Effective Practice Archives - Page 61 of 66 - Estyn

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Comins Coch is in the village of Comins Coch two miles north east of Aberystwyth, in Ceredigion.  About a third of the pupils live in the village, with others coming from the village of Waunfawr and the surrounding area.  There are seven classes at the school taught by six full-time and two part-time teachers.

About 6% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is significantly below the national average.  The school identifies around 22% of pupils as having additional learning needs, which is similar to the average for Wales.  Very few pupils have a statement of special education needs.  Most pupils are of white British origin. Around 11% of pupils have English as an additional language.  Very few pupils speak Welsh at home.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Ysgol Comins Coch strives to create a happy, caring school where everyone feels valued and motivated in all aspects of school life, where every child and every member of staff can develop his or her potential to the full.  Performance management is strongly focused on achieving this aim with peer observation, staff mentoring and training forming part of an inclusive whole school approach.  Effective collaboration and distribution of leadership fosters a professional learning culture which drives the school forward.

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

The school’s senior management team comprises of the headteacher and two assistant headteachers.  One assistant headteacher is responsible for pastoral care while the other is responsible for the curriculum.  They ensure that the school’s vision and values are communicated clearly to all.  The allocation of staff responsibilities aligns clearly with effective performance management procedures, including the continuous professional development of staff.  This promote high levels of co-operation and shared good practice throughout the school community.  Regular peer observations by teaching staff and teaching assistants, with a clear focus in line with school priorities agreed by staff beforehand, ensure effective professional dialogue, a consistency in approach and best use of the school’s collective expertise.

The skillset of all individuals within the school is valued and the school actively promotes full participation of all members of the team.  Decisions are discussed and explained clearly to promote understanding and develop ownership.  Inclusivity, team work and a supportive climate based on transparency and mutual respect are key elements in the success of the school.  Videos of good practice within the school are produced and shared amongst teaching staff and teaching assistants.  As a result, staff have open discussions about the key features of teaching and learning and best practice.  This, alongside regular whole school book scrutiny sessions, promotes candid and effective dialogue, cooperation and a clear understanding of the school’s aims.  Staff work as a team, everyone with their part to play in the school’s vision of providing education of the highest quality.

All classroom staff have responsibility for monitoring and developing a curriculum, or a cross curricular area.  This inclusivity and shared responsibility helps raise standards and provides enriched experiences for the pupils.  The school has effective mentoring procedures in place for both new staff and staff taking on greater responsibilities or leadership roles.  Staff at all levels have the opportunity to shadow more experienced colleagues and share good practice.  Close team work and regular team meetings with a ‘critical friend’ using a non-judgemental approach, ensures a positive ethos.

A quality assurance programme is used through the academic year.  A timetable is drawn up at the beginning of the year, in consultation with all classroom staff members, which includes subject area monitoring, book scrutiny, and moderation.  The timetable also identifies when feedback will be shared and discussed, with clear ways forward.

Effective performance management procedures ensure all teachers and teaching assistants have the opportunity to maximise their own particular skillset and to provide varied experiences for pupils.  The systems are open and clear to all, encourage reflection, honest discussion and consideration of areas for further development and career aspirations.  Regular feedback from and monitoring alongside sharing of good practice guarantees continuous improvement and the maintenance of high standards.

All members of staff contribute fully to the school’s self-evaluation and development plan so that everyone shares responsibility for the school’s strategic direction and uses their individual strength and qualifications to ensure the greatest effect.  All staff members and representatives from the governing body join together on a school training day to reflect on and evaluate the current priorities.  Frank and open discussions take place about the school’s strengths as a learning community and areas for improvement.  The views of all staff members influence future priorities and training needs which feed into the school’s development plan.  This ensures that everyone has a shared responsibility for the success of the school and the standards achieved.

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

• All members of staff share very high expectations and a vision that is based on providing education of the highest quality.
• The vision is conveyed to staff, pupils, parents and governors very successfully.
• The school is a happy and caring community for all.
• There is a mutual respect between all staff members and a common drive to ensure that all pupils achieve their full potential.
• There is an effective process of self-evaluation that enables the school to identify, monitor and evaluate its performance successfully.
• All staff have a clear and accurate picture of the school’s strengths and areas that need to be improved.
• Excellent performance management procedures and mentoring arrangements impact significantly on teaching, learning and on how well pupils achieve.

How have you shared your good practice?

