeracy Club, which provide opportunities for learners to refine and apply their skills in an informal context.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
As a result of the purposeful joint planning, there is a clear continuum in terms of provision for developing skills. Teachers and support staff understand their responsibilities as they focus on developing pupils’ literacy, numeracy and digital skills. The opportunities that the school provides for teachers to observe provision and pedagogy and scrutinise work across the age range ensure that they have a sound understanding of the most effective methods for developing skills. They also have a clear focus in terms of what needs to be done to ensure progress across the school. The learning environment that teachers have created helps to promote the importance and relevance of the skills. Pupils develop their independent learning skills in this environment, alongside their ability to self-evaluate their progress.
Co-ordinated planning means that pupils make good progress across the school in their literacy, numeracy and digital skills. Teachers organise appropriate opportunities to develop pupils’ literacy, numeracy and thinking skills. Very good attention is also given to developing pupils’ digital skills across the school.
How have you shared your good practice?
Skills leaders at Ysgol Caer Elen have been invited to share ideas and good practice with leaders and teachers at cluster level and also with leaders during training sessions organised by the regional education consortium. Leaders have supported skills development at a school-to-school level across the local authorities