Effective Practice Archives - Page 38 of 66 - Estyn

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Model Church in Wales Primary School is situated in Carmarthen.  There are 412 pupils on roll between the ages of 3 and 11, including 55 pupils in the part time nursery.  Around 13% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is below the national average (18%).  A very few pupils speak Welsh at home.  The school identifies that 24% of pupils have special educational needs.  This is slightly above the national average (21%). 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The school is currently preparing for the new curriculum.  As well as considering what is taught, it is also looking closely at how teachers teach.  The vision of the school is to develop pupils as independent learners.  In order to do this, the school believes that it needs to address pedagogy by extending the philosophy adopted in the foundation phase throughout the school.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Following a visit to a local school that shared its successful practice, the school decided to create a ‘Ditectif Dysgu’.  In particular, the aim of the school was to develop this approach to apply at key stage 2, and to build upon some of the key strengths of teaching and learning that is happening through the foundation phase philosophy.  All enhanced provision work is now called ‘Ditectif Dysgu’, and every pupil has a ‘Ditectif Dysgu’ workbook and all six learning areas in the classrooms are known as ‘Cyfrif a Chyfrifo; Ardal Allanol; Gorsaf Ysgrifennu; Cwtsh Creadigol; Den Darganfod and Cornel Adlewyrchu’.  The strategy ensures that pupils receive a broad and balanced content to their curriculum and a balanced approach to how they are taught.  Therefore in key stage 2, staff decided to teach the more ‘subject’ content curriculum for three mornings a week.  For the remainder of the time, pupils are taught in focus tasks and have the opportunity to work independently and in the enhanced provision areas.  School leaders have ensured that throughout the school there are appropriate systems to ensure continuity.

The Year 6 comprises of two parallel classes, and ‘Ditectif Dysgu’ is provided across the year group.  Maximum use of all of the learning environment is encouraged in both classrooms, including in the corridor and outside.  Space and area location have been thought out carefully to accommodate Year 6 pupils.  Every pupil is able to access all areas during ‘Ditectif Dysgu’ as the classrooms are ‘opened up’.  As in all classes, ‘Ditectif Dysgu’ consists of two focus tasks, two independent activities and six enhanced provision areas, providing tasks of differing challenge and a range of relevant opportunities for formative assessment.

Planning is driven by pupils’ contributions and ideas and they are encouraged to contribute to the ‘Llais y Disgybl’ display during their weekly circle time.  They then have the opportunity to select an activity from it during Ditectif Dysgu time.

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

The impact of Ditectif Dysgu is that teaching in focus tasks across the year group allows the teachers to have contact with all the pupils on a regular basis.  This ensures a deeper understanding of their ability and that of the holistic child, allowing accurate teacher assessment.

Teachers report a very positive impact in their pupils’ attitude to learning.  The process has improved pupils’ independence, enthusiasm and attitudes to learning.  Creativity and outdoor learning have also strengthened as pupils feel that ‘Ditectif Dysgu’ gives them far more opportunities to become independent learners.  Staff have regular, meaningful opportunities to work with different pupils from both classes.  Planning has also become more purposeful and considers all areas of learning.  The pupils appreciate taking ownership of their own learning.

Nearly all pupils are fully engaged and enjoy their ‘Ditectif Dysgu’ time.  They have developed a passion for their learning, and in particular the work has impacted positively on pupils’ learning, wellbeing and self-confidence.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school maintains contact with another school that staff visited to view and share good practice.  The school is currently sharing successful practice through its school website and welcomes any school that wishes to express an interest to get in contact to find out more.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Pen Rhos is a recently established school following the amalgamation of two schools in Llanelli, within Carmarthenshire local authority.  There are 447 pupils on roll aged from 3 to 11 years, including 23 part-time children who attend the nursery.  The school organises pupils into four Welsh medium and 13 English medium classes.

On average over the last three years, about 34% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is considerably above the national average of 18%.  The school identifies about 37% of pupils as having special educational needs.  This is notably above the national average of 21%.  Few pupils have English as an additional language and a very few pupils speak Welsh at home.  A few come from an ethnic minority background.

Community Profile

The Tyisha 2 ward is in the top 3% most deprived areas in Wales and is ranked in the top 10% across all key domains.  It is a Flying Start and Communities First area.  The school notes that there are challenging community safety issues such as those related to drugs and alcohol misuse.  Some areas are identified as somewhere residents do not feel safe and are afraid to go out at night and during the day.  Often, youths may congregate in certain areas and at times this results in anti-social behaviour such as night noise, rowdiness and theft.  Many of the school’s pupils live within this community and can often be exposed to these issues.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The school has actively trained all staff in attachment and trauma informed practice using its school education improvement grant.  School leaders have identified key teachers and learning support assistants who have undertaken high-level training to meet the identified wellbeing needs of pupils. This is a bespoke response that is funded by the school to meet the complexity of the issues it faces.  The school expresses itself as an ‘adverse childhood experience (ACE) informed school and the headteacher is a proactive in sharing the school’s approach across Wales and internationally.  A range of wellbeing surveys and measures across the school identify those learners who need support.  As a result, tailored intervention is provided to support the wellbeing of pupils using its own trained staff.  Some examples of the resources that the school can provide include a trauma mental health informed practioner, a school trained counsellor, a bereavement counsellor, a mindfulness practitioner, and a ‘drawing and talking’ therapist.  The school also has eight fully trained nurture group practitioners, and Ruby the dog as part of the reading dog initiative.  As a result, more often than not the school can respond to its own needs using its own staff.   

The school also provides an accredited course on resilience for parents and wellbeing open days to the community.  Recently, the school opened on Sunday mornings weekly, to provide support and learning opportunities to pupils and their families.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The strategy has been developed around a culture that staff who have the skill set and drive are supported and funded to undertake professional development to respond to pupils’ wellbeing needs. The vision is to create its own highly specialist teams to support pupils and develop a learning organisation that is bespoke and unique.  These staff also trained to support families in difficulty.