• The headteacher gave a presentation on the school’s monitoring and mentoring procedures at a conference for new and acting headteachers.
• The current higher learning teaching assistant has been involved in the development of the new professional Standards for Assisting Teaching and was able to share the school’s good practice with other educational professionals

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Dŵr y Felin Comprehensive School is an English-medium 11-16 mixed comprehensive school in Neath Port Talbot. It has 1,134 pupils on roll. 

Pupils are drawn from an area that includes Neath and the surrounding area. Just over 14% of pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas of Wales and over 17% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. About 1% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes. Most pupils are from white British backgrounds with very few from minority ethnic groups. There are 34 pupils for whom English is an additional language.

The percentage of pupils with special educational needs is around 26%, which is in line with the national average. The percentage of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs is around 1%, which is below the national average of 2.5%. Fifteen pupils are under the care of the local authority.

The senior leadership team consists of the headteacher, two deputy headteachers, two assistant headteachers and a bursar.

The school is currently a ‘professional learning pioneer school’.

Our mission statement is in line with the four purposes of the curriculum for Wales.  
“Our aim is to provide a structured, caring environment, within which pupils develop as:

• ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society and are motivated to achieve their full potential”.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

The school has a long history of providing opportunities for personal professional learning linked to leadership and improving standards in teaching and learning. This is in line with the national and local priorities, identified in the Donaldson and Furlong reports.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The whole school community is committed to working together to provide the best opportunities for all staff and pupils with a clear focus on raising standards.

The school plays a lead role in highly successful partnerships to support other schools and practitioners. Staff have had beneficial opportunities to take up secondments both internally and within the local consortia. The heads of English and science have had extended secondments to ERW to share expertise, knowledge and best practice to support schools with raising standards.  This has allowed these practitioners to gain a valuable insight into effective practice in other schools. This sharing of best practice has yielded a number of benefits to our school.

Secondments onto the extended senior leadership team have provided opportunities for personal development for staff to take responsibility for leading on a whole-school priority and managing change. These opportunities have broadened middle leaders’ knowledge and experience of managing the school in line with the leadership standards. The creation of Assistant Heads of Year roles have further built leadership capacity within the pastoral systems within the school. Through working with groups of vulnerable pupils, they have strengthened the care, support and guidance for all pupils.

Increased leadership roles for cross-curricular responsibilities have contributed successfully to creating staff opportunities to lead on national priorities within school, the cluster and beyond. In addition, the role of a teaching and learning coordinator has been created with a specific focus on developing pedagogy across the school.

The roles of learning support assistants have been developed giving them greater responsibility for delivering interventions to different groups of learners.

As a result of these initiatives, leadership has been distributed to many staff who have contributed significantly to the school’s improvement work. 

In addition, there are a significant number of pupil led forums, which contribute to the development of the school.  Senior prefects lead the school council. They have created a pupil friendly version of the development plan and have driven forward on key priorities such as focus on raising attendance, modifications to assessment arrangements and changes to the learning environment. In addition, many pupils make a valuable contribution to the life of the school in a variety of leadership roles through their involvement as anti-bullying ambassadors, peer mentors and teaching and learning representatives.

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

Leadership at all levels has created a highly-effective learning community, which has secured and sustained strong pupil outcomes over the past four years. 

Strong partnerships with the cluster and the college has led to seamless transition with consistency of delivery in cross-curricular skills.

Secondments of key staff have led to the sharing of best practice between schools. This has allowed our school to keep abreast of current developments. Opportunities for promotion have resulted and a significant number of staff have completed leadership qualifications.

The development of pupil forums contributes meaningfully to the strategic direction of the school. Pupils feel valued, and are more confident, ambitious learners who are well prepared to be leaders of the future.
The school’s particular emphasis on distributing leadership responsibilities more widely is extremely successful and has contributed to the development of consistently effective teaching in many lessons that ensures that many pupils make strong progress.

How have you shared your good practice?

Our practice has been shared widely through working with the cluster, 14-19 local authority network and the consortium. The school works together with Welsh Government as a pioneer school and has contributed to research with the OECD.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Gynradd Talysarn is situated in the rural village of Talysarn in Gwynedd.  Most pupils live in the village and nearby villages.  There are 102 pupils on roll, including 15 pupils in the nursery class.  The school has 4 classes.

