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Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

St. Julian’s Primary School is a large primary school in Newport local authority.  There are 687 pupils at the school aged 3 to 11, including 75 pupils who attend the nursery part-time.  The school has 23 single-aged classes.  Around 18% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.  Most pupils come from homes where English is the main language spoken.  Around 20% of pupils have additional learning needs, including a very few pupils who have statements of educational needs.  The school is a Digital and Professional Learning Pioneer School.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

St. Julian’s Primary School has been working with other schools within the region and across Wales for a number of years, offering support around the innovative use of technology to support teaching and learning. Although technology was being used extremely well within the school, the school wanted to increase the number of opportunities for applying skills and knowledge across the curriculum in meaningful contexts.  The introduction of the Digital Competence Framework (DCF) and the greater establishment of the new curriculum for Wales provided a good opportunity to think more carefully and critically about what and how technology was being used.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The school has developed a number of strands to lead the developments of this strategy, such as:

  • DCF Lead – Several years ago, the school appointed a 21st century learning lead who was given oversight of the implementation of the Digital Competence Framework throughout the school.
  • Staff Skills & Knowledge Audit – Each year, all staff complete a self-evaluation audit of their skills and knowledge relating to areas of the DCF and their competence with various hardware and software.  This was devised by the school using an electronic form.  The results are imported into a spreadsheet to analyse progress and colour coded to outline common areas of strength and weakness.
  • Professional Learning / Sharing – The audit identifies staff who have the skills to support others and also areas with which staff may need further support.  As a result, in-house professional learning is developed and provided to staff.  This is delivered through: whole-school training, group training, coaching (colleague-to-colleague support) and online tutorial videos created by staff and pupils.  This presents staff with the skills to develop pupils’ learning across the curriculum.
  • Vision / Action Plan – The school created and shared a vision for digital learning and an action plan with goals for teaching, learning, equipment and infrastructure.
  • Staff Organisation – Staff who are particularly competent in using technology have been strategically assigned to different year groups to share practice and support colleagues around them.
  • Digital Leaders – Pupil Digital leaders are given as many opportunities as possible to apply their skills around the school and share new skills with others.  They meet weekly to plan actions, test new hardware and software and develop others’ skills.
  • Knowledge and Skills – Skills ladders, outlining the path for pupils to develop their skills, and the Digital Competence Framework are used to ensure that learners and staff know how to build and progress digital skills.  DCF statements are mapped to ensure appropriate coverage throughout the school.  Digital lead staff have been provided time to support each phase in developing further opportunities within curriculum planning for pupils to apply digital skills meaningfully across learning themes.
  • Equipment & Infrastructure – The school has carefully invested in infrastructure to improve network reliability.  The school has also invested in a range of devices to ensure that pupils are exposed to as many different platforms as possible to help them to be able to make decisions independently about the best software or device for the task.
  • Digital Toolkit – The Digital Leaders devised a ‘digital toolkit’, which includes a common range of web tools.  This is shared on their website and updated regularly for all stakeholders to use.
  • Website – Staff and pupils have worked together to create tutorial videos, which are shared with parents and other stakeholders through the school website.  These videos are also used by staff and pupils to refer to in lessons.  The school has recently developed online courses for teachers to develop their competence, which has been particularly helpful for newer teachers when they join the staff.
  • Rich Learning Tasks – The school has produced and shared case studies and ideas for applying digital skills across the curriculum.  For example, pupils in Year 2 created stop motion animations during their space theme, to demonstrate and explain how the Earth has night and day.  Pupils in Year 5 created their own business, used spreadsheets to manage the income and outgoings, produced business proposals, and created podcasts and jingles to advertise their products on the school radio show.  They filmed and edited movies to advertise their product, e-mailed successful company directors for advice, designed a company logo, created flyers and posters to attract customers, and created presentations to persuade a panel of ‘Dragons’ to invest in their company.  Whilst learning about Uganda, pupils throughout the school coded step-counters using BBC Microbits and used heart-rate monitors to track the number of footsteps they took each day.  They then input this data into spreadsheets and used formulae to add up their steps to see if they could virtually walk the 12,000,000 footsteps from Newport to Uganda.  Pupils also created currency converters using spreadsheets to convert between British Pounds and Ugandan Shillings.  They have also created e-safety apps and websites, which the school has shared publicly via its website to promote online safety.  Pupils throughout the school use virtual reality and augmented reality to explore inside the human body, our solar system and national parks.  Pupils throughout the school use video calling platforms to discuss their learning themes with experts, such as a wind-turbine engineer, national parks warden, and an RNLI worker.

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

Pupils have become far more independent in their use of IT and in the choices they make about which software or devices to use in order to complete task.  They are using IT far more purposefully and are applying their IT skills in authentic contexts for learning.  Teachers’ confidence and competence in using a range of software and devices are increasing and all staff are keen to keep developing their use of technology.  In most lessons, the use of IT to support learning is good or excellent and its use is purposeful.  The culture for digital learning within the school is increasing and pupils are beginning to use IT independently more effectively inside and outside of school to direct the pace, place, path and time of their learning.

How have you shared your good practice?

St. Julian’s Primary is a Digital and Professional Learning Pioneer School.  As a result, it has supported schools across Wales in using the Digital Competence Framework.  Recently the school has been working within the AoLE (areas for learning) groups in the development of the new curriculum for Wales, offering ideas, advice and guidance about the use of digital technology within the new areas.  It also works with the regional consortia to support a number of schools within the region and across Wales, particularly with the use of HWB.  

St. Julian’s Primary School often shares ideas and practice online through its website and social media.  Teachers and pupils have also led sessions for teacher training students at Cardiff Metropolitan University and the University of South Wales.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Dolbadarn primary school is in the village of Llanberis in Gwynedd local authority. Welsh is the main medium of the school’s life and work, and English is introduced as a subject in key stage 2. There are 177 pupils on roll, including 14 nursery-age, part-time pupils. 

The average proportion of pupils that are eligible for free school meals over the last three years is approximately 8%.  This is significantly lower than the national average of 18%.  Around 56% of pupils speak Welsh at home.  The school has identified around 31% of its pupils as having additional learning needs.  This is significantly higher than the national average of 21%.  Very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs.  A Language Difficulties Unit, which is part of Gwynedd education authority’s provision, is located in the school.

Context and background to effective or innovative practice

For several years now, the pupil’s voice has been at the heart of all aspects of school life.  This is part of the vision, and pupils, all teaching staff and governors are committed to it in order to ensure success.  The school’s aim is for all pupils to take ownership of what they learn and express their views about activities outside the curriculum, for example extra-curricular activities that support and enrich school life and develop the child in full.

There are also eco groups and an active school council, where pupils are responsible for creating their own action plan.  They set their own direction, organise meetings and produce their own agenda, and keep useful records of all meetings.  They report back to parents, governors and the school’s staff on their findings, either by letter or through a specific meeting.  A good example of their communication is when they designed a pamphlet for parents to promote the importance of attendance and punctuality.  They have also presented information about the importance of walking to school and the element of child safety when walking to school.  They recently decided to produce a report on the use of the Welsh language in the classrooms and on the playground, and observed behaviour in classes.  Through a combination of educational and extra-curricular experiences of leading specific groups and committees, the pupil’s voice is given a prominent place at Ysgol Dolbadarn.  This leads successfully to developing and deepening pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills across the school.

Description of the nature of the strategy or activity

In terms of planning and developing their education, pupils are given regular input into the content of their themes from the nursery class onwards.  By doing so, they foster a sense of ownership of their education from the outset.  They choose what they would like to learn, rather than teachers elaborating too much on what they will learn.  By following this philosophy, there is very strong evidence that pupils have more interest, enthusiasm and ownership of their education.

In all classes, there is a ‘learning wall’ that is full of pupils’ ideas.  The contents of the wall highlight their thoughts and aspirations when planning themes and lessons.  In the foundation phase, a tree is displayed in all classes that outlines pupils’ suggestions about what they would like to learn and what they understand or know about specific themes.  As progression, pupils complete KWL grids (Know/Want to know/Learnt) in order to identify their previous knowledge, what they would like to know, and then what they have learned.  In key stage 2, pupils’ ideas are very often pursued, which can mean that the content of learning is completely different from what was intended to be taught originally.  This shows the school’s willingness to take sensible risks in order to develop an exciting curriculum for its pupils.

Pupils have developed their role in considering the response to each other’s work.  They now have complete confidence in assessing their own work and that of their peers.  As a great deal of modelling work by staff and peers happens continuously, pupils respond to the work through assessment for learning, by setting individual targets and success criteria independently.  The process is now something that all pupils do completely naturally, which contributes to developing their knowledge and understanding, in addition to their skills.

Another system that has been established within the school is to create a one-page profile, which is a useful means of getting to know the individual and understand what is important to them.  All pupils’ one-page profiles are shared following their admission to the nursery class.  They are reviewed annually by the parent and child.  They include questions such as ‘What is important to me?  Like and admire?  What is important to help me?  What is important to me for the future?’  Through this simple leaflet, the pupil’s voice is once again given a specific and prominent place in their education.  This makes a valuable contribution towards developing their knowledge, understanding and skills.

Since recently, the school has implemented teaching a growth mindset across the school.  Although in its early stages, its implementation was pursued as a result of discussions with the school’s oldest pupils.  Stars and particular colours are used to represent learning powers, and the class teacher and pupils respond to each other’s work by using colours that reflect the learning power in pupils’ work.  This is a simple but highly effective way of raising pupils’ confidence in their own education.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

St John’s College is a co-educational, independent day school with a Catholic ethos that educates pupils from the age of 3 to 18 years.

There are currently 540 pupils on roll, of which 57 are in the nursery and infants, 117 in the juniors, 281 in the seniors and 85 in the sixth form. Although the majority of pupils come from South Wales, the school educates pupils from other parts of Europe, the USA, and the Middle and Far East.

Around 13% of pupils have special educational needs. The school is non-selective and pupils in Year 6 are generally guaranteed admission to the senior school. The school’s principal aim is to “ensure that pupils develop their full potential in every area of school life. In particular, the school encourages children to develop a kind and respectful attitude towards others.”

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Previously, the school used the same tracking system for all age ranges. On evaluating its effectiveness and analysing feedback from parents, the senior leadership team decided to refine the system, personalising it for different sections of the school and making it more age-appropriate. The primary aims of the refined system were to:

  • Support pupils and provide intervention where necessary
  • Challenge pupils to achieve their very best
  • Encourage independent learning and self-reflection
  • Provide more opportunities for parents and pupils to monitor academic progress throughout the year

Description of nature of strategy or activity

In the junior school, National Curriculum levelling and a range of standardised assessments are used to track pupils closely. Tracking information is scrutinised rigorously by subject coordinators, teachers and form tutors so that classroom teaching support and one-to-one intervention are tailored to the individual pupil. Targets are set termly with pupils in their English, mathematics, science and form lessons. These targets are monitored closely by all subject teachers to ensure that each pupil makes progress.

In the senior school and sixth form, each pupil is now given a target grade for every subject that they study. This grade is the minimum the pupil is expected to achieve by the end of the key stage in which they are studying. Target grades at key stage 3 are based upon a numerical system unique to St John’s College. For pupils in Year 9 to Year 13, the target grade for each subject is a letter (A*- G).

The target grades given to pupils are based on a range of prior attainment data (usually CAT or ALIS predictors, with challenge), as well as teachers’ professional judgement. All pupils are given a copy of their target grades at the start of each academic year, which is glued into the back of their homework diaries for ease of reference.

At the end of each term, all pupils are given a review grade for each subject based on their work throughout that term. The pupils then receive a sheet (which is subsequently posted home) displaying their review grades, which are colour coded, as follows:

  • Blue = above target
  • Green = on target
  • Amber = below target
  • Red = significantly below target

The school consciously removes the letters or numbers from the pupil copies of the sheet to prevent pupils analysing or comparing each other’s grades.

Following receipt of their review grades, pupils then spend a lesson with their form tutor discussing their reviews and making SMART targets for improvement across the next term. This allows pupils to take ownership for their learning and progress.

Pupils who may be struggling academically are flagged up and interviewed individually by their form tutor, head of year or the assistant head (academic). The school then offers support and intervention, including making use of older pupils as learning leaders. Pupils who are consistently working hard and to the best of their ability are sent a congratulatory postcard home. As a change in the academic profile of a pupil is often the first indication of a pastoral concern, the system also supports and informs the excellent pastoral care service already provided by the school.

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

In the junior school, nearly all Year 6 pupils consistently attain the core subject indicator, with 100% reaching Level 4 this year. Most pupils identified with additional learning needs achieve Level 4. Most pupils make expected or above expected progress in English and mathematics assessments and each year group makes over 12 months’ progress in reading skills.

In the senior school, nearly all pupils make above expected progress. Clear progression throughout the year can be seen as pupils move from one colour to the next with hard work and support from the school. Value-added analysis for GCSE and A level shows that many pupils achieve on average one grade higher than their predicted CAT or ALIS grade.

Across the school, pupils are more confident at analysing their own performance and creating meaningful targets for improvement. This has raised standards and prevents pupils from coasting.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Coed Eva Primary School is in Cwmbran in the Torfaen local authority.   Since September 2016, the school and Blenheim Road Community Primary School have formed the Federation of Blenheim Road Community and Coed Eva Primary Schools.  Both schools share the same executive headteacher and governing body.  

There are 488 pupils on roll, including 79 nursery pupils who attend the school part-time.  There are 16 classes, including three mixed-age classes and one class for pupils with additional learning needs.

About 20% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is similar to the Wales average.  The school has identified around 12% of its pupils with additional learning needs.  This is lower than the Wales average.  Most pupils are of white British ethnicity and a very few pupils have English as an additional language.  A very few pupils speak Welsh at home.

The headteacher has been in post since 2009.  She became executive headteacher of both schools in the federation in September 2016.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The school is a caring environment where staff encourage pupils to develop strong personal values, such as tolerance, fairness and respect.  The wellbeing of all pupils is central to the school’s ethos and this ensures that the school is a happy community where pupils can thrive and learn well.

An outstanding feature of the school is the wide range of responsibilities that pupils undertake and the very positive impact these have on standards of behaviour, the quality of provision, and pupils’ wellbeing and learning. 

The school provides extensive opportunities for pupils to enhance their leadership skills through involvement in a wide range of pupil voice groups.  Teachers ensure that pupils of all ages and abilities have the opportunity to take part in these groups.

The pupil participation groups (PPG) all contribute effectively to improving teaching and learning through, policy writing and monitoring in the form of, learning walks, lesson observations and book scrutiny’s.  Other initiatives include pupil voice linked to planning and pupils generating the success criteria in lessons. 

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Pupils of all ages and abilities belong to the wide range of pupil leadership groups.  These include the: Pupil Leadership Team (PLT), Eco Committee, Action Research Team, Editorial Team, Criw Cymraeg, Digital Leaders and the School Council.  The Ellitee Committee is made up of a representative from each PPG group.  These pupils are responsible for feeding back to SLT and governors the outcomes of the monitoring undertaken in their key areas.  This level of ownership provides each group with the status to drive forward change.

The PLT works particularly effectively alongside staff and governors to observe lessons, undertake book scrutinises and learning walks to provide feedback to pupils and teachers to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Representatives from the pupil groups in both schools in the federation meet regularly to discuss their findings.  Their findings directly impact the schools self-evaluation process.

The pupils’ Action Research Team acts as the voice for all pupils throughout the school.  The team is in charge of listening to their view of their peers linked to a specific element of the school improvement plan or a specific line of enquiry that has derived from action research or from the pupil’s whole school questionnaire.

Teachers provide pupils with good opportunities to have a say in what and how they learn.  For example, they involve pupils in planning tasks and activities for topic work.  This motivates and engages learners in their topic and learning journey. Nearly all staff involve pupils in generating success criteria for activities.  This helps pupils to evaluate what they do well and what they need to do to improve.

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

Pupils contribute effectively to the federation’s self-evaluation processes.  As a result, pupils impact positively on standards, behaviour, quality of provision and pupils’ wellbeing and attitudes to learning.

As a result of these leadership roles, a significant number of pupils develop highly effective leadership and life skills. They are proud of the very strong impact that their work has on the whole school community.

Pupil voice linked to planning ensures nearly all pupils are very well motivated and engage highly effectively with their learning.  Nearly all pupils are active participants within lessons, which, allows them to be reflective and understand what they need to do to continually improve.

How have you shared your good practice?

There is considerable school-to-school working within the cluster, school improvement group and across the consortia. This has been shared in the form of Lead Network Schools (LNS) and via numerous bespoke partnerships.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Coed Eva Primary School is in Cwmbran in the Torfaen local authority.  Since September 2016, the school and Blenheim Road Community Primary School have formed the Federation of Blenheim Road Community and Coed Eva Primary Schools.  Both schools share the same executive headteacher and governing body. 

There are 488 pupils on roll, including 79 nursery pupils who attend the school part-time.  There are 16 classes, including three mixed-age classes and one class for pupils with additional learning needs.

About 20% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is similar to the Wales average.  The school has identified around 12% of its pupils with additional learning needs.  This is lower than the Wales average.  Most pupils are of white British ethnicity and a very few pupils have English as an additional language.  A very few pupils speak Welsh at home.

The headteacher has been in post since 2009.  She became executive headteacher of both schools in the federation in September 2016.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The school is a caring environment where staff encourages pupils to develop strong personal values, such as tolerance, fairness and respect.  The wellbeing of all pupils is central to the school’s ethos and this ensures that the school is a happy community where pupils can thrive and learn well.

In order to further develop pupils’ confidence, independence and resilience, to overcome challenges in their learning and foster a culture of inquiry and discovery, the school devised and implemented a number of strategies linked to Growth Mindset and learners attitudes to learning.  Strategies were informed based on the findings and research conducted by staff members who were involved in the University of South Wales (USW), Action Research Circles (ARC) project.

Strategies involved, creating, developing and implementing metacognition characters unique to the federation, James Nottingham’s ‘Learning Pit’ strategy and utilising the schools Pupil Leadership Team (PLT) to monitor pupils’ attitudes to learning through the learning detectives programme.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Pupils and staff developed six metacognition characters and relevant stories for example ‘Self-believing Sam’.  Each character is introduced half termly via a whole school assembly.   Here, the story is shared and the pupils have an opportunity to reflect on how they are going to use the characters learning traits within their lessons.  The key messages are reinforced in class, where pupils are rewarded for their positive attitudes to learning via unique certificates, celebrations via social media and other rewards.

The PLT conduct lesson observations focusing upon learners learning behaviours and attitudes to learning.  Here, they provide feedback to pupils and staff, including ways forward, which impact upon teaching and learning.  The PLT also feedback to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the governing body which feeds directly into the schools self-evaluation process.

The Learning Pit is also used as a tool to promote challenge, inquiry and discovery in the classroom.  In the foundation phase, learners use a physical resource to develop pupils’ resilience and determination towards challenges.  In key stage 2, the strategy is built upon to promote reflective practise where pupils are continually learning from their mistakes through inquiry and discovery. 

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

Pupils’ wellbeing and attitudes to learning are very strong.  Nearly all pupils behave in an exemplary manner in lessons and at break times.

Nearly all pupils are very well motivated and engage highly effectively with their learning.  They develop independent learning skills well in the foundation phase and use these purposefully as they progress through the school.  They collaborate well in pairs and small groups and, as a result, their confidence in speaking with others develops very well. The positive interaction and collaboration among pupils are a strength of the school.

Nearly all pupils are resilient learners.  They are confident to take risks and undertake new challenges, and they understand that they often learn from making mistakes.  Across the school, pupils use a good range of strategies to help them when they encounter challenges in their work.  This enables them to approach new learning activities with confidence.

How have you shared your good practice?

There is considerable school-to-school working within the cluster, school improvement group and across the consortia. This has been shared in the form of Lead Network Schools (LNS) programme, through the USW, ARC partnership and via numerous bespoke partnerships.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Esgob Morgan Voluntary Controlled Primary School is located in the Cathedral city of St Asaph in Denbighshire. There are currently 107 pupils between 7 and 11 years of age, who are taught in four single age classes. 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Ysgol Esgob Morgan has developed a truly pupil-centrered approach to everything that it does, which has grown from the pupil-centred approach the school takes to additional learning needs.  The school were keen to ensure that special educational needs and inclusion were brought under one umbrella, under the direction of the Additional Learning Needs and Inclusion Co-ordinator (ALNCo) as the school recognised the strong links between learning difficulties and behaviour.  As interventions to support pupils are constantly evolving and changing, it was essential that pupil progress was tracked in detail to ensure that the school was able to show the impact that interventions had on the pupils.  It was also important for the school to involve the entire team in planning, developing and reflecting on the interventions delivered.  This approach ensures that all staff are empowered to support pupils who have additional learning needs.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Every September, teaching and support staff work through three routes to identify pupils who require additional support; standardised testing, their own knowledge of their classes and any involvement from outside agencies.  They then meet with the ALNCo and feed this information into the intervention planning frames that the school use.  This includes recording a benchmark of current attainment which could be relating to learning, behavioural, social or communication difficulties.

Following this, the Learning Support Assistants work through an agreed intervention package with the pupils and regularly assess their progress formatively, feeding back to the ALNCo.  At three times throughout the year, the intervention planning frames are reviewed in a triangulation meeting. This meeting takes place between the class teacher, the Learning Support Assistant and the ALNCo.  This allows progress to be discussed in detail, new scoring to be recorded and pupils to be added to, or removed from, intervention programmes based on the progress being made.  The triangulation meetings also provide a platform to make referrals to outside agencies or for requests for support from the local authority.

To empower all staff, Learning Support Assistants record notes regarding pupil progress and on their planning which is then quality assured by the ALNCo as part of the performance management process within the school.  This has developed the ability of all staff in the school to handle data and to identify trends and patterns.

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

This approach to support pupils with additional learning needs has led to an increase in standards. In 2017/18, all pupils achieved their end of key stage core subject indicator.  In the last school year of the pupils who have additional learning needs, 87% made progress in spelling, 78% in reading and 76% in maths.  This confirms the whole team approach taken to support pupils with addiitonal learning needs is effective.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared this work through a variety of channels.  They have presented the work regularly at local authority special education needs co-ordinator meetings, have supported schools on an individual basis to replictate the approach and have contributed to speed learning events to share practice with other schools.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school:

Westwood Community Primary School is in Buckley in Flintshire.  It provides education for 232 pupils aged from three to eleven years old, including 27 who attend the nursery class part-time.  Pupils are organised into 10 classes.  The school was last inspected in 2012.  The headteacher was appointed in January 2010.

The three year average for pupils eligible for free school meals is around 32%.  This figure is well above the Welsh average of 19%.  A very few pupils speak English as an additional language, and no pupils speak Welsh as their first language. 

The school identifies around 42% of pupils as having additional learning needs and a very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs.  A very few pupils are cared for by the local authority.  Very few pupils come from an ethnic minority background.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice:

Historical learning experience and pupil-led curiosity into the local World War heroes, led to the deeper research of a specific local soldier.  The research work linked to this highly commended soldier led the pupils to the local historical society, including community and town council members and links to the extended family around him.  When asked how else they could present their findings, the pupils suggested a play.

Description of nature of strategy or activity:

The initial medium term planning for this particular topic on the World Wars did not intend to explore specific people involved in the conflicts.  Following a planned visit to the local war memorial, pupils noticed that certain soldiers had letters after their name.  This identified Fred Birks VC, MM and stimulated a tangent of thoughts and ideas to explore this particular soldier in greater depth back in school with the help of the local history society.  This rulted in teachers altering their intended course for the medium term plans as pupils had influenced a new direction. This resulted in a comprehensive and wide-ranging study of the soldier’s life, cumulating in all pupils being involved in the project and producing their own play based on his life experiences.

The pupils identified the need for Fred Birks’ memorial to be restored as a family member had highlighted the plight of its deteriorating state.  The pupils wrote letters to the local town council to raise awareness and encourage a rapid community response to helping its restoration.  From that, the idea for a play came up through discussion with pupils.

The play was performed at the local church, with the Buckley historical society in attendance. The local press wanted to cover the story especially as Fred Birk’s great niece had travelled from Scotland to see the pupils perform and honour her relative.

After the play, the pupils decided to lobby the Town Mayor and Councillors to further raise awareness and to allocate funding for the restoration of the local memorial.  The enthusiasm and passion to celebrate this community icon continued to grow momentum and resulted in the history society approaching the pupils again to adapt the performance to be suitable for a wider audience.  Naturally, this required the teaching staff to explore creative ways of developing this project whilst still covering and tracking pupil progress within the curriculum.

Ultimately, this led to greater awareness of the project throughout the wider community and even touched on national and global interest which included television and radio coverage, representatives of Westminster, the Australian High Commission and even forged a later link to Mahana School in New Zealand.

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

This evolving project not only promoted the story of the World War hero, it elevated the school’s position within the community it serves.  Because of the increased success of the play, the pupils were filled with a huge sense of personal achievement knowing that their ideas and suggestions contributed to the changes in the planning and what they studied.  The impact of their voice had far-reaching impacts beyond their classroom.  The whole process developed and enhanced a variety of key skills within the literacy framework, such as developing play scripts for different audiences, historical reports, research and recounts.  Performing such an influential, personal and sensitive play in front of a large audience, expanded the pupils’s confidence and heightened their expectations.  The level of pupil engagement was extensive.

As a result, this project has been the catalyst for future projects within the school environment and it has encompassed a wider community circle and extended provision. The school was later awarded with a creative arts Wales grant to support future projects and to ensure that flexible, pupil initiated productions are built upon.

In Foundation Phase, pupils are introduced to the concept and benefits of pupil voice through their open contributions to teacher planning through topics.  Pupils have access to independent work books to record and explore a range of approaches following a stimulus.  Consistency throughout the school empowers the teachers to adopt a flexible and open approach to planning that facilitates the curiosity of learners.

How have you shared your good practice?

The successful production relating to the life of a local World War hero was shared throughout the community, around the county and attracted a variety of influential guests.  As well as appearing in the local press, the story was televised by the BBC and ITV news including presenter interviews with pupils, staff and other guests.  These interviews captured the whole process of the production from start to finish as well as recognising the significance and achievements of the whole school.

Other primary school settings visit Westwood to observe how to initiate and facilitate a flexible approach to planning throughout the school.  The good practice is shared through working collaboratively with other organisations such as the local history society and Theatre Cymru to enrich the pupils’ experiences.

Staff members in foundation phase were asked to demonstrate their methods to facilitate pupil voice in their lessons and to share their impact on standards and pupil outcomes.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Gower College Swansea is a further education college with over 4,000 full-time and 8,000 part-time learners from across Swansea and neighbouring counties.  The college employs approximately 1,000 staff.  It operates from six locations across the City and County of Swansea.  Swansea is the second largest city in Wales, with a mixed economy including engineering, retail and hospitality, health, leisure, tourism and university sectors.  Around a quarter of the college’s learners come from the most deprived areas, as characterised by the Welsh index of multiple deprivation. The college offers a curriculum from pre-entry to higher education level.  

The college has strong working relationships with local schools and around 300 14 to 16-year-olds attend a variety of programmes at the college each year gaining vocational qualifications from entry level to level 2.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

This case study relates to partnership working.  The work the college does with schools across the City and County of Swansea increases the breadth and quality of vocational choices available to 14 to 16-year-old pupils and supports their progression.

The college views it as vital that 14 to 16-year-olds have opportunities to explore thoroughly their post-16 options and find successful progression pathways.  Different approaches have been developed to meet the varying needs of 14-16 learners including the college’s ‘junior college’ and ‘kick start’ programmes.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The junior college programmes are delivered in the college and provide a variety of pathways, including hair and beauty, engineering, motor vehicle, plumbing, digital technology and childcare. Learners achieve a level 1 qualification giving an introduction to further study at level 2 and beyond.

The kick start programme offers learners a chance to explore a variety of vocational sectors before they select a pathway for further study, training or employment.  This programme targets the most vulnerable learners who have been identified as ‘at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training)’.  The two year programme stretches and challenges them to strive for a Certificate in year 1 and an Extended Certificate qualification in year 2.  

The college works closely with schools and its own learners to break down perceived barriers to higher education and higher level skills, targeting groups that are under-represented in higher education, such as those from deprived areas and looked after children.  The college team delivers a programme of activities to around 1,000 primary, secondary and college learners each year. Activities include aspirational talks, study skills and revision workshops, Saturday and homework clubs, Year 12 summer university, and subject tasters and workshops.

The close working relationship between the schools and the college’s school team allows for the curriculum to be adapted to suit each school’s particular needs, from motor vehicle to forensics, media to construction.

Key factors of the success of the schools’ programme include:

• Consultation with the school and learning coach to design each course

• Support from college-based support worker to build relationships and gain trust

• Inclusion of a careers progression unit in every vocational course

• Progression support, assistance with selecting appropriate pathway at 16, completing application for college and support through the interview process

• Opportunities to try out courses of interest before applying

• ‘Keeping warm’ activities during the summer holiday

• Retention support through the work of support workers who monitor and support the identified pupils

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

The combination of the three aspects of the schools’ programme has forged excellent partnership links with local schools encouraging progression to further education.  Seventy-one per cent of the school pupils who participated in junior college and kick start programmes progressed to Gower College Swansea in September 2017, with many others progressing onto schools’ sixth forms, other colleges or apprenticeships.  On the kick start programme, 26% of learners achieved a qualification higher than they had initially enrolled on.  This demonstrates the flexibility of the curriculum and the success of teaching in motivating and challenging learners to exceed expectations.

In addition to strong achievement and progression rates, learners experience increased confidence, self- esteem and improvement in behaviour and maturity.  These things are more difficult to measure but feedback from the schools and from pupils themselves confirm that the impact is very significant.  Similarly, feedback indicates that learners’ awareness of progression routes is significantly improved.  This motivates them and greatly enhances the chances of them making good choices.  

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Gower College Swansea is a further education college with over 4,000 full-time and 8,000 part-time learners from across Swansea and neighbouring counties.  The college employs approximately 1,000 staff.  It operates from six locations across the City and County of Swansea.  Swansea is the second largest city in Wales, with a mixed economy including engineering, retail and hospitality, health, leisure, tourism and university sectors.  Around a quarter of the college’s learners come from the most deprived areas, as characterised by the Welsh index of multiple deprivation.

The college offers a curriculum from pre-entry to higher education level.  It is the largest provider of A levels in Swansea, with around 40 A level subjects. The college has a large proportion of level 3 learners with around 1,400 learners on AS or A level programmes and 1,700 on level 3 vocational and access programmes.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

This case study relates to the inspection area of care, support and guidance, where learners benefit from a very wide range of activities including personal coaching, visits to outside institutions and wider academic enrichment, resulting in strong progression to higher education.  Industry professionals also deliver valuable masterclasses to vocational learners.

The college has a large proportion of level 3 learners and feels it is vital to fully support their ambitions to progress into higher education.  The college has invested significant time and effort into developing and delivering a range of support mechanisms that encourage high aspirations and enable each individual to reach their potential in terms of progression.  A key feature is the support provided to more able and talented learners, resulting in strong levels of progression into high ranking universities and onto highly competitive degree programmes.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

For many years the college has run an extensive programme of specialist tutorials for learners applying to the most competitive universities and courses.  Two examples of these tutorials are those for learners applying to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and those for learners applying for medicine, dentistry or veterinary science.  These specialist programmes add two particular strengths to the college’s general tutorial programme.  Firstly, learners are linked with the most knowledgeable and experienced staff for their chosen field.  These tutors lead focussed sessions on studying and working in the chosen area and support the production of high quality UCAS applications.

The second strength is the use of experts from outside the college, who provide a programme of specialist talks and workshops.  External experts from local universities and relevant professions take part in mock interviews, allowing each learner to have the experience of a competitive interview.  This gives learners invaluable preparation for the interview process and provides detailed individual advice on the presentation skills and knowledge of the learner, as well as boosting the learner’s self-confidence as they face the actual interviews at Oxford, Cambridge or medical schools.

The college is a partner with Cambridge University for its HE+ scheme.  This outreach programme encourages learners from the state sector to consider applying to Oxbridge or other research-intensive universities. Through the HE+ scheme, AS level learners with a strong GCSE profile attend regular workshops and a broad range of specialist masterclasses, led by experts from the college and other local schools and universities.  These masterclasses explore exciting topics and skilfully nurture more able learners’ passion for their chosen subjects.

The college’s HE+ scheme is now the Welsh Government’s Seren Hub for Swansea and, with attendance of over 300 AS learners, is the largest hub in Wales.

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

The excellent guidance and support given to learners as they make choices and apply for higher education courses have had a significant positive impact on progression success.  UCAS acceptances are consistently very high.  

The work in specialist tutorials and HE+ also results in consistently high levels of success in supporting learners into universities and the most competitive courses.  Typically around 200 learners progress to Russell Group universities each year, including a relatively high proportion taking up offers to study medicine, dentistry and veterinary science and to study at Oxbridge.

In addition to these strong progression rates, the college’s work in this area has a broader positive impact.  The advice learners receive as they research their options and go through the application process also improves employability skills such as independence and self-awareness, and encourages them to evaluate the range of options and progression paths in their academic or vocational career.  Learners who wish to go straight into employment on completing their level 3 programmes also receive specialised tutorial support.  This work helps to ensure that the college’s learners are well prepared as they progress on to the next step after college.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Ty Bronllys opened in 2006 and was the first school and children’s home under the umbrella organisation of Orbis Education and Care.  Its aim is to offer education and residential support to children with autism and challenging behaviour.  The school supports up to 13 residential and day pupils who have complex needs associated with autistic spectrum disorder.

In terms of its approach to behaviour management, the school focussed initially on risk management and safety which was appropriate given the nature of the challenging behaviours displayed by the pupils.  Staff received suitable training in physical interventions and were able to manage situations well.  However, there was little focus on monitoring incidents or educating staff in how to work in a preventative way.  There was no forum for multi-disciplinary team (MDT) discussions or collaborative working.  In essence, the work was reactive and did not promote reflective practice for the pupils or the staff.  Attendance and engagement was good but the school felt it could do better.

As the organisation grew and more schools opened, the director of education focused on trying to understand why incidents occurred and how staff could explore more preventative approaches.  The answer was clearly to develop a more strategic approach to  positive behaviour management across the school and residential setting.  

The board of directors and head of education worked closely to develop a shared vision and form a strategy to promote consistent approaches to behaviour management.  The school recruited a clinical team consisting of occupational therapy, speech and language, and specialist behaviour staff to work alongside education and residential staff.

To support the school-wide behaviour strategy, Orbis Education and Care integrated behaviour management training to all staff on induction, followed by access to an accredited qualification once they had completed their probationary period, and the opportunity to complete more advanced levels if it was felt appropriate.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Positive approaches to behaviour management are accepted widely as effective practice when supporting pupils with a learning disability and associated needs.  They require a whole school approach to building a positive culture and a community which promotes and supports pupils’ achievements and successes.  This means the school has a no-sanctions policy and focuses on natural consequences that occur.  This is very different to a sanction-based approach where access to preferred activities or items may be withdrawn or denied as a consequence.  

Pupils have an individual positive behaviour support plan which is based on a functional analysis conducted by the school’s clinical team.  The plans focus on primary preventative strategies and include clear guidance on how to meet the sensory, communication and support needs of the young people.  All staff contribute to their development and review them regularly via the MDT meetings that are held on site.  Staff’s knowledge is checked through regular assessments to ensure understanding and consistent application of interventions.  These assessments also provide staff with a forum to take part in professional discussion with the clinical team and an opportunity to present their thoughts and opinions.  Clinical staff and residential care staff work in the school alongside education staff which further enhances collaborative working and informs the production of plans.

The impact of these approaches is then measured by the tracking and monitoring of incidents of challenging behaviour, the use of restrictive interventions, as well as pupil achievements and levels of engagement.  This data-based approach informs decision making. All information is shared at monthly MDT meetings where plans are discussed, with pupil and carer views sought and included in evaluations and review.  The involvement of all stakeholders has further improved outcomes and positive relationships.  For example, parents contribute to strategies detailed in the behaviour support plan and this has enabled more open communication between parents and staff members with a common goal of improving outcomes for the child.

Adopting this approach has fostered positive relationships and experiences supported by clear boundaries and expectations.  This has built trust and confidence between pupils and staff members and encouraged engagement and active participation through the school day.  This is also supported by comprehensive data analysis that shows trends in challenging behaviours, antecedents and environmental factors.

The school’s approach to behaviour support enables a more person-centred approach to learning with bespoke timetables that reflect the needs of the individual pupils, and increase positive experiences and engagement.  The ethos of the school is to recognise and celebrate every achievement no matter how small.  As a result, pupils learn to associate going to school with being happy and successful.

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

The school can demonstrate clearly through data analysis that incidents of challenging behaviour have reduced dramatically, along with the use of restrictive practices.  The multi-disciplinary approach to behaviour support has increased staff’s understanding of pupils’ often very complex needs and enabled all staff to deliver education and provide consistent support.  This has created structure and predictability which has reduced anxieties and incidents of challenging behaviour.  This has in turn increased attendance, academic achievement and wellbeing for pupils.  It has  strengthened relationships with parents as they now feel they have a voice and local education authorities can clearly see the overwhelming benefits of the school’s approach.  Finally, it has helped improve levels of staff wellbeing as the culture of a non-sanction, non-punitive based approach has developed. 

How have you shared your good practice

The director of education shares good practice through peer mentoring and partnership working with other schools and specialist colleges.  Data and outcomes are shared routinely with families, colleagues from health, social services and the local authority at annual reviews and during inspections.  Success stories are shared through the organisation via a monthly newsletter and on social media where consent is given.  The school has shared its work at national conferences.