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Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Castell Alun High School is an English-medium, mixed 11 to 18 comprehensive school located in the village of Hope, Flintshire.  There are 1,360 pupils on roll, including 300 in the sixth form.  These figures are very similar to those at the time of the previous inspection in December 2013. 

The school serves a wide area made up of mainly rural communities.  Around 7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is much lower than the national average of 16.5%.  Fewer than 2% of pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas of Wales.  Around 14% of pupils have an additional learning need, and just over 1% have a statement of special educational needs.  Both of these figures are below the Welsh averages of 22.7% and 2.2% respectively.  Most pupils are from a white, British background.  There are a very few pupils who are fluent in Welsh or have English as an additional language.

The headteacher has been in post since September 2013.  The senior leadership consists of a deputy headteacher and four assistant headteachers.  At the time of the inspection, the deputy headteacher had been in the role of acting headteacher for the previous three months. 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

As part of the senior leadership team’s vision for professional learning, the school decided to focus on improving teachers’ ability to evaluate their practice in light of its impact on pupils’ progress.  They wanted to encourage their staff to consider and improve their teaching approaches continuously.  Leaders feel that professional learning is most effective when colleagues are given ownership of their development through the personal selection of appropriate training opportunities.  There is also an expectation that all staff will volunteer their services to facilitate the learning of others. 

Description of nature of strategy or activity

All teaching colleagues are members of an ‘enquiry team’.  Teams undertake research-based subject or learning area projects.  Each of these undertake specific initiatives to evaluate particular teaching approaches.  This happens during scheduled subject meeting times and training days.  Colleagues set performance management targets with their ‘enquiry team’ focus in mind and, towards the close of the year, teams and individuals showcase their projects in an annual ‘speed-learning’ event to other staff teams during whole-school training time.  Over the last three years, action-research themes of the enquiry teams have included:

  • improving extended writing
  • building better learners through resilience and reflection
  • making more effective use of technology
  • helping learners to become better critical listeners and thinkers through problem solving tasks
  • flipped classrooms/learning
  • the use of social media in teaching and learning
  • getting students excited about numeracy
  • peer-led learning
  • stretching and challenging students through higher-order thinking skills development
  • increasing student engagement in homework
  • making the language of learning visible in classrooms – increasing students’ awareness of their own thinking (metacognition)

Programmes for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) are run entirely by school staff and cover all key themes for colleagues at the earliest stages of development.  These supplement external courses funded by the Education Workforce Council (EWC).  A high number of NQTs receive either promotion or extra responsibility within the first three years of their career.

The school provides surveys to all staff to determine the professional development themes that would be of most use and interest to them.  Leaders then organise a series of after-school training sessions, with all full-time colleagues attending at least four of the six evenings provided.  Four different sessions are provided per evening, allowing the school to cover the majority of requests in a year.  Sessions are led by in-house specialists and, in a small number of cases, by externally sourced (usually free of charge) providers.  The sessions are very well attended by teachers.  Governors and support team members also show a genuine and growing interest.

The school has also set up a ‘Leadership Training Forum’ (LTF), open to all, which meets once per half term over lunch.  This is essentially a relaxed environment for sharing good practice, which colleagues attend voluntarily to receive input and challenge on key leadership skills.  The LTF also forms a ‘think-tank’ for how interested colleagues can become more centrally involved in driving forward whole-school themes in order to develop their skills and the school further.

The school additionally sources relevant training from specialists, either in other schools or organisations, who will normally cover supply costs at least (for example GwE, WJEC, local authority partners, local trainee leadership mentors and local universities).  School training days are used to provide updates and discussions on whole school developments in line with the school development plan and self-evaluation report. 

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

The success of the model is perhaps most evident through the dynamic ‘working buzz’ about the school.  There is a sense of everyone collaborating to help each other and be helped by others in the school.  Training is evaluated through questionnaires, on-line surveys, scheduled feedback slots in meetings and anecdotal evidence.  However, an ongoing programme of lesson observations and the use of focused learning walks provide strong evidence of the direct link between professional development and high quality learning in the classroom and beyond.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Heolgerrig Community is an English-medium primary school in the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil.  Most pupils come from the local community and around 7% of pupils are eligible free school meals, which is much lower than the average for the local authority and Wales.

There are currently 227 pupils on roll, including 24 full-time nursery pupils.  There are eight classes, including the nursery.

The school identifies that around 21% of pupils have additional learning needs, which is in line with the national average for primary schools.  A very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs.  Nearly all pupils speak English at home.  A very few pupils speak English as an additional language.

The school was inspected was in 2012 and was placed in special measures.  In February 2013, the local authority seconded a headteacher and deputy headteacher to the school on an 18 month contract, with the remit of bringing the school out of special measures as quickly as possible.

In 2014, the seconded deputy headteacher became the substantive deputy headteacher and in September 2015 took up the role of headteacher.

The school came out of special measures in November 2013, following a rapid improvement journey.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

In 2013, the new leadership team worked to identify the needs of the school, prioritising improvements and creating a shared vision.  Leaders identified that uplifting the morale of the school team was essential, by building relationships, modelling practice, providing training opportunities, and empowering staff and leading the way.