Approximately 50% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes, and a very few pupils are from an ethnic minority background.  Approximately 25% of the pupils are eligible to receive free school meals, which is higher than the national average.  There are 25% of pupils on the school’s additional learning needs register.   These figures are slightly above the percentages for Wales.  A very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Over time, the school has worked successfully with a wide range of partnerships.  As it is situated in a disadvantaged area, the school believes that it has a duty to ensure that it has an effective relationship with parents.  The school’s vision is to offer opportunities and experiences for pupils and their parents to spend enriched and special time in each other’s company without being impeded by challenging circumstances.  Two of the recent projects in which the school has been involved are ‘Llofnod Dysgu Teulu’ (‘Family Learning Signature’) and ‘Hwyl i’r Teulu’ (‘Family Fun’).

The ‘Llofnod Dysgu Teulu’ sessions are held with families in order to negotiate and gain agreement between the school and home on how parents can overcome difficulties such as commitment, skills, environment and culture, which can be frustrating when they try to support their children at home.  This has led to successful action which enables parents to support their children better.  One parent reported a simple example as a result of completing the ‘Llofnod Dysgu Teulu’, where the kitchen table is now being utilised as a place for the family to sit with each other every evening to eat, discuss and converse, rather than eating whilst sitting in front of the television.  There are examples where parents have noted that their children now have somewhere appropriate to complete their homework and that their family life has improved greatly, as they listen and show an interest in each other’s lives through discussion.

The school council organised ‘Hwyl i’r Teulu’ sessions with a Welsh language officer from Gwynedd authority, in order to continue to co-operate with the families and to build parents’ confidence to speak Welsh with their children.  A number of fun sessions were held for the pupils and the families to meet after school, including in dance, acting and art sessions, and a visit from a librarian and the character ‘Strempan’ from the Rala Rwdins book series.  The sessions contributed successfully towards the bilingual skills of pupils and their parents, and more families attended every week.  The parents have requested the ‘Hwyl i’r Teulu’ sessions again this year.

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

• The ‘Llofnod y Teulu’ sessions support parents to overcome difficulties in supporting their children at home.  This has enabled parents to give their children better support.
• The ‘Hwyl i’r Teulu’ sessions with a Welsh language officer from Gwynedd authority are successful in building parents’ confidence to speak Welsh with their children.  The sessions contribute successfully to the bilingual skills of pupils and their parents. 
• The wellbeing of pupils is improving and they show pride in their contribution towards several aspects of school life.  As a result, their attitude to work is outstanding and there has been a positive impact on pupils’ standards and wellbeing.  It also extends their learning experiences effectively.

How do you share your good practice?

Ysgol Gynradd Talysarn has shared its practices with several other schools.  The headteacher and assistant headteacher have shared practices and aspects of the work in meetings with Gwynedd language co-ordinators and with a staff group from   co-operating schools which receive support from the school.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Heol Goffa is a local authority day special school situated in Llanelli and maintained by Carmarthenshire local authority. The school provides placements for pupils aged from three to nineteen years with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties.  There are currently 75 pupils on roll.  The school aims to provide enjoyable and challenging learning experiences to enable each pupil to reach their individual potential. 

Context and background to sector-leading practice

The headteacher and senior leadership team are committed to providing positive and high quality learning experiences to help pupils learn about their own and other cultures.  The school has been involved in international partnerships since September 2013 and has strong international links, which strengthen pupils’ experiences and understanding of their role as global citizens. 

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Senior leaders have established highly beneficial partnerships with schools in Ireland, Scotland, Turkey, Austria and Cyprus.  These have helped to broaden the school’s curriculum and provide pupils with stimulating learning experiences, including valuable opportunities to visit other countries.  Staff have benefited from sharing new approaches to teaching and learning that have been developed with colleagues at some of these partner schools. 

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

These partnerships have enabled pupils to travel to other countries and make new friends.  Pupils have experienced new cultures and languages and have learnt first-hand about being global citizens.  On returning from these international visits, the pupils engage enthusiastically in events to share their experiences with other pupils and parents, such as in open evenings where they showcase the language, food and traditions of the country they have visited.  These experiences give pupils greater self-confidence and improve their self-esteem, communication and social skills. 

The school’s curriculum has been enriched by the wide range of teaching materials that staff and students have brought back from other countries.  Staff use these resources well to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of other cultures and traditions.  For example, staff from Heol Goffa visited Turkey and brought back teaching materials that enriched the religious education, design technology and art schemes of work.