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

This provision means that the school can respond quicker and more effectively to pupil wellbeing needs rather than having to wait for specialist external support.  Rarely does the school find it needs to exclude pupils and a few of the most vulnerable pupils in key stage 2 and in the foundation phase achieve well at school.  The school’s ‘before and after’ surveys of wellbeing demonstrate that nearly all pupils report a positive change in their lives.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared its work with the ERW consortium, the Welsh Government and internationally with schools, health providers and research groups who are working with the school on refining the model and practice.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

West Park Primary School is in Nottage, near Porthcawl in Bridgend local authority.  There are 416 pupils on roll, aged from 3 to 11, including 52 nursery children who attend part-time.  There are 15 single-age classes in the school.  

The rolling average for the past three years means that about 5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.  This is well below the national average of 18%.  Nearly all pupils are of white British ethnicity.  Very few pupils speak Welsh at home.  

The school identifies around 6% of pupils as having special educational needs.  This is much lower than the national average of 21%.  A very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs.  

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Over time, the school has developed a very effective approach to pupil voice and to ensuring that pupils have the skills to take responsibility and to contribute to decisions.   For many years the school has had an eco-committee and school council.  However, in September 2016, the school recognised that these groups did not act in an independent way and relied too much on teacher support.  By listening to learners, staff found that many pupils wanted to be part of these groups but did not have the opportunity to do so, as membership was often through an election process.  In addition, while pupils contributed ideas for learning through developing theme activities, they did not have the opportunity to do this as independently as they could.  The school used multiple strategies, which impacted on each other to improve pupil voice opportunities within the school, and to improve the skills the pupils needed so that they could fully benefit from the improved opportunities.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Initially, the school set about improving the range of pupil voice groups and ensured improved opportunities for pupils to join those groups.  During this period, the school set about analysing and improving its approach to the 12 pedagogical principles in the new curriculum for Wales.  In particular, this included developing the three pedagogical principles of ‘authentic contexts for learning’, ‘encouraging pupils to take responsibility for own learning’ and ‘to use approaches that encourage problem solving, creative and critical thinking’.  The school also focused on developing the expressive arts area of learning.    Through its monitoring and listening to learners structure, it became clear to school leaders that the school improvements around the three pedagogical principles and expressive arts were having a very positive impact on the pupils’ ability to take responsibility for their learning and make decisions, and overall this transformed their attitudes to learning.

As a result, the school realised that, to have good pupil voice, pupils must have:

  • good attitudes to learning  
  • good independent learning skills
  • good leadership skills   

In turn, the school focused on ensuring that an effective and engaging curriculum supported these three aspects effectively. 

Developing good attitudes to learning through an effective curriculum:

The school uses a theme based approach to the curriculum, ensuring the development of pupils’ literacy, numeracy, ICT and thinking skills.  From January 2017, the school placed the four core purposes of the new curriculum at the core of its themes.  Each theme idea was designed and ways of developing each of the core purposes through the theme were specifically planned by teachers working in teams.  The school found that by approaching the development of themes in this way it promoted the principle of ‘authentic contexts for learning’ and for encouraging pupils’ problem solving, critical and creative thinking.  As a result, the school was able to re-develop its themes to become more emotive and issue based, with a real purpose for learning.

Pupils contribute to ‘what and how’ they learn using activity starters at the beginning of a theme and throughout the theme.  For example, after a hook into the theme they use the words ‘debate, compare, investigate, analyse, present, examine, prepare’ to develop activities that lead to an end point of the theme.  All of the pupils study the same theme to enable co-operative thinking and improving the purpose for learning.  For example, the theme of the Second World War became ‘Peace and Conflict’, in order to look at much wider and current real world issues than the specific theme of the Second World War.  Pupils began by learning and immersing themselves in a particular European country, with each cohort choosing a different country.  Following this, an event would happen causing the cohort countries to be in conflict with each other.  Pupils discussed their experiences of conflict, such as disagreements with friends, and looked at the causes of conflicts and the feelings that they evoke, investigating the ways that conflict can be overcome and applying their own experience.  They looked back in history to see if they could learn how people survived conflict in the past, leading them to investigate the Home Front during the World Wars.  They investigated the impact of conflict, through finding out about the lives of modern day refugees and comparing this to evacuees during the Second World War.  They debated issues such as ‘do we have a duty to help refugees both now and back in the Second World War – why / why not?’  Pupils proposed various ideas to promote peace, finally deciding to hold a PEACE Olympics.

In another theme, ‘Incredible Oceans’, pupils investigated plastic pollution and its impact, and debated and discussed issues of whether we have a responsibility to keep the oceans clean – why?  or why not?  They designed ways to clean the oceans and ways to prevent plastic pollution.  They wrote to the council and other local groups and organised a protest march through the local town to promote awareness.

The pupils’ ideas for learning are taken on board and pupils are free to take the learning in their own way.  This has transformed attitudes to learning and nearly every pupil is highly engaged in their learning.  The nature of the themes and the build to an end point have had the impact of making pupils feel that they have a voice; they believe that their voice matters and that they can make a difference.  As a result, nearly all pupils are keen to be part of pupil voice groups and contribute to school life.

The school has also improved its provision for expressive arts, which has a strong impact on pupils’ confidence to decide what and how to learn and how to show their learning.  An afternoon a week in Years 4, 5 and 6 was devoted to teaching the skills of expressive arts.  The specific skills of music, art, performance, digital media and dance were taught in six week blocks, through the context of theme as the whole key stage studies at the same theme.  Pupils decided the order they would learn the skills in and rotated through each skill for a six week block, completing all the blocks by the end of the year.  The pupils worked in vertical groups across the year groups.  This approach was very successful in improving pupils’ expressive art skills and their ability to apply these skills across the curriculum in a very effective way.   Staff had already engaged in research into the pedagogy of what makes good independent learning.  This meant that all staff across the school had a common approach, structure and language for independent learning.   This common understanding by staff, combined with the pupils’ more developed expressive art skills, further improved their positive attitudes to learning as they were able to develop learning fully in their own way, produce their own outcomes and know that all types of learning outcomes were valued. 