Rapid identification of needs and securing an accurate baseline

An array of monitoring activities were conducted to establish a baseline of standards, such as through  lesson observations, learning walks, book scrutinies, data analysis, and listening to learners.  A focused post-inspection action plan was established and staff worked diligently to address areas for improvement.

An evidence base of improved practice was shared with staff, as and when found, to empower them and build morale.  Twice-weekly meetings were held along with whole-staff meetings and separate key stage meetings to focus on specific actions and sharing of good practice.  A simple model of identifying needs, modelling and carrying out effective practice, feeding back and reviewing was established.

Improving standards in reading

Leaders generally found that pupils’ love of reading was lost.  Reading resources were limited.  As a result, a new reading scheme was purchased and a new library created.  The Year 6 class was awarded the ‘Business School of the Year’ in 2013 following their effective development of a mini-business to sell books.  Pupils use the profit to resource the library with their chosen books.  Pupils are trained as reading buddies and on how to run reciprocal reading sessions as part of their daily reading activities.  A whole-school reading culture is now well established, with even Father Christmas visiting to bring each child a reading book; a tradition that still continues.

Dedicated reading time is facilitated in all classes.  Whole school training has enabled reading skills to be taught effectively and consistently across the school.  Parents are also involved in reading workshops.  All classes have engaging reading dens and the library is used daily.

The school places a continuous drive on reading skills.  Standards were challenged across the school, and formal assessments implemented termly, resulting in implementing a range of positive interventions.

Improving attendance

In 2013, attendance placed the school in the bottom 25% in comparison to similar schools.  Leaders identified that a positive learning environment needed to be created where pupils wanted to come to school.  The curriculum required more enrichment activities for pupils.  As a result, the school listened to what pupils felt would make a difference.  They requested more after-school clubs and a ‘fun’ curriculum.  All staff volunteered to run an after-school club and, through shared planning, the curriculum was reinvigorated to introduce a thematic approach to engage learners.  Trips were arranged and visitors were brought into school, which began having an effect on attendance.

In addition, the school council attended weekly meetings with the deputy headteacher to discuss attendance initiatives.  In consultation with their peers and the attendance governor, they decided on how to raise the profile of attendance across the whole school community.

Class attendance percentages were shared and celebrated weekly through assemblies and sent to parents.  A range of incentives and rewards were chosen by pupils, such as:

  • rewards for the class with the best attendance each term
  • a termly attendance raffle with books as prizes
  • a ‘child’s hamper’ for 100% attendance for the year
  • termly information for parents on their child’s attendance figures

Securing improvements beyond special measures

Leaders felt that it was essential that ongoing honest and accurate self-evaluation was established across the school, involving the whole school community.  Termly standards committee meetings were held where governors were presented with information to hold the school to account and provide effective challenge to ensure that high standards were maintained.  The self-evaluation led to a focused school development plan that was developed with the contribution of pupils, parents, staff, governors and the wider community.

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

School reading data showed that 50% of pupils had reading ages above their expected reading abilities in 2013.  This increased to over 80% by 2016.  The National Reading test data also shows the improvements made in reading.  Pupil voice surveys by the school showed that, by 2016, there was a 59% increase in the number of pupils who enjoyed reading.

By 2016, Heolgerrig had the highest attendance in the local authority.  The school moved to upper 50% in comparison to similar schools and has continued to improve its attendance since.

Since 2015, the school has been categorised as a ‘green’ school in the national catagorisation process.  Standards have remained consistently above the median, compared to those of similar schools.

How have you shared your good practice?

Heolgerrig have been invited to share good practice at cluster and at local authority level.  It engages in a range of school-to-school work and in the sharing of good practice.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Cadoxton Community Primary School is situated in the east end of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan.  With a rising roll and the recent amalgamation of Cadoxton Nursery School in September 2016, the school population has steadily risen from approximately 300 to 500 pupils.  Around 38% are considered eligible for free school meals, which is above the local authority and national averages.  Also around 38% of pupils are considered to have some degree of additional learning needs, which is also above the local and national averages.  No pupils have statements of special educational needs.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Cadoxton is committed to providing foundation phase for all.  The focus is on creating an environment that allows pupils to learn through structured play in Year 2.  This encourages learners to explore realistic situations by interacting with each other in a variety of ‘Village’ like contexts, to explore imaginatively the roles of the adult world.  The ‘Village’ allows many different real-life experiences to be simulated and the pupils interact between the different contexts for learning.  The ‘Village’ was set up with the goal of allowing pupils to develop their skills through rich tasks in a supported active, and experiential, environment. 

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

The ‘Village’ was created to provide learners in Year 2 with exciting contexts for learning, which stimulate rich responses in spoken language and increase their understanding.  It enables pupils to develop active imaginations through rich authentic contexts.