Links with special schools in Dublin and Edinburgh have enabled staff to learn and share new approaches to communication that have benefited non-verbal pupils in particular.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school is part of a network that is committed to developing pupils’ understanding of their role as global citizens.  Staff from Heol Goffa work with colleagues in other local schools to share their curriculum materials and to encourage partnerships between schools in Wales the rest of the world.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Gynradd Bontnewydd is situated approximately two miles from the town of Caernarfon in Gwynedd.  The school serves the village and the surrounding area, including the villages of Caeathro and Llanfaglan.  It provides education for pupils between 3 and 11 years old.  Welsh is the school’s everyday language and the main medium of learning and teaching.  English is taught formally in key stage 2.  Approximately 75% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes, and very few pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds.  Children are admitted to the school on a full-time basis during the term in which they celebrate their fourth birthday.  There are 179 pupils on roll, including 21 in the nursery class, and they are divided into seven mixed-age classes.

Approximately 3% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is significantly lower than the national average.  Twenty per cent (20%) of pupils are on the school’s additional learning needs register.  These figures are lower than the percentages for Wales.  Six pupils have a statement of special educational needs.  A special educational needs unit is situated on the school grounds, and pupils from the unit integrate with the mainstream for specific periods during the week. 

The headteacher and deputy headteacher were appointed in September 2009.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

The role of the governing body was judged to be excellent during the school inspection in February 2017.  The school’s journey to attain this standard has been gradual over a period of time.

Following the appointment of a new management team in 2009, a need was identified to develop a new framework to support the governing body to enable them to fulfil their functions more effectively.  The vision that was delivered by the headteacher was based on the principles of joint ownership, joint working and high-level participation.  It became apparent that there was a need to provide training in several areas for staff and members of the governing body, and that the capacity of the management team would need to be increased to include all of the school’s teachers in the training team.

The whole process was based on the principle of ‘learning together’ at all levels – between pupils; pupils and staff; staff and the governing body – by using mentoring methods as the main medium of training.

A training programme was devised to be completed over a period of three years.  The aim was to equip governors with the knowledge and skills necessary for them to be able to better fulfil their role as critical friends.  The school focused on providing training on data analysis, self-evaluation and producing priorities for improvement.

A description of the nature of the strategy or activity

An operational programme was devised, which included a year of detailed focus on developing staff’s skills in data analysis, self-evaluation and planning for improvement.  By the second year of the plan, the school’s training capacity had developed significantly.  A decision was made to develop specific aspects of training each term over a period of two years.  During the autumn term, the main focus of training was data analysis.  During the spring terms, priority was given to training on self-evaluation, followed by improvement planning during the summer terms.

Each governor had a curricular responsibility at the beginning, for a period of two years, and each worked in a pair with the subject or area co-ordinator.  Each pair co-operated to analyse data in their specific area and collate the main messages in a brief report.  An analytical tool was provided with a writing frame.  The co-ordinators’ responsibility was to share the analysis with the remainder of the teaching staff in a staff meeting, and the governors’ responsibility was to share the analysis with the rest of the governing body.  These reports, in addition to the headteacher’s more detailed analysis, formed the annual report on standards.  By the second year of operation, the governors’ analyses had been refined to include specific lines to be followed, for example the relationship between the attendance rates of boys in Year 2 and achievement at Outcome 6 in the Foundation Phase.

As a result, the confidence of co-ordinators and governors has increased significantly and they are now able to analyse data completely independently and present detailed reports to feed into the annual report on standards.

During the spring term, one governor and one co-ordinator join together in individual learning think tanks.  During these meetings, governors are given an opportunity to ask about developments within the subjects, and co-ordinators are given an opportunity to share the results of their priorities for action.  These meetings include scrutinising schemes of work, relating the requirements of the literacy and numeracy frameworks to the subject, and an opportunity to undertake learning walks, including observing teachers and learners as they work.  Governors and co-ordinators value the opportunity to work together, and governors have noted in particular the value of the exercise not only in deepening their knowledge of standards within their subject, but also in seeing the overall standards of learning and teaching on the classroom floor; the school’s assessment methods in practice; learners’ participation in learning; the support that is given to learners with additional learning needs and levels of inclusion within the school.

As a result of these activities, learning think tanks are a key part of the school’s self-evaluation calendar, and ensure that the governors have full input in the process.
 
Within their pairs, governors and co-ordinators also scrutinise learners’ work.  These sessions include training on learners’ achievement and progress over time, in addition to training on robust self-evaluation principles, including specific mentoring when writing incisive and quantitative self-evaluation reports.  Governors praise this working method, as it helps them to relate the standards on the classroom floor to performance data.

In order to ensure that governors’ knowledge was not limited to one subject, several ‘speed dating’ sessions were conducted.  The purpose of these sessions was to give governors an opportunity to gain a great deal of general knowledge across a range of areas in a short period of time.  These sessions were facilitated by the school’s staff, and short, individual face-to-face think tanks were conducted to present information or answer queries.  As the previous training process had been so successful, the questions were probing and governors succeeded in expanding their knowledge across a number of important areas.