This combination of improving themes, improving independent learning skills and ensuring good quality expressive arts resulted in pupils being more engaged in their learning, improving attitudes to learning and in turn their desire to be involved in decision-making – to gain the skills needed to be involved and their belief that they could make a difference.  This in turn improved the ability of the pupil voice groups to function in an independent way and to be far more self-driven. 

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

Nearly all pupils, regardless of ability, have very good attitudes to learning and are highly engaged in their learning, which has a positive impact on standards and progress.  Pupils are keen to learn and behaviour in class is very good as a result.  Standards of work across the school are good and pupils make good progress from their starting points.  The pupil voice groups at the school are very effective, play an active role in the life of the school and make a good contribution to decisions made.   

How have you shared your good practice?

Effective practices have been shared across the school through staff working in teams to develop themes, co-coaching and teams of teachers undertaking listening to learner activities.

The school has shared pupil voice good practice at the Bridgend Festival of Learning in 2018 and 2019.

Good practice in pupil voice has been shared and developed as part of the school cluster working.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Pentrehafod School is an 11-16 English-medium mixed comprehensive school serving the eastern side of Swansea.  The school’s population has increased gradually over the last few years and there are currently 1,035 pupils on roll.  The school is a lead school in an initial teacher training education partnership.

 
Around 29% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.  Around 34% of pupils are on the special educational needs register, of whom 5% have statements of special educational needs.  A very few pupils speak Welsh at home. Around 84% of pupils are from a White British ethnic background. Around 15% of learners speak English as an additional language.
 
The school has a special teaching facility catering for pupils with speech, language and communication needs.  The senior leadership team consists of the headteacher, who took up post in September 2016, a deputy headteacher, two assistant headteachers and a school business and finance director.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The overarching vision was to build and utilise a whole-school tracking system that aligns attainment and wellbeing to provide a more ‘rounded’ overview of a child’s progress.  This system was created to allow teachers and non-teachers to identify the most appropriate and effective intervention at the earliest possible opportunity in order to support the whole child.  Resources in every school have to be prioritised, and a system like this, providing a wide range of ‘live’ data, allows leaders to maximise the opportunity for every child so they get the intervention they need.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Leaders’ vision was to develop a system of tracking that draws upon a wide range of information for each pupil to ensure sharp and targeted support for each individual pupil.  The system includes end of key stage predictions, targets for each pupil to raise aspirations, as well as the outcomes of the online wellbeing survey to provide an informative overview of wellbeing and standards.  This overview incorporates pupils’ reading ages and attendance rates.  Teachers contribute to the system regularly sharing information about academic progress and each pupils’ attitude to learning (ATL) on a 4-point scale.  Ideally, there should be a clear link between academic success and a positive ATL.  This tracking data is colour coded against the other key information held on the child to help staff look holistically at each pupil’s progress and identify the precise nature of any barriers to learning or wellbeing. 

 
Staff use the information from this system proactively to provide bespoke support and challenge.  For example, the system enables the school to create effective ‘Pupil on a Page’ overviews for each pupil and these are then utilised as part of Raising Achievement and Progress (RAP) meetings.  During these meetings, around 15-20 colleagues, including teaching staff and non-teaching staff such as teaching assistants and the careers co-ordinator, use the live tracking to discuss no more than four Year 9, 10 and 11 pupils.  Together with wellbeing information, this approach allows staff to agree on specific intervention for specific pupils, with the clear mantra of ‘one size fits one’. 
 
The interventions from this system range from small group or individual literacy/numeracy support to bespoke wellbeing interventions, including mentoring groups and the involvement of outside agencies where necessary.

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

This work has contributed to an improvement in academic outcomes for students and an improved sense of wellbeing for many.

 
The school’s outcomes for 2019, for most indicators, were above modelled expectations and the school continues to close the gap for students eligible for free school meals or with additional learning needs effectively.  One of the key factors contributing to this success, aligned with effective learning and teaching and targeted wellbeing support, is the significant confidence in holistic tracking.

How have you shared your good practice?

Pentrehafod School has very well-established school-to-school relationships with three other Swansea secondary schools.  The school also has robust links with seven partner primary schools.  There is a cross phase student voice working group and a variation of the tracking system runs across the cluster.  The school has shared its sophisticated systems with most of these establishments and wider.  Most recently, a school in mid-Wales is using Pentrehafod’s RAP model as a vehicle for targeting individual student success. 

 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Birchgrove Comprehensive School is an 11 to 16 co-educational community school maintained by Swansea local authority.  There are currently 428 pupils on roll.  The school serves a suburban area between Neath and Swansea on the eastern side of Swansea.

Around 29% of pupils are eligible for free school meals and around 40% live in the 20% most deprived areas of Wales.  Nearly 33% have a special educational need, including close to 13% who have a statement for that need.  Both figures are much higher than the national averages.  The school has two specialist teaching facilities catering for pupils with both specific and moderate learning difficulties.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Over the past four years significant numbers of pupils joined Birchgrove Comprehensive, either mid-year or late in their secondary education (in Years 10 and 11).  A number of the pupils joining were disengaged from education and presented barriers to learning.  A relatively high number of managed move pupils with negative attitudes to learning were accepted by the school.  A second Specialist Teaching Facility (STF) catering for Autistic Spectrum Disorder increased the need to address significant barriers to pupils’ learning.  Provision needed to be matched to the ability of vulnerable learners and the level of support and guidance they required.  

The school recognised that, while pupils responded well to the strong pastoral care system and support offered within school, many struggled to maintain progress in their studies once they had moved on to post 16 studies.  Feedback from parents and past pupils confirmed that a small but significant group of pupils failed to progress effectively in their chosen areas of post-16 education and were at risk of becoming NEET.

Leadership at the school recognised that the needs of a significant number of pupils could be met better and identified a number of key areas of provision and working practice that could be modified to address the needs of the vulnerable learners.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Curriculum provision

A full review of the curriculum identified the need for additional courses suited to the needs of high achieving pupils, alongside an increase in courses that suited the needs of vulnerable learners.  Careful consideration was given to the quality of the vocational courses offered to pupils.  Delivery plans for courses were adapted to ensure that changes could be made to give pupils joining the school during key stage 4 the best chance of catching up with peers and successfully gaining qualifications.  Alternative and enhanced provision has been developed with innovative courses to enhance engagement and outcomes for pupils of all abilities, adding value to their education.

Restructuring of behavioural management systems and pupil support strategies 

Established behavioural management systems were replaced with a simplified system focusing on building a restorative dialogue about pupils’ learning and placing strong teacher-pupil working relationships at the heart of the process.  Mutual respect and strong lines of communication between parents and teaching staff reinforced a collaborative support network around pupils.  The school has invested significant staff time and training to ensure consistency in the approaches and strategies used to support pupils.

Ethos

An inclusive ethos has been developed where respect and discussion are the main focus in resolving barriers to learning.  The focus with vulnerable learners has changed from ‘What is going wrong?’ to ‘How do we resolve this and make it better?’  Staff hold celebratory and supportive discussions with pupils who transfer in-year to help build trust and enthusiasm.  All staff have this common mindset and provide a consistent message to pupils.  The school has moved away from focusing on narrow measurements of success based on the national headline indicators, instead favouring individual achievement against personal goals based on ability and the challenges that pupils face.

High profile pupil tracking

Identified vulnerable learners (in-year transfers, managed moves et al) are interviewed when joining the school.  The process is supportive and pupils provide advice and information to help shape their curriculum provision and the support required to meet their needs.  Where necessary, a bespoke timetable is developed with adapted options to give pupils the best opportunity of re-engaging in learning and gaining credible outcomes.  Strong lines of communication with parents ensure that pupils’ needs and challenges are met.  A dedicated pastoral team works with teachers, learning coaches, heads of year, senior leadership and external agencies to support learners.  Pupils’ learning journeys are mapped out from prior to joining the school through to completion of their education.  This information and progress is shared with the pupils in progress meetings.  The headteacher’s vision for an inclusive ethos has resulted in the school working successfully with parents, pupils and the local authority to ensure that every child who wants to be part of Birchgrove Comprehensive school can be.

Pupil centred planning

Pupil support is planned and co-ordinated well.  Strong lines of communication and rapid action to support pupils where required are key to maintaining high tariff, vulnerable pupils in education.  Parents/carers play a key role in meetings where in-year transfer pupils’ and managed move pupils’ provision is shaped.  Daily monitoring and feedback is given via the school’s systems, which allow pupils and parents to track progress and reports from class teachers on a lesson by lesson basis.

Supporting pupils’ post sixteen education

One to one interviews and small group visits to identified courses at colleges and specialist careers fayres, as well as college visits for STF pupils, support pupils effectively through transition. 

The care, support and guidance of Birchgrove pupils at post-16 are still a focus for the school. Vulnerable and past pupils who require additional support are monitored to ensure that they have a successful transition to suitable learning pathways.  The school has identified that groups of learners often disengage from college courses towards the end of the first half term.  As a result, the school encourages pupils to return for events such as presentation evenings after the first half term.  Staff and support agencies engage with these learners to assess post-16 progress and options for those at risk of leaving education, employment or training.  The school and agencies work with pupils to identify a more suitable learning pathway.  Strong Careers Wales and college links foster positive support around individual learners at risk of leaving their post-16 courses. 

The school provides work experience opportunities to past pupils who have become NEET, allowing them to access support and mentoring from staff aware of the individuals’ needs.  Where appropriate, the school has acted as an examination centre, enabling past pupils the opportunity to attend revision classes and re-sit GCSE examinations to improve their grades as external candidates.

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

The school’s focus on inclusion has resulted in a significant reduction in exclusion rates, which are now very low.  The school prides itself on working successfully with pupils who have previously failed to engage in education in other schools.

School attendance is high and punctuality is strong.  High achieving pupils have benefited from the wider curriculum provision and greater engagement in learning across the school.  Over the past three years, an average of 13% of pupils each year have achieved five A*-A grades at GCSE or equivalent, which is well above modelled outcomes.  The school is proud that no child leaves school without qualifications.  Significant numbers of pupils previously out of education have been reintegrated into mainstream and the school STFs, successfully gaining GCSE qualifications and high value-added scores.  All headline indicators show a positive three year trend.

How have you shared your good practice?

Members of the school senior leadership team (SLT) have shared the school’s inclusion strategies with other schools in the local authority and region.  Lead staff within the school’s STF have provided training to colleagues from other schools as part of professional learning.  Headteachers’ and senior leaders’ network meetings have been used to share practice with other schools.  Birchgrove was asked by the local authority to provide a best practice case study for inclusion within the STFs and mainstream provision.  Members of the SLT have supported the local authority’s specialist provision and pupil referral units.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

There are currently 40 pupils in the school. This includes eight pupils in the primary phase and thirty two pupils in the secondary phase. Pupils are mostly from the local area in Cardiff.

Almost all pupils come from minority ethnic groups including Arab, Pakistani, Somali and West Indian. A few pupils speak English as an additional language. The school is non-selective, and entry is based upon the school’s ability to meet the needs of the pupil. It provides an education with a Muslim ethos and a curriculum that includes the teaching of Arabic, the Qur’an and Islamic Studies. The school’s motto is ‘Learn, Enhance, Achieve’.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Since opening in 2016, the school has had an exceptionally caring and nurturing ethos based on the Islamic values of mutual respect and strong, positive relationships between pupils, staff and the wider community. The school motto ‘Learn, Enhance, Achieve’ is embedded in all aspects of the school’s approach and is reflected in the nurturing environment and high expectations of pupils established by teachers.

The school identified that a nurturing environment was integral to establishing a positive relationship between pupils, their peers and teachers and positively affected pupil learning and development. With this ethos/culture in mind, the school developed a wide range of strategies to raise the aspirations of pupils and remove perceived barriers to girls’ education. The monthly teacher meetings where each pupil’s progress, concerns, targets and pastoral care are discussed were crucial to the development of the strategies. Over time, these strategies evolved using feedback from pupils and teachers.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

A key priority for the school is to raise the confidence of pupils by showing them the impact of pupil voice on the work of the school. This is mainly through the school’s focus groups encouraging pupils to have an influence. For example, ‘Student Observers of Learner’ (SOLs) observe lessons and give feedback that influences classroom practice, curriculum resources and trips. This feedback is included in the well-rounded teacher appraisal process that takes account of pupil progress, teachers’ self-evaluations and professional reflections, and the outcomes of leaders’ monitoring.  Another focus group, called the Motivating Active Mentors (MAMs), motivates its peers by initiating incentive trips and giving feedback to teachers on the most motivational reward systems.

Central to the school’s nurturing approach is the highly tailored curriculum that removes perceived barriers to girls’ education and raises pupil aspiration. The school has developed this curriculum to increase educational outcomes and enrich the learning experiences of pupils. This is achieved through offering a wide range of educational experiences outside the classroom while supporting the Islamic faith of the pupils. For example, in PE lessons pupils participate in self-defence lessons, which are conducted in a female-only sports hall allowing the pupils to be comfortable and confident participating. Also, pupils work closely with organisations to promote inclusivity and understanding of Muslim girls. Examples include their recent collaboration with the South Wales Police to create a uniform for Muslim female officers and with the Welsh Rugby Union ‘Jersey for all’ campaign.

A key priority to the school is breaking perceived barriers of Muslim girls’ education outside of and within the pupils’ communities. The school’s approach to this is to provide enriching experiences or workshops beyond the classroom environment, whilst always having pupils’ Islamic identity in mind. These experiences serve as an opportunity for pupils and community members alike, to recognise and value difference when they encounter people with beliefs different from their own. For example, through participating in a workshop at Wild Thing Café, pupils learnt about veganism. Additionally, these experiences create a subtle shift in the perception of girls’ education.  Whilst recognising and valuing the Islamic identity of its pupils, the school is providing unique opportunities and visiting places that many female pupils would not usually get to experience fully, such as trips to Ogmore, where the pupils swam in their Islamic outer garments (hijabs). The school often rents out whole establishments to offer a comfortable, female-only environment for them to remove their hijabs, for example renting out the entire trampolining park and an overnight camping trip for teachers and pupils, allowing both to participate fully in activities. Again, while this increases pupil confidence, it also serves as an opportunity for members of the wider community outside of the school to meet and become acquainted with young Muslim girls. These experiences aim to develop an ethos of upholding their faith while gaining worthwhile positive experiences.

At the heart of the school’s approach to raising the aspirations of girls is the strong and shared understanding by all stakeholders of its holistic and nurturing approach. The school adopts several strategies for this approach.

  • The Intervention Plan is created for pupils who have significant weaknesses or are performing lower than expected.  In the monthly meetings, all teachers share each individual pupil’s progress, concerns and targets and devise an intervention plan if necessary. The pupil is set goals according to their needs and provided with support consisting of either in-class enhancements or online courses that are accessed at school and home. This plan is monitored and reviewed regularly until the desired outcome is met.
  • The Motivation Plan is based upon the school’s holistic approach to nurturing.  It highlights areas of personal development for the pupil to reach their highest potential and raise their aspirations. It is a collaborative dialogue between the pupil and teacher to identify where pupils need to be motivated. For example, a Year 11 pupil was demotivated due to the stress and pressures of exams. A motivation plan is devised to help alleviate stresses and bring balance into her revision timetable plans.
  • The Positive behaviour report is a holistic and nurturing variant to the commonly used ‘behavioural report’ used in schools. It evolved from witnessing the humiliation pupils felt by the standard ‘behavioural reports’; thus a collaborative and more holistic approach was created to achieve the desired outcome. The goal of the report is ultimately for pupils to learn from their mistakes and improve, but the school also wanted to give pupils the skills to be independent learners rather than just telling them what to do. The school emphasises the importance of the partnership between the school, pupils and parents, by involving parents throughout this process and subsequent meetings. The pupil then devises their own targets in collaboration with their parent and teacher. Every day for a fortnight, the teacher swill record whether the pupil met their targets or not and another parent meeting is held to review at the end of the fortnight. If the targets are not met, they are reviewed and adjusted accordingly, until improvements are made. The encouraging modifications on the ‘behavioural report’ and the approach to tackling the areas of weaknesses promote pupil ownership of their learning and improvements, which in turn increases their self-confidence and esteem, encouraging them to take pride in their participation.
  • An Enhancement booklet was created for each individual pupil to be a hub of positive comments from teachers throughout the year. It also allows for termly self-grading by the individual pupil.  At the end of the year, the pupils take the booklets home along with their school report and they serve as an additional personal record of their achievements both academically and socially.
  • The key stage 4 pack is given to Year 10 pupils at the start of the year and consists of tools to help them build transferable skills they need for the world of work or further education. The subject grade booklets offer a space for pupils to evaluate their assessments, looking at what went well and what they need to revise. It helps pupils to take responsibility for their learning and develop self-monitoring skills and perseverance. It also contains a reflective journal that documents pupil learning successes and mistakes, and eating and sleeping habits to monitor the impact of these on their academic progress.  These elements of independent learning help pupils to develop confidence and resilience.  

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

In the most recent PASS survey carried out by the school, nearly all pupils had a positive attitude towards learning and are happy in school.  Questionnaires devised by the school for both pupils and parents highlighted that the school is providing a nurturing and positive learning environment both within and outside the classroom. The school’s recent IGCSE results show a marked improvement, which can partly be attributed to the various plans that have been put in place to meet the needs of every individual learner. The school has also seen an impact on pupils’ aspirations, as a result of increasing educational activities and pupil voice.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school shares good practice with all stakeholders, on social websites such as Twitter and Facebook and the school website.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The setting leader at Cylch Meithrin Llanhari makes the most of support and oversight from Camau Cyntaf managers to achieve high standards of provision.   Camau Cyntaf works with ten other childcare settings in Rhondda Cynon Taf.  It has developed innovative and highly effective procedures for supporting staff induction and professional development.  Leaders and practitioners in Cylch Meithrin Llanhari apply these procedures exceptionally well and this has led to excellent standards of wellbeing, and to establishing very good quality environment and provision.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

When new practitioners start at Cylch Meithrin Llanhari, they complete a ‘Passport to Excellence’.  This gives the leader a clear understanding of what practitioners already know and understand, and what they need to learn to be effective practitioners in the setting.   Every practitioner uses their ‘Passport to Excellence’ to record training and professional development needs and the progress they make. They meet with the leader every half term to review their progress against the targets in the passport.  This ensures that everyone develops their professional competence and understanding extremely effectively.     

Practitioners new to the setting begin ‘working towards Bronze’.  This includes all the mandatory training that practitioners need, to build an awareness of good standards of early years care and development.  Once they have completed this, practitioners move on to the Bronze passport.   To achieve the Bronze level, as well as knowing about processes and procedures, practitioners need to show that they use them effectively.  The setting leader observes practitioners at regular intervals and provides constructive feedback to support them in achieving their goals.   The relevant section in the passport is complete once both the leader and practitioner are satisfied that the practitioner is fully competent in that area of practice or provision.   There are valuable opportunities for practitioners to discuss their progress, raise any concerns and identify new targets for improvement through the six-weekly supervision meetings and the well-established annual appraisals.  This means that the setting leader and practitioners work together highly effectively to solve problems and establish good practice, building a strong sense of wellbeing in the team.  

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

This high quality induction and professional development means that all practitioners have a thorough understanding of child development, of their roles and responsibilities, and of the setting’s policies and procedures.  They know and understand children’s needs in the setting extremely well.  As a result, children’s wellbeing is excellent, and they are cared for in an extremely safe and well-managed environment.  The setting leader knows practitioners’ strengths and areas for development extremely well.  Practitioners appreciate the support and professional development they receive and this meets their needs highly effectively.  For example, practitioners who are less confident at using Welsh receive active support that quickly improves their confidence and performance, and as a result children’s Welsh language development improves.   Practitioners develop their expertise progressively well across all aspects of the setting’s work and their wellbeing is high. 

How have you shared your good practice?

Camau Cyntaf share the passport and internal assessment procedures across all settings in the organisation and with the Coalfields Regeneration Partnership.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

St Mary’s R.C. Primary School is in Wrexham local authority.  There are 395 pupils on roll aged 3 to 11 years, including 42 who attend part-time in the nursery.  The school organises pupils into 14 single-age classes and two nursery classes.  About 5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is considerably below the national average of 18%.  The school identifies about 8% of pupils as having additional learning needs which is below the national average of 21%.  The majority of pupils come from an ethnic minority background and around a half the pupils have English as an additional language.  This is notably above the national average of 6%.  A very few pupils speak Welsh at home.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice 

For around three years, the school has been involved in a number of collaborative projects in order to prepare for the new curriculum.  Coming from a very traditional approach, the leadership team evaluated the impact of the projects and recognised the opportunity to make radical changes to planning and delivering the curriculum.  Monitoring exercises showed increased engagement and enthusiasm when pupils were given the freedom to choose topics or themes and when taught in mixed ability groups.  This pupil feedback was the driving force for significant change.

Foundation phase pupils had already been planning ‘Chilli Challenges’, where they choose the difficulty and challenge of their tasks.  This was further developed to allow them to choose the context for learning through the topics or themes of their choice.

In key stage 2, where a more ‘subject- based’ curriculum was in place, the leadership team recognised that a change of approach in line with foundation phase pedagogy needed to be introduced and carefully managed, including supporting staff development.  The Year 6 teachers were keen to trial child-led planning in their own classes and were given the freedom to experiment with planning the curriculum and class organisation.  They liaised closely with the leadership team and provided ongoing whole staff support and training to roll out the practice systematically.  All staff were pleased at the impact on both pupil and staff wellbeing, engagement and enthusiasm.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The school has worked collaboratively to develop an innovative, personalised curriculum, embracing the four purposes of the curriculum for Wales, to engage and enthuse all pupils to become mature, ambitious, capable and independent learners.

  • Initially, teachers select a broad, open-ended topic or theme to ignite the pupils’ interests.
  • Pupils then work individually, with ‘talk partners’ or in groups to present what they would like to learn about such as using mind maps.
  • Teachers collate the information and match the pupils’ ideas into the curriculum’s areas of learning using the programmes of study to ensure appropriate skill coverage.
  • Teachers and pupils then formulate a series of possible ‘Big Questions’ stemming from the pupils’ plans, ensuring that learning is real and purposeful.  Good examples included ‘will orang-utans be extinct by my 21st birthday?’ and ‘why do we get stormy weather?’ and ‘should we ban plastic in school?’  
  • Each ‘Big Question’ planning cycle lasts for approximately two or three weeks depending on the pupils’ interests and the way in which the theme develops.
  • Teachers keep an ongoing record of skills by highlighting in the programmes of study.  This enables teachers to track coverage and informs future theme choices based around one of the four purposes of the curriculum.
  • These are used to create ‘challenges’/ ‘challenge boxes’, which are holistic, learning experiences with literacy, numeracy and ICT skills carefully interwoven.
  • Teachers use every opportunity to provide real purposes and contexts for learning, for example emailing companies of the own choice to persuade them to use sustainable palm oil in their products.
  • Pupils work either with their ‘talk partner’, in groups or independently on the challenges. Teachers have high expectations and provide effective ‘live’ feedback throughout to support and extend the learning.
  • Effective use is made of assessment for learning strategies such as pupil-generated success criteria, toolkits, working walls, learning powers and zones to support pupils’ independence.
  • Teachers provide higher-order spelling and vocabulary lists for each ‘Big Question’ to immerse the pupils in rich language so that they can discuss and engage with the topic at the highest level.
  • There is emphasis on using workshops, visitors, visits (including ‘virtual field trips’) to enhance the pupils’ learning.
  • Pupils often have the freedom to choose how to complete challenges in their workbooks, using a variety of apps.
  • An online portfolio of pupils’ learning experiences is used extensively across the school.

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

  • Involving the learners as key partners in planning has had a significant impact on their self-esteem and enthusiasm.  This has resulted in improvements to pupils’ well-being, progress and standards.
  • Pupils are not afraid to take risks and persevere to challenge themselves.  This creates an environment in which pupils readily accept the responsibility to work hard, do their best and try without fear of making a mistake.
  • Fully inclusive tasks ensure success for all learners allowing them to exceed their expected levels.
  • Holistic experiences equip learners with essential life skills.
  • Classrooms are a hive of purposeful activity, where learners use the flexible school day to decide how to organise their time to achieve a higher level and explore at greater depth

How have you shared your good practice?

  • In-house staff development led by SDP (school development plan) teams, leaders and individual teachers has shared successful practice across all classes within the school.
  • The school’s ‘Leader of Teaching and Learning’ has provided support and training for teachers during their planning and preparation time, working alongside staff in their own classes modelling effective practice.  This has provided a comprehensive package of support ensuring a consistency of practice across the whole school.
  • Year 6/7 cluster transition meetings with the secondary school have strengthened links with colleagues.  The high standards in pupils’ books highlighted the impact of the innovative approach and rich curriculum provided.  This led to focused visits from secondary colleagues from the maths, English and science departments to observe in upper key stage 2.
  • Parents have been fully involved in the process through information workshops, ‘bring your parent to school’ days.
  • Governors have been informed through curriculum meetings, learning walks, ‘listening to learners’ monitoring exercises and informal visits to the school.
 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

St Mary’s R.C. Primary School is in Wrexham local authority.  There are 395 pupils on roll aged 3 to 11 years, including 42 who attend part-time in the nursery.  The school organises pupils into 14 single-age classes and two nursery classes.  About 5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is considerably below the national average of 18%.  The school identifies about 8% of pupils as having additional learning needs which is below the national average of 21%.  The majority of pupils come from an ethnic minority background and around a half the pupils have English as an additional language.  This is notably above the national average of 6%.  A very few pupils speak Welsh at home. 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The school staff are organised into teams to lead and develop priorities.  This has proved successful, for example when implementing new initiatives within the school following their involvement in a number of collaborative, cluster-based projects. 

Previously, the headteacher and senior managers were responsible for leading the school’s self-evaluation process.  Whilst staff and governors were involved and aware of the SDP (school development plan) through staff and governors’ meetings and training opportunities, there was limited involvement in its creation and on-going evaluation.

In addition, the traditional role of the curriculum co-ordinator had become redundant within the school.  Staff were working much more collaboratively to plan stimulating learning experiences with the pupils, and all members of staff were involved in monitoring exercises on a rota basis. 

With the imminent arrival of the new Professional Teaching Standards, the leadership team recognised their professional responsibility to support and facilitate the development of all staff as leaders.  Going forwards, it was vital that the self-evaluation and school development process became a whole school concern and that all staff members claimed greater ownership of their professional development.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The school self-evaluation, its development planning and staff development is a shared responsibility of staff who work collaboratively as a professional learning organisation.

  • Initially, draft school improvement priorities are identified following a robust self-evaluation process involving all staff and governors.
  • Key personnel with specific responsibilities are nominated by the leadership team to lead the development of each identified priority within an SDP development team e.g. literacy coordinators, Successful Futures Cluster Lead.
  • Staff are invited to express an interest in joining a particular SDP team.
  • Based on this information, the leadership team then organise teachers into cross-phase teams with an appropriate balance of expertise and experience to ensure effective whole-school development of each priority.
  • Each SDP team work collaboratively to evaluate and detail their specific priority area for development within the shared SDP document.
  • They reflect on the current situation in relation to the priority area, identify criteria for successful implementation and document specific actions to be taken.  Any staffing and resource implications are detailed, including costs and their source.  Deadlines for achievement are also included.
  • On completion, the SDP teams present their part of the development plan to the whole staff and any further actions are added following discussion.  Links between different priorities are made to ensure a consistent and cohesive approach.
  • The leadership team analyse the overall SDP and prioritise whole school development, research and training needs.  This informs a planned programme of in-house action-based research activities, staff meeting workshops, training and any other staff development sessions to be provided by other key professionals.  
  • SDP teams are then given short-term targets for development linked to their priority, with an expectation to share research and good practice with the whole staff during a designated staff meeting and training session.
  • All staff meetings and development sessions provide an open forum for staff to contribute, ask questions, and professionally challenge ideas and strategies.  This ensures that systems are appropriately refined and adapted to best suit the pupils and their setting.
  • Each half term, SDP teams conduct a full review of progress towards the identified actions and the SDP is updated accordingly on the shared online document.  Each action is RAG (Red, Amber, Green) colour-coded and progress is evidenced.  Where necessary, actions may be modified in light of any additional training or research conducted.
  • All staff and governors have access to the ‘live’ SDP and it is also formally shared with governors at each curriculum and governors’ meetings.  Progress is discussed and challenged where appropriate to ensure sustained improvement.

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

  • A climate of mutual support where all staff effectively collaborate on all areas of school improvement
  • A shared ownership and understanding of the school’s vision for strategic development
  • Successfully distributed leadership responsibilities to all staff according to their strengths and areas of interest and expertise
  • Staff working in cross-phase teams, ensuring that everyone has an overview of the school’s improvement journey
  • Well-defined roles and responsibilities clearly understood by all members of staff
  • Staff at all levels empowered to contribute extensively to developing their own leadership skills
  • Collaborative teaching and support for colleagues, providing tangible guidance for less confident or experienced staff
  • Opportunities for professional learning both within and beyond the school
  • A platform for staff to share good practice and provide training at a whole school level, which also successfully enhances their own presentation skills
  • Innovation and professional growth at all levels, facilitated by action research conducted by SDP teams
  • Higher expectation for staff to conduct research and to be responsible for their own professional learning
  • Encouragement and empowerment for staff to reflect on their own practice and be open to trialling new, innovative and forward thinking pedagogy without the fear of making mistakes

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared the development of this leadership model with the regional consortium, the Diocese and key stakeholders.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the setting

Cardiff and Vale College was established in August 2011 following the merger of Barry College and Coleg Glan Hafren. It provides further education at eight locations between Trowbridge in East Cardiff and Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan. The college’s Cardiff city centre campus opened in September 2015 and was extended in 2018.

The college has approximately 9,000 learners, of whom around 5,000 study full-time further education courses. Sixty-nine per cent of the main qualifications learners study at the college are vocational, with 31% being academic. The college’s courses range from entry level to level 5 and its provision covers nearly all subject sector areas. The areas accounting for the largest proportion of provision are arts, media and publishing; health, public services and care; and science and mathematics.

Cardiff and Vale College serves a diverse region that includes areas of significant deprivation. A minority of learners live in some of the most disadvantaged areas in Wales as indicated by the Welsh index of multiple deprivation. Thirty per cent of the college’s learners do not have English as their first language. Approximately 30% of the college population are black, Asian or minority ethnic learners.

For further education, the college has an annual turnover of £56m and employs over 600 staff. The college itself is part of a wider Cardiff and Vale College Group that includes large work-based learning providers.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

This case study relates to the inspection area of wellbeing and attitudes to learning.  The college has focused on embedding employer-linked work-related education into vocational courses.  All vocational learners have the opportunity to take part in ‘real not just realistic’ activities formally linked to their programmes of study.  The college also offers a programme of enrichment activities specifically designed to have a work-readiness focus.  This helps learners develop valuable personal, employability and leadership skills during their time at the college.

The college prides itself on being a ‘skills machine’.  Its curriculum and enrichment programmes are focused on developing skilled and employable people.  Close partnerships with key employers help identify the need for learners to have soft transferable skills that prepare them well for life as part of an ever-evolving workforce.  Such skills enable former learners to flourish as they face the challenges of a rapidly changing global economy.  Since the college was formed in 2011 there has been a relentless emphasis on ensuring that it responds to the needs of local communities and bridges the social mobility gap.  The college serves an area which is undergoing significant change, with one of the fastest growing populations in the UK, and is experiencing a significant increase in business and industrial activity.  This all contributes to the need for a strong, informed and responsive skills offer to produce a pool of employable talent for the capital region.

Description of nature of strategy or activity identified as sector-leading practice

Nearly all vocational learners work on ‘live briefs’, producing work for real organisations to industry deadlines.  Live briefs are projects agreed between partner employers and curriculum areas as part of regular employer boards.  These boards are used to link the college’s curriculum to the needs of local employers.   Examples of live briefs include learners in hospitality and catering working alongside internationally recognised professional chefs at social and charitable events.  Creative learners work backstage for large-scale concerts, design displays for the city’s theatre and organise events for CADW.  In 2017-2018, learners helped organise and stage testimonial dinners for two former captains of the Wales rugby team.  Other events have included fashion learners launching their summer clothing rage at a commercial indoor market.  The college has also established a pop-up shop to help learners who are interested in self-employment and entrepreneurship, to hone their skills whilst pursuing their ambitions.

Many learners take part in enterprise and enrichment activities that help them develop their skillsets and an appreciation of entrepreneurship as a viable career choice.  The college promotes its BEPIC brand to encourage learners to ‘be employable, purposeful, inspired, and challenged’.  To this end, the BEPIC teams of employment and progression officers, together with staff responsible for enrichment and entrepreneurship, have worked to support learners in cross-curricular participation in a range of external activities. For example, learners hosted events at the 2017-2018 National Eisteddfod, conducted sessions in bilingual storytelling, took part in a robot challenge, gave beauty treatments and supported the college cycle challenge.  Learners took part in the production of a short film called ‘Edgar’s Hair’ that aired on BBC Wales television in September 2018. 

Learners are trained alongside college staff members as ‘digital leaders’, enabling them to deliver training and support to peers and staff in using a range of software packages and new educational technology. These digital leaders have helped college managers develop their understanding of technology-enhanced learning and have hosted taster sessions for schools.

The college works in partnership with employers through its career ready programme in which learners work with several highly regarded organisations.  This programme breaks down barriers and allows young people to establish business relationships, creating a network of opportunities to aid their future progression.  Nearly all learners who took part in 2017-2018 had business mentors and all progressed onto further study at college, university or as part of an apprenticeship. 

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

The experience learners have at the college helps them develop highly effective work skills and behaviours.  They cultivate strong work-related problem‑solving skills, and grow in confidence and resilience, all of which supports them in their progression into employment.  Learners’ engagement with national vocational skills competitions is very high.  This has positive effects on their aspirations for the future and the college’s own data on learner destinations shows an upward trend in the proportion of learners who move on to further study or to work.

This quote from one learner illustrates the effect the college’s approach has had on her:

My Career Ready journey started last year. I have developed so much that I find I am almost unrecognisable from the less confident individual I was before I joined the programme.  Career Ready has given me the fantastic opportunity to develop myself into a professional, independent and self-motivated person with the confidence needed to really shine in the workplace.  I have been given the chance to gain work experience at a corporate bank in London as well as ample opportunities to visit businesses across the Cardiff area to really network with the companies that are relevant to me.  I’m proud of the progress I have made with Career Ready and I would encourage anyone who wants to better themselves to join the Career Ready programme.