Aims:
  • authentic problem-solving opportunities
  • everything in the ‘Village’ to be real
  • enhanced challenges that allow opportunities to develop basic skills
  • pupil-led contexts, with their ideas feeding into the development of the environment
  • an environment that can be changed and adapted to suit the rich task and reflect current relevant topics and times of year
  • skills development in real life situations that can be adapted depending on the stage of the learner
  • research opportunities
  • enhancement research trips to support pupil voice element of the ‘village’

     

Pupils’ learning becomes richer as they are able to use language to explore their own experiences and imaginary worlds.  They are not afraid to try things out in new ways, learning from their mistakes.  Pupils transfer their mathematical skills to independent activities well and are not afraid to make mistakes and explore different ways of tackling a challenge.

After an initial exploration of the ‘Village’ market stalls, the school found that the pupils wanted to develop these further.  To support this development, the school conducted an enhancement trip to Cardiff Market.  They researched what a market could include and how it be might be developed.  The school found that this ownership enabled pupils to engage fully and enjoy their learning whilst evoking pride and passion for the environment they created.  The pupils’ voice was the driving force for developing their own learning opportunities, promoting learning through doing, experiencing and finding things out for themselves.  They were able to:

  • exercise choice, participate, initiate and direct their own learning
  • learn from first-hand, experiential and practical hands-on activities
  • experience an appropriate level of challenge and support from the adults
  • have access to a stimulating learning environment, both indoors and outdoors, so that good progress is made
  • transfer literacy and numeracy skills across areas of learning confidently

     

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

Through the creative use of the environment, pupils’ standards have improved, particularly with the level of achievement in the enhanced provision and when pupils are working independently.  Pupils have clear learning goals, and have taken ownership of the provision and the challenges set.   The ‘Village’ has raised standards for nearly all of the pupils’ personal and social skills by allowing them to work independently and collaboratively.  The standards of numerical reasoning have risen due to the practical application of skills in a variety of real life contexts.  The pupils are able to revisit skills in order to move their learning forward.  The pupils’ independent writing standards have risen, particularly for the boys, by giving their writing a meaningful purpose.  They are taking pride in their learning tasks and want to complete tasks to a high standard.   Pupils have been able to develop their literacy and numeracy skills creatively across the curriculum and their understanding is greatly improved by the practical real-life application of skills.  The use of digital technology in the ‘Village’, such as using an activity camera to record learning experiences, is further enhancing their ICT skills.  They use an app to share the learning that happens with their parents at home.

How have you shared your good practice?

Many schools across Wales have visited the school to view the provision.  The vision for experiential learning through high quality play provision has been shared on open days and in school training programmes that are run for the consortium. 

 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol y Wern is situated in the Llanishen area in the north of Cardiff.  Welsh is the main medium of the school’s life and work.  There are 601 pupils between 3 and 11 years old in 21 classes.  Over a period of three years, slightly more than 5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.  Twenty-eight per cent (28%) of pupils speak Welsh at home and very few are from ethnic minority backgrounds.  The school has identified 21% of its pupils as having additional learning needs. 

Context and background to effective or innovative practice

Following the publication of ‘Successful Futures’, namely the developments for the new curriculum in Wales, Ysgol y Wern revisited the learning contexts and considered carefully whether they reflected the four purposes of the new curriculum.  The purpose of this was to develop a creative and innovative curriculum that would succeed in engaging all learners’ interest.  As a school, leaders and staff were keen to foster innovation by nurturing flexibility to achieve in more creative ways that engaged pupils’ interests.  School leaders encourage and support staff to trial new ideas in their classes.  When reviewing the contexts, the school identified that the greatest challenge was to ensure that rich experiences stimulate pupils’ interest and continue to develop their skills.  Teachers now plan for cross-curricular themes that interweave literacy, numeracy, ICT and digital skills regularly and purposefully.

Description of the nature of the strategy or activity

Through a thematic method of learning, the school ensures that pupils are given regular opportunities to develop their literacy, numeracy, ICT and digital skills.  By working with Cymdeithas Ysgolion dros Addysg Gymraeg (CYDAG) to develop a project relating to the weather, Year 6 teachers planned a range of ambitious activities that applied innovative techniques.  The school invested in an electronic weather station, where pupils were able to collect live data each day by using an app.  This was a golden opportunity to develop their numeracy skills by analysing data over a period of time.  In order to develop this further, the school took advantage of the opportunity to forge a relationship with a school in a contrasting location, and weather data was shared between the two schools.  As a result, the mean temperature and rainfall at both schools were compared over a period of time.  Using ICT in this way engaged pupils’ interest, particularly as the data was relevant to them.  Teachers plan the start of their lessons effectively and in detail in order to stimulate discussion.  The statement that was given at the beginning of this lesson was ‘Gwynedd has had a harsher winter than Cardiff’.  This developed pupils’ thinking skills and led them to become independent learners.

The project was used to develop various literacy skills.  Pupils looked at the process of creating weather forecasts from ‘script to screen’.  In order to make the experience relevant to their daily lives, the exact steps that are used by the media were followed.  When accessing live data about the weather from a variety of sources, their forecasts were planned in detail by considering the temperature, rainfall and wind force.  Assessment for learning strategies were used when modelling two examples of weather forecasts.  One was a good quality weather forecast and the other was excellent, in order for pupils to set success criteria for this kind of writing.  This led to written work of a high standard, as pupils had set success criteria jointly and understood the language features of a weather bulletin.  The outcome of the work was that pupils presented their forecasts individually in front of an electronic green screen.  As everyone fulfilled a specific role during filming, from presenting to directing, their oracy skills were developed in addition to their ICT and interpersonal skills.  Their presentations were refined as the ‘executive producer’ and the rest of the crew assessed their oracy skills before the final recording.  Providing an innovative learning experience such as this, which encompassed all skills, enabled all learners to be ambitious, confident and knowledgeable.

What effect has this work had on provision and pupils’ standards?

Providing rich experiences such as these are an opportunity to challenge pupils as they develop as independent learners.  By ensuring that teaching is creative and responsive, pupils make links with real-life situations, and therefore it is meaningful and purposeful.  Rich projects such as these have had a positive effect on pupils’ oral, writing and digital skills, which will prepare them well for the future.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Cadoxton Primary School is situated in the east end of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan.  The school amalgamated with Cadoxton Nursery School in September 2016.  Currently, there are 497 pupils on roll, aged from 3-11, including 65 part time nursery pupils, rising to 100 in the summer term.  There are 14 single-year classes and four nursery classes.

Around 38% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.  This is well above the local authority and national averages.  Thirty-eight per cent of pupils are identified as having additional learning needs, which is higher than the local authority and national averages.  No pupils have a statement of special educational needs.

The school is currently a pioneer school and is working with the Welsh Government and other schools to take forward curriculum developments within the Health and Wellbeing area of learning experience and professional learning.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Cadoxton Primary School is committed to creating a nurturing and inclusive community for all.  All stakeholders within the school understand the importance of promoting pupils’ wellbeing.  The school expresses the importance of addressing pupils’ wellbeing within education, resonating with the World Health Organisation’s statement that “to achieve their potential, school children must participate fully in educational activities.  To do this they must be healthy, attentive and emotionally secure.”  The school reflected on this statement against what they were seeing in the classroom and decided that they needed a different approach, “one that provided a nurturing environment for all”.

Previously, the school established ‘nurture group’ sessions that ran throughout the week in a designated nurture room.  These were led by two learning support assistants for pupils who were identified as needing support.  These pupils have then followed a nurture schools programme and are reassessed at the end of each term.

However, the school found that pupils who received this intervention rarely ‘graduated’ (meaning that they met exit criteria and no longer required intervention) and often needed nurture not just at the designated times but at varying times throughout the day – most notably at the start and end of the day.  Another consideration by the school was “Are we setting our pupils up for potential failure?” by creating a nurture room where pupils were able to eat, drink and feel supported.  Once their time was completed in the nurture group, pupils had to return to the classroom environment, which did not necessary reflect that of the ‘nurture room’.  Staff considered the positive benefits for all pupils, by taking what they had learnt from the nurture groups and applying the same philosophy to all classrooms, where pupils feel safe and secure at all times of the day.

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

One of the aims at Cadoxton Primary is to “ensure that all learners and staff are healthy, confident individuals”.  The school consider nurturing pupils’ wellbeing to be a responsibility for all within the school community and have created an ethos that “every classroom is a nurture classroom”, a place where pupils are able to achieve their potential by learning and growing together.

School leaders discussed with pupils who had previously been a part of nurture groups what they found to be successful in helping them feel safe, secure, and ready to learn and engage with others.  Their main responses were around having a safe place to go if they felt upset or needed space, which included sofas, bean bags, pillows, and blankets, and not feeling hungry or thirsty.  With this in mind, leaders worked with the school’s action group ‘Leaders of Learning’ to draw up a list of non negotiables for every classroom.  This included communication spaces, pillows and blankets, a snack area of healthy food and drink and calming music.  Pupils use these facilities sensibly and this helps nearly all pupils to engage well with their learning throughout the day.

Pupils who may have additional emotional needs are supported through the emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) within the classroom environment by a member of the nurture team.  The school redeployed their nurture team to enable one learning support assistant to provide a check-in for pupils who need time, space and a place for them to understand and consider the impact of their actions when making choices.  This is self-regulated by the pupils, who inform the teacher when they feel that they need to use this space known as the ‘The Cwtch’.  This has had a huge impact on all the pupils that need this support.  This team also provides check-ins for most vulnerable pupils in the morning when they arrive, throughout the day, if they begin feeling overwhelmed, and before they leave school.

The school also considers the wellbeing of pupils within the home environment and its impact on pupils’ learning.  Therefore, leaders use the pupil development grant to fund family engagement learning support assistants, who provide opportunities for families to take part in the life and work of the school.  For example, the ‘dads, uncles and grandads group’ engages male family members to support pupils’ learning, particularly boys’.  Learning support assistants run a series of valuable programmes for parents to help them support their pupils’ learning and wellbeing.

Attitudes to learning and wellbeing for all pupils are assessed at interim points of the year by class teachers.  These are monitored as part of the school’s data tracking system.  Parents and pupils also complete attitudes to learning and wellbeing questionnaires and both are discussed together as part of the school’s termly parents’ evenings.  This ensures effective tracking, monitoring and feedback on all pupils’ wellbeing.

The whole-school approach to wellbeing goes beyond the learning and teaching in the classroom to pervade all aspects of the life of a school including:

  • culture, ethos and environment: the health and wellbeing of pupils and staff are promoted through the ‘informal’ curriculum, including leadership practice, the school’s values and attitudes, together with the social and physical environment
  • learning and teaching: using the curriculum to develop pupils’ knowledge, attitudes and skills about health and wellbeing
  • partnerships with families and the community: proactive engagement with families, outside agencies, and the wider community to promote consistent support for pupils and young people’s health and wellbeing

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

The whole-school approach to wellbeing has enabled pupils to take responsibility for their own learning, and to foster social and emotional development and positive relationships that encourage collaboration.  This has means that nearly all pupils are ready to learn at the start of every lesson.
 
How have you shared your good practice?

Many schools across Wales have visited the school’s provision through open days and in school training programmes that are run for the Central South Consortium.  The school is also part of the Health and Wellbeing area for learning as part of the developments for the new Curriculum for Wales.
 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Maendy Primary School is situated in Torfaen, in the Cwmbran area.  It provides education for pupils aged from three to eleven years.  There is a 16 place Assessment Resource Base for foundation phase pupils that serves the Torfaen area.  There are 235 pupils on roll, including 28 part-time nursery places and 13 Rising 3 places1.  The school also hosts the Torfaen Assessment Centre for primary aged pupils with behavioural, emotional and social disorders (BESD).

Context and background to sector-leading practice

In 2009, the school recognised that the standards at the end of both key stages at the expected level were only achieved by a majority of pupils, and only a very few pupils achieved at the higher level.  As a result, a ‘Raising Attainment Group’ (RAG) was established.  The work of the group has developed significantly over a period of years, and the practice is a fully embedded system at the school, resulting in a record of sustained high standards.

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

The RAG meets half termly, and consists of five members.  Members are changed regularly to build the capacity of staff in making accurate teacher assessments, and to recognise and manage identified school variance in standards.  A timetable of meetings and up-to-date pupil cohort attainment data is provided for teachers at the start of each new year.  Individual pupils and the percentage of cohorts achieving at the expected level and at the higher-than-expected level are identified, as are those pupils who require targeted support to increase their rate of progress.

All staff are provided with agreed guidelines and expectations for marking, presentation of pupils’ work and key stage appropriate target and assessment sheets.  Prior to every meeting, teachers ensure that pupils’ books have the appropriate assessment and target sheets in place, and that these are up-to-date.  Teachers also provide revised data sheets identifying pupils’ current levels of attainment, including highlighting the attainment of pupils eligible for free school meals.  The lead member of staff with responsibility for the RAG selects at least three pupils from each cohort and identifies the focus for subsequent book scrutiny.  The focus areas are selected according to current school needs and initiatives, for example the digital competency framework or maths skills.  Pupils’ books are monitored individually by RAG members who are allocated non-teaching time.  At the subsequent meeting, members provide their own teacher assessments for individual pupils’ work.  They also give their views of skills used across the curriculum, the planning for the provision to meet the individual ability needs of pupils, the quality of teacher and support staff marking and presentation of pupils’ work.  The RAG discuss and reach agreements on teacher assessments, and identify any areas of best practice or areas that require improvement.  The group records minutes and prepares feedback for the next staff meeting.  For teacher assessments not agreed by the RAG, any pupils’ books in the identified subject are reviewed by two RAG members in consultation with the teacher.  The RAG lead provides individual written evaluations to all teachers, which inform performance management reviews.

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

During the school’s inspection, there were seven teachers with less than two years of experience of working at the school.  Standards of teaching and assessment for learning were judged as consistently good.  The work of the RAG supports a consistent approach to planning, delivery and marking, and assessment.  Areas of identified best practice are shared half-termly at whole staff meetings.  Plans to support identified areas for improvement for individuals or the whole school are put in place immediately.  The tracking of individual pupils and cohort attainment half-termly ensures that the high expectations set by the school are met.

How have you shared your good practice?

The headteacher was seconded by the local authority to share this practice with other Torfaen schools.

Several schools from other local authorities have attended RAG meetings to observe the process.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher have supported schools in an adjoining local authority to improve accuracy in teacher assessment.

1Once allocated a September nursery place, children born between 1 September and 31 March may be offered an early start in the term following their third birthday, if places are available – this is commonly referred to as a Rising 3 place.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Lamphey Primary school is situated in Lamphey Village approximately two miles to the east of the town of Pembroke.  It caters for pupils of the village and outlying districts.  Around 82% of pupils come from outside the catchment area.  Around 8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.  Currently, there are 219 full time equivalent pupils on role between the ages of three and eleven.  Around 13% of pupils are designated as having additional learning needs, with three pupils having statements of special education needs.  The headteacher has been in post since 2011.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The school leaders have expectations for raising standards and improving the quality of teaching across both key phases through the use of professional development to secure consistently high standards.  The robust and rigorous self-evaluation procedures and challenge ethos of all stakeholders are used continually to lead school improvement.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The management team of the school meet weekly to facilitate a bespoke, active programme of in-house training to support areas of strengths and weaknesses identified by all staff and governors through detailed scrutiny of outcomes across the school.  Good practice in teaching is shared through honest, critical reflection and open dialogue based on comprehensive self-evaluation procedures.  Training priorities are planned systematically to target the specific areas of improvement identified within the school development plan and from continuous professional dialogue.  Identified pedagogical practices have become a focus for training in order to ensure high quality provision in teaching across the school.

Professional development for staff has been based on the following principles:

  • Staff meetings focus primarily on teaching and learning, with housekeeping items moved to the shared site for staff on HWB.
  • The senior management team meet weekly to plan and provide pertinent and relevant training for middle management, aimed at developing their expertise in leading innovative and progressive change throughout the school.
  • The foundation phase and the key stage 2 leaders plan the agenda of phase meetings jointly in order to ensure continuity and consistency in approach to learning, and jointly monitor outcomes to lead improvement.
  • Triad based community working is promoted, to identify and share successful teaching and learning initiatives. Composition of the triads has ensured cross-phase collaboration.
  • Specific pedagogical modelling is undertaken through the videoing of teaching for scrutiny, leading to critical but supportive dialogue based on raising the quality of provision.  Videos are stored centrally for continued, independent professional development.

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

The school has actively engaged in extending opportunities for high quality, explorational learning both in the outdoor school environment and in a wide diversity of off-school site visits.  The focus of these learning opportunities has been to improve a range of skills, in particular developing higher order numerical and reasoning skills for pupils across both key phases.  Following such initiatives, data shows that the performance of pupils in the National Numeracy tests in 2017 was better than the local authority and Wales averages in both procedural and reasoning skills.  Literacy provision has now a greater focus on developing pupils’ oracy skills and the explicit teaching of writing across the curriculum for pupils, through a structured programme of in-house training.  This has led to pupils achieving high quality literacy outcomes across the school, especially in their extended writing.  The school has successfully implemented very good foundation phase practice, which is focused on developing pupil independence in continuous and enhanced provision by utilising working zones effectively.  These strategies ensure that standards of attainment by the end of the foundation phase remain consistently above local and national averages in literacy, mathematical and personal and social development.

How have you shared your good practice?

Effective learning in the outdoors has been achieved through a comprehensive range of professional development strategies and shared in the following ways:

  • On-site environmental areas are identified and used within both phases to develop skills across the curriculum.  Learning opportunities have been shared with students from University of Wales Trinity St David and with local teachers through in-service training events held at the school.  
  • Senior leaders have worked closely with Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and Pembrokeshire Outdoor Schools to develop a series of teaching resources on developing mathematical reasoning and ICT skills in the outdoors.  These series of lessons have been quality assured and placed onto the Pembrokeshire Outdoor Schools website (www.pembrokeshireoutdoorschools.co.uk).
  • With the support of Pembrokeshire Outdoor Schools programme, senior leaders have delivered inset training on how the outdoors can be used to embed the four purposes (A Curriculum for Wales; A Curriculum for Life). 
  • Academic papers written by a member of staff on the importance of early exposure to the outdoors on children’s development have been presented at conferences, both locally and nationally (British Early Childhood Education Research Association, Creative and Critical Thinking in the Early Years, MAC Birmingham).

Pedagogy and practice of how the school plans, delivers and assesses literacy have been shared by:

  • the literacy co-ordinator leading and supporting training courses for the local authority
  • modelling of lessons and sharing of pupil outcomes with schools within the local authority and in the wider teaching community
  • development of a writing community as part of the ERW Consortium Professional Learning Schools initiative

Successful implementation of the foundation phase has been achieved through a comprehensive range of professional development strategies which have been shared through the following means.

  • The school continually seeks advice from the local authority, who have advised on the implementation of excellent practice.  Any identified very good practices are then shared across the local authority during training days, both on and off the school site.  This has included a project on the successful zoning of the outdoor areas.
  • The school is currently in the process of writing a case study for the Welsh Government on how the school grounds have been used to raise standards of literacy, numeracy and independent learning across the foundation phase.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the setting

Cylch Meithrin Cefneithin Gorslas is a Welsh-medium setting that meets in a dedicated cabin in Crosshands Leisure Park, in Carmarthenshire local authority.  The setting is open five mornings a week and is registered to admit 20 children between two and four years old.  Eight children are funded to receive early years education.

Most children are from white British backgrounds and a few come from Welsh-speaking homes.  There are currently no children with additional learning needs.

The setting employs three full-time practitioners, including the leader, and a part-time practitioner.  The leader was appointed to the post in October 2011.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

The setting’s main aim is to ensure that all children are challenged successfully to develop their skills across the curriculum in order to make the best possible progress in all aspects of their education.  In order to do so, practitioners discuss the children’s favourite interests at the beginning of each term before planning activities and tasks in the learning areas, in line with children’s aspirations.  Two themes that are discussed regularly are ‘Dinosaurs’ and ‘Pirates’.  The setting’s strength is the way in which it creates colourful, stimulating and attractive continuous learning areas for children that are based on these themes, to captivate them to explore and create in order to develop their literacy and numeracy skills. 

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The setting prioritises promoting children’s mathematical development.  Practitioners use the foundation phase profile assessments to establish a starting point and consider the assessment outcomes carefully while planning and changing learning areas.  This enables them to challenge all individuals successfully by including activities that develop each individual’s numeracy skills effectively.  They do this carefully through a range of activities that enable children to work independently and build on previous knowledge and understanding.  A notable aspect of the practitioners’ work is the way in which they plan activities that develop children’s understanding of the properties of two-dimensional shapes, as well as their skills in creating and reading maps.  For example, they use the dinosaur theme to focus on shape.  When presenting a new dinosaur each week, children print a new shape on the dinosaurs’ backs, such as circles on the diplodocus, squares on the tyrannosaurus, semi-circles on the triceratops and triangles on the brontosaurus.  As practitioners add new shapes, such as a heart and a quarter-circle, children gradually become familiar with discussing the individual properties of these shapes.

To develop children’s understanding of two-dimensional shapes further, practitioners include the shapes in the pirate role-play cupboard.  Here, children create collages of a parrot, a pirate ship and Barti Ddu’s hat by using shapes such as a semi-circle and quarter-circle.  They also use different shapes in the sand to create a treasure chest full of gems in two-dimensional shapes.  Children are given very good opportunities to cut two-dimensional shapes out of shiny paper and stick then as ‘treasures’ in the treasure chest.

In order to develop children’s early mapping skills, practitioners discuss a story about pirates finding treasure.  This places a focus on the following items – a ship, treasure, a hat, an island and a map.  Practitioners painted a map on the floor of the setting to introduce the idea of travelling from one side to the other.  Although it was a very simple map, it included a number of specific locations, such as the island itself, the ship and the treasure.  The north pole and south pole were added.  In order to reach the island, children have to walk from the ship along a ‘wooden plank’, before jumping across the shark at the end.  This was a physical task to begin with, namely jumping and balancing.  The task developed to become much more as the children gave each other directions to follow specific paths across the island.  The children created their own treasure maps before programming a Beebot to travel from north to south to find the treasure.

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

As a result of this careful planning, many children have excellent numeracy skills, and most acquire their skills very confidently and independently across the areas of learning.  A majority have a very good understanding of common two-dimensional shapes, in addition to the properties of complex shapes, such as a star and a pentagon, when creating pictures that relate to the theme.  A minority name and recognise semi-circles and quarter-circles correctly when using them to create collages of a pirate ship and a colourful parrot.  A few develop particularly good skills in creating and reading maps, and know that a map of a treasure island needs to be held with north facing upwards.  They give clear oral instructions about how to go from one side of the island to the other, and draw a path in order to find the treasure.  Many handle a wide range of mathematical equipment skilfully to count and classify objects correctly, using appropriate mathematical language.

How have you shared your good practice?

A number of practitioners have already visited the setting in order to improve provision for skills across the curriculum.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Llanfaes Community Primary School is situated on the edge of Brecon in Powys with 225 pupils on role.  The school has a pre-school assessment centre and a setting for three-year-olds.  Around 7% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals.  Around 22% of pupils have additional learning needs, which is in line with the national average.  Most pupils come from a white ethnic background and speak English as a first language.  Very few pupils speak Welsh at home.  The headteacher took up her post in September 2005 and the last inspection was in October 2017.  The school is currently a curriculum pioneer school.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Four years ago the school took an opportunity to become involved in facilitating greater recognition of dementia in their community and developing a dementia friendly generation.  Statistics for dementia indicate that it is going to be a key element in the lives of pupils.   The school endeavours to educate pupils for the lives they will lead and identified that awareness of dementia would benefit all.  The school has since been successful in raising awareness of dementia at school, local community, county and national level.  A critical element is the facilitating of dementia awareness sessions for pupils, parents, governors and staff.  This work is supplemented by the establishment of links with a local care home for the elderly.  The focus is on enhancing citizenship and educating pupils for their futures.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Dementia awareness sessions are given to all Year 5 pupils annually.  These sessions are led by the local dementia champion.  During these sessions, pupils learn about what dementia is and how it might affect people.  At the beginning of Year 6, all pupils have a refresher session.  Each week a group of Year 6 pupils are taken to Trenewydd, the school’s local care home.  Whilst there, pupils and residents engage in a range of activities, including playing board games, singing and looking at memory boxes.  Pupils look forward to these sessions, which greatly enhance the wellbeing of the residents.  On occasions, the residents join the school for activities and share termly church services.  Years 5 and 6 undertake a sponsored memory walk annually.  This is used as a rich task by Year 6, who organise, plan and execute the entire event.  It enables the pupils to utilise many literacy and numeracy skills.

Whole-school awareness is enhanced through assemblies and the inclusion of dementia issues during ‘healthy living weeks’ in which older pupils work with younger classes to explain dementia using simplified activities.  Year 6 pupils act as ambassadors at a local infant school, delivering dementia workshops to Year 2 pupils. 

Community working has developed through pupils sharing their practice at Brecon Dementia Friends coffee mornings and dementia awareness sessions.  In addition, Year 6 pupils have presented to the National Alzheimer Society in Cardiff.  Their innovative work was recognised through being awarded the National Alzheimer Young Persons Contribution award in November 2016 in London.  Dementia sessions have been held for staff, parents and governors.  At whole school events, such as parent-teacher association (PTA) fayres and coffee mornings, there is always a dementia stand.  Dementia information is also permanently available in the school foyer for anyone to access.  The school has hosted many dementia sessions for the community, including a recent dementia champions training session.

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

Links with the care home have a significant, positive impact on the wellbeing of pupils who attend.  The pupils show enhanced empathy for the elderly and have a clear understanding of how they can support them.  The activity has also enabled them to think clearly about their own emotions, especially when having to deal with the passing of a resident.  Notably, the pupils fully appreciate the contribution the residents can make to their learning.  This has been demonstrated in various ways, for example through their first-hand sharing of historical information on a variety of topics.  The learning is a two way process, with the pupils introducing the residents to ICT, such as the use of tablet computers.  Overall, the pupils’ views on the elderly have altered, as they now see the real people behind the dementia.  There is no fear of ‘old age’, simply a recognition of how to help.  True friendships have been created with mutual respect at the core.

The challenging rich task, used by Year 6 for the memory walk, enabled them to develop a wide range of literacy and numeracy skills.  Through presenting to others, pupils have developed their oracy, writing and presentation skills in a real life context.

How have you shared your good practice?

This inter-generational working has been shared in a variety of ways.  The Children’s Commissioner for Wales and the Older Person’s Commissioner for Wales have visited the school and the Trenewydd care home.  Subsequently, a film was commissioned, which is available on their websites.  BBC Radio Wales have recorded a session that was aired on the radio.  Pupils have presented to the National Alzheimer’s Society in Cardiff, detailing the project and its benefits.

Powys Local Health Board has made a short film, which was shared across the authority.  The work was shared as a good practice case study on the ERW consortium website.  Powys local authority has included details about the project on newsletters.  Kirsty Williams, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, has visited the school to discuss dementia and the school’s links with Trenewydd care home with the children.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Lansdowne Primary School is in Canton, an inner-city area of Cardiff.  There are 454 pupils on roll aged 3-11, including 37 part time nursery children.  There are seven foundation phase classes, including the nursery, and 10 key stage classes.  The rolling average of pupils eligible for free school meals is 26%, which is above the national average.  Around half of the pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, and around half of the pupils speak English as an additional language.  A very small number of pupils speak Welsh at home.  Around 25% of the pupils are identified as having a special educational need, slightly above the national average (21%).  A very small number of pupils have a statement of special educational needs.

The headteacher has been in post since November 2013.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The new school leadership team (SLT) quickly identified that engaging with families was going to be key to developing the wellbeing of pupils, and key to developing a school community.  Leaders actively sought out opportunities to work with outside agencies who have experience of working with families, including Save the Children and Families Connect.  This began a cycle of successful programmes and workshops being run with families.  These workshops enable a number of parents to gain qualifications and to gain employment.

A range of useful strategies is used to support leaders to identify barriers in working with different groups of parents and different communities.  This work includes setting up a parent group with representatives from different faiths: a group that has supported the school with a wide remit, including the writing of schemes of work and policies, and thesetting up of a range of parent workshops and family engagement days.  Through their support, the school has been able to reach out to families that have traditionally been hard to engage.

Following analysis of parent questionnaires, the school began a further area of work with families.  The school identified that many fathers felt disengaged in their children’s education.  Consequently, the school worked with a group of fathers to see how they could better support them to engage with the shool.  New systems were introduced, which enabled better lines of communication with fathers who have joint custody of their children.

The school also set up a parent coffee shop, which is open daily, where parents can meet and come into the school in an informal way.  This is a useful opportunity for different support agencies from the community to be available to offer support and guidance to families.  Initially, the school staff ran the coffee shop, but then this responsibility was handed over to the parents.

As well as having an open door policy, where a member of the SLT is available to speak with parents on the phone or in person, a member of the SLT is on the school gate every day.  This provides a practical means of direct communication with parents.  The school’s parents can share any important information, and this is a worthwhile opportunity to build rapport with families by sharing good news with them.  The school has created a dedicated time every day where teachers are available to speak to parents.

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

Through developing really effective relationships with families, the school is able to intervene early if they identify that there are difficulties with, for example, attendance or behaviour.  In the majority of cases, this means that they are able to support families before things become a bigger issue and this has led to improved attendance and improved behaviour across the school.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has worked closely with two pathfinder schools and their cluster of schools in order to share the practice and to continue to seek out further opportunities to engage families based on the good practice that they have seen in other settings.