Over the last three years, all of these practices have become established and have matured.  As a result, the governing body has succeeded in fulfilling its role as a critical friend with much more confidence, understanding and insight.  The governing body has developed to become innovative and it now plans its developing programme with increased ownership.  New governors are inducted quickly to these processes in small group sessions.  The school takes pride in the quality of co-operation between staff and governors; stakeholders’ ownership in developing the school’s strategic direction; and high-level participation in order to ensure improvement.

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

These developments have ensured that agreed strategic priorities derive from information from first-hand evaluation evidence.  The governing body has a long-term vision of what needs to be developed within the school.  They are very aware of the challenges that the school faces and that informs performance data.  They are very aware of where there is excellence within the school and the areas that need to be developed further.  This has led to producing a robust school action plan with a focus on learners’ needs.  The governing body ensures that the school’s time and resources are used appropriately in order to raise standards and ensure pupils’ wellbeing.

The process of developing joint ownership staff and governor mentoring has realised the vision of ensuring a high level of stakeholder participation, and the learning journey continues.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared good practice with a number of schools in the county through the GwE ‘Challenge and Support Programme’.  This process of sharing and leading included mentoring groups of headteachers over a period of time, so that they could emulate this practice in their own schools.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Rougemont School is an independent day school that educates boys and girls from the age of 3 to 18 years. The school was founded in the early 1920s and is situated on a large site between Newport and Cwmbran.

There are currently 544 pupils on roll. These include 19 pupils in the nursery and 180 in the preparatory school. In the senior school, there are 244 pupils aged from 11 to 16 years, and 101 in the sixth form.

Almost all pupils live in Newport and Torfaen, with a few travelling from further afield in south Wales. About 15% of pupils are from minority-ethnic backgrounds. All pupils speak English fluently although a few speak other languages as their first language. A very few pupils speak Welsh at home.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Rougemont School became aware that young people face a number of different pressures in a modern world which affect their wellbeing.   The school decided to embed a whole-school culture, to promote and support resilience and wellbeing.   Encouraging a feeling of belonging through engagement in the school community, wellbeing was actively fostered in each area of the school.  The school introduced programmes across each phase, each focusing on encouraging participation in school and community life.   A wide range of new positions of responsibility were introduced to support school involvement and pupil voice.  these included: sports captains at junior and senior level,  eco-representatives and committees, charity leaders and a newly-formed wellbeing team.   Older pupils work closely with younger pupils , enhancing the strong sense of community in the school.  Each of these are pivotal in allowing the children to thrive in their academic, social and emotional development.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Rougemont School has focused on supporting mental health and wellbeing by embedding a culture of prevention rather than reaction. This has focused on building emotional development and resilience in order to provide children with the skills needed to cope with the growing academic rigour of study as pupils progress through the school. Across the whole school, this includes a close analysis of PASS data, to identify individuals or key groups who need targeted support for example, via nurture groups. The school also adapted its PSHE curriculum to meet pupils’ needs.

A dedicated PSHE afternoon in the preparatory school includes for example: a science teacher focusing on sleep; mindfulness delivered by a Paws b practitioner; the provision of a counsellor and additional external agencies as appropriate. There is also a focus on creating tangible metaphors to represent abstract concepts and emotions. For example: happiness jars; weebles; zen trays; worry people; stress balls; mood boards and ‘I can’ jars. The recent introduction of a pastoral information pack, which helps parents reinforce these intitiatives at home is the final piece of the puzzle in ensuring all stakeholders are working together to support the wellbeing of each child.

Positions of responsibility provide opportunities for pupils across the school to play an active role and help shape their school. An active school council sits in the infant, junior and senior areas, with pupils encouraged to create manifestos, participate in an election process and lead change. Pupils at the top of the junior and senior schools apply for roles specific to their areas of expertise; these include a wellbeing team; charity representatives and a comprehensive programme of House events, generating a sense of community spirit.

The School for Life motto engenders a strong sense of community spirit. Older children actively support those in younger years, both pastorally and academically. Senior pupils run clubs, assemblies and specific subject tuition, as well as being present to support and lead play during break times. Across the school, school councils are chaired by the head boy and girl of each section, with minutes taken to ensure that ideas are put forward and appropriate action taken.

Underpinning pupils’ social and emotional development is the opportunity for them to participate throughout the school, in age-specific awards. Rougemont Rangers opens infant children to the possibility of different life skills and responsibilities, spanning Myself, My Community and My World. These include, for example: twinning, first aid and eco. At the upper end of the junior department, the REACH award encourages pupils to participate fully in school life and the wider community, broaden their horizons and try something different, complete tasks to the best of their ability and be their best selves. As the children move to the senior school, the key stage 3 award challenges them to challenge themselves. There are subject-specific opportunities for the independent application of skills and wellbeing activities. Finally, as the pupils approach the senior end of the school, the Duke of Edinburgh Award beckons with a significant proportion of pupils undertaking at least the bronze award.

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

Pupils feel a significant sense of belonging to the Rougemont family. All stakeholders feel a part of the wider school community and many visitors comment on the welcoming, happy, warm ethos of the school. All these activities help to play a particularly significant role in contributing towards pupils’ emotional, social and academic development. PASS data indicates high levels of pupil satisfaction with their school experience compared to the national average and there are particularly high levels of pupil participation across all aspects of school life.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared good practice through articles in national publications written by wellbeing leaders within the school. Specific initiatives have been shared with local schools and the community, for example, fairtrade links with Bron Afon, a local housing association; the Run a Mile initiative shared with a local primary school and Welsh Park Run leaders, and the establishment of a mental health hub for primary education.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Bryngwyn School is an 11-16, mixed, community school. It is situated in Dafen, on the north-eastern side of Llanelli, and draws its pupils from parts of the town centre and from a number of outlying villages. There are 1,050 pupils on roll: The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is around 20%. Bryngwyn and Glan-y-Môr were formally federated in September 2014 becoming the pioneer pilot for secondary federation. Both schools are pioneer and lead creative schools.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Bryngwyn has developed a curriculum that is driven by pupils’ interests.  It is highly flexible and personalised to learners.

The school seeks the views of all stakeholders and adapts the curriculum each year according to the needs of learners and the local community.  This ensures there is appropriate variety and opportunity for all.

The school has an extensive track record of creativity and innovation within the curriculum and the excellent progress of pupils at Bryngwyn is a result of many of these progressive developments.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Knowing learners, their interests, aspirations and learning needs is fundamental to the school’s approach to curriculum design.  Pupils are closely monitored through extensive tracking and consulted through a range of learning forums to ensure that robust feedback is gathered to inform the curriculum model.

Staff also form a key part in the ongoing dialogue in curriculum design.  This allows the school to offer a wide variety of courses across subjects and within subjects.  The well-planned, extensive breadth of provision enables all pupils to engage with the curriculum and ensures that pupil success can be celebrated at every opportunity.

Balance in the curriculum

The curriculum provides the necessary balance to ensure pupils develop skills as well as subject knowledge.  Skills development is carefully planned and effectively tracked across each subject area.  Bryngwyn has a coordinated approach to skills development, in particular numeracy, literacy and digital literacy, while allowing departments the flexibility to incorporate opportunities to develop skills in relevant and meaningful ways.

The curriculum provides opportunities for enhancement for learners of all abilities. Nurture and extension groups are used effectively to provide appropriate support and challenge to learners and pupil groupings are regularly reviewed. Successful support strategies are used with a variety of mentoring programmes and intervention groups targeting learners in key stages 3 and 4.  More able pupils are extended through a range of provisions including extension courses in Maths and Welsh and Saturday clubs in partnership with post-16 providers.  All learners have access to a full array of wider activities that provide the variety of learning experiences that makes the curriculum so effective.  High levels of engagement in the Eisteddfodd, subject competitions, clubs, eco projects, music and many more activities contribute to a culture and ethos that looks to celebrate the success of pupils at every opportunity.  This is most notable in the school’s use of praise and rewards, culminating in an exceptional and well attended prize evening, that ensures pupils, parents, staff and governors take pride in their collective achievements.

14-19 agenda

The highly flexible curriculum at Bryngwyn allows pupils to choose a pathway suited to their needs. In commencing their chosen pathway in year 9, pupils are afforded the opportunity to trial their choices to ensure they are an appropriate match. At Key stage 4, pupils have the choice to follow three different pathways: Extension; Enhancement or Enrichment. The balance of time and choice of options vary according to the pathway a pupil follows.

The option process is heavily learner led. Pupils are given free choice on which subjects they would like to study and a careful support network is in place to provide pupils with the appropriate guidance to ensure successful outcomes. Pupils have the opportunity to choose options that cover a range of experiences reflecting both academic and vocational experiences.  Choices are not restricted to one particular pathway and the school gives equal value to both.  An extensive range of subjects is offered and supported through a highly successful partnership with post-16 providers that contribute to delivering a range of carefully selected vocational courses. The development of the innovative Vocational Skills Centre is a particular strength of the school working in partnership with the Llanelli cluster to provide real-life experiences.

Innovation

The school is committed to innovation and has a track record of creativity within the curriculum. A range of focus weeks, projects and partnership schemes result in the creative and imaginative curriculum offer seen in Bryngwyn. A unique award has recently been developed that focuses  primarily on pupils’ involvement in the wider skills in Wales. The award “Bryngwyn Baby Bac’ (B3) was very successful in its pilot year with students in year 7 and 8 facing a series of challenges linked by a common theme with assessment focused on each of the wider skills. Both staff and pupils reported high levels of participation, enjoyment and engagement. Achievement for pupils is celebrated with an award at either gold silver or bronze

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

The continued curriculum developments and commitment to regular dialogue and review with staff and pupils has enabled Bryngwyn to demonstrate significant progress in pupil outcomes at key stage 3 and 4. The design of the curriculum adds significant value to pupils at Bryngwyn in both their skills development and their overall outcomes.

Pupils are confident, independent and collaborative learners who display high degrees of resilience and are highly engaged in their studies.

How have you shared your good practice?

As part of a federation, Bryngwyn ensures that all developments are shared across the federation.  Partnership with the post-16 provider in Llanelli and other secondary schools ensures that resources and opportunities at 14-19 are shared. This is evident in the Vocational skills provision. Bryngwyn also works with the DEPNET curriculum group in Carmarthenshire. As part of the pioneer network the Bryngwyn and Glan Y Mor federation also has the opportunity to work with a number of schools outside the region on curriculum developments.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Glan-y-Môr is an 11-16 community focused school in Burry Port with 480 pupils on roll of whom approximately 30% are eligible for free school meals. The school was formally federated with Ysgol Bryngwyn School in 2014 becoming the pioneer pilot for secondary federations in Wales. Glan-y-Môr works in strong partnership both with its primary feeders and with the local FE provider through 14-19 initiatives. The school is currently a pioneer school for professional learning.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Glan-y-Môr introduced a STEM (science technology engineering maths) enrichment programme in September 2014, initially as an extra-curricular activity to promote transition.  Since then it has rapidly evolved as a key strategy in driving curriculum development to meet the requirements of the new curriculum for Wales. The aim of the programme was to engage and excite pupils about the career paths offered in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths. The programme is based on the principles of active learning, raising aspirations and increasing opportunities. The school is confident that this STEM enrichment programme is already helping its pupils to develop in line with the recommendations of the Donaldson report and its 4 key principles. The strategies and lessons learned from implementing this successful STEM programme are now being applied to the main curriculum.

The programme has a multi-faceted approach, in that it provides opportunities for all learners as well as containing key aspects which focus on groups of learners; for example, those eligible for free school meals, more able and talented, and girls.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The approach described above comprises of:

Challenge days.  These are days on which the curriculum is suspended and where whole year groups engage in STEM challenge activities. These activities are focused on “live” projects or STEM competitions, for example the “D&T Alu Challenge”. Pupils work in teams of three responding to a competitive brief to produce a design solution which is not just fit for purpose but also develops their knowledge and understanding of aluminium. These, and similar challenges require the pupils to adopt a range of skills, such as problem solving, communication and research as well as applying their existing knowledge and understanding of concepts and themes gained through more traditional learning methods in other subjects.

Teaching across year groups.  During the autumn term 2016 the school was involved in piloting a Crest Award project for the British Science Association and Welsh Government. This provided the opportunity to trial mixed year group working and allowed the flexibility for pupils to develop their communication and teamwork skills as well as developing their confidence by working with and leading other pupils of different ages.

Working with outside organisations.   As a smaller school Glan-y-Môr has benefited extensively from bringing expertise in from local industry, STEM organisations and STEM ambassadors.  This has enabled the school to give its pupils a much wider range of learning opportunities and experiences. This expertise has been utilised in a variety of ways and on a range of STEM projects.

Collaboration with primary and FE partners.  Working across phases with primary and FE partners on STEM projects has enabled the school to establish strong partnership links. These projects have supported young learners in a number of ways and have had a beneficial impact on pupils’ outcomes.  In key stage 2 there have been improved outcomes in maths and science, pupils’ development and attainment outcomes have improved across STEM subjects, and there has been a significant change in pupils’ confidence and self-esteem. In addition, pupils’ transition on entry to the school in Year 7, and from Year 11 to college, has been made more comfortable and successful by this cross-phase approach.

Going forward with SciTech – The school is now looking to apply what has been learned through the enrichment programme to the mainstream curriculum through the introduction of SciTech for September 2017. This idea evolved via the school’s involvement in the Science and Technology Area of Learning Experience Working Party. The rationale for this approach is that learning is made more meaningful when it addresses the question “Why do we need to know this?” It is hoped that pupils will develop skills which allow them to naturally transfer knowledge and skills between subjects, particularly at secondary level. The approach is intended to enrich subject knowledge while introducing greater challenge to learners.

‘The Sky’s Her Limit’ –  Glan-y-Môr intends to further develop the enrichment programme through including an exciting all-girl KS3 STEM challenge day with Chwarae Teg called ‘The Sky’s Her Limit’, which focuses on increasing the number of girls following STEM career paths. The school will continue to reach out to other educational establishments at all levels to share experiences and help others to engage with the collaborative, contextualised, active learning that the STEM enrichment programme has provided for the pupils.

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

Over the course of the project, as a result of increased engagement and participation, the school has seen marked improvements in standards in science, technology and mathematics.  However, the benefits to pupils have not been confined to the development of STEM skills and knowledge, but have helped to improve pupils’ wider skills of communication, public speaking, independent or active learning, teamwork and leadership development, as well as raising their confidence, self-esteem and aspiration.   Pupils have gained a reputation locally and nationally as confident, articulate communicators and public speakers, recently meeting with First Minister Carwyn Jones as well as being the subject of a BBC Newsround short film at the end of last year.
All of these initiatives and experiences have raised aspiration amongst pupils, who now see opportunities rather than barriers to their ambitions, and are key contributors to the school’s work being identified as sector leading.

How have you share your good practice?

The school ensures that all developments are shared across the federation with Bryngwyn – its partner school.  As part of the pioneer network the Bryngwyn/ Glan-y-Môr federation also has the opportunity to work with a number of schools on curriculum development. There is a very active Twitter feed – @glanymorStem – which captures all the STEM work and is available for all to access. A number of videos on shared spaces show how pupils have engaged with and gained from numerous STEM experiences. These are on the school website at www.glanymorschool.co.uk
 
A recent ‘Big Bang’ event saw 11 schools share STEM activities on site. The school’s experiences and vision of how the STEM programme acts as a facilitator for the curriculum for Wales within its family of schools is communicated  through meetings with STEM coordinators from other schools,  organisations and  consortia.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Brief contextual information about provider/partnership:

Grŵp Llandrillo Menai is a further education (FE) college formed in 2012 through mergers between Coleg Llandrillo, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai.  The Grŵp has approximately 21,000 learners, of whom 6,000 study full time programmes delivered on 13 campuses across the counties of Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire and Gwynedd.

Context and background to excellent/sector-leading practice:

The college makes effective use of its early identification tool (EIT) to identify learners at risk of leaving a course before completion.  Learners identified as ’at risk’ benefit from the provision of robust and extensive support delivered by both specialist college services and strong, embedded partnership with external agencies.

Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s learner services identified an increasing demand for additional support required and accessed by learners.  In 2014, 578 learners were identified at being at risk of withdrawing from their programme due to external barriers.  A lack of resilience to cope with welfare difficulties was having an adverse effect on attendance and their ability to keep on track with their learning.

In response to the advent of the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework, Grŵp Llandrillo Menai worked in partnership with the Engagement and Progression Coordinators of the six north Wales local authorities to develop information sharing protocols to further strengthen transition support for learners identified as at risk of disengaging. 

Information regarding the learners at risk of disengaging from their college programme was analysed to produce the eligibility criteria profile of the EIT diagnostic tool.

The EIT was subsequently adopted by TRAC 11-24, a north Wales EU-funded project, as the intervention model to be used by post-16 providers.   Students eligible to participate in the TRAC project receive additional intensive personalised welfare support from a dedicated TRAC mentor.

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

The EIT diagnostic tool is used to identify which learners are most likely to leave their programme early.   The EIT provides a score for each learner based upon attendance, wellbeing, behaviour, career aspiration and basic skills level data.  The eligibility criteria factors are weighted.

The EIT is run for every full time FE learner at the beginning of each term.  The EIT diagnostic draws upon the datasets contained within the college management information systems and automatically populates the weightings to calculate the score.  The top 8% of profiled learners are reviewed.  Professional judgement is always taken into account when considering the most appropriate intensive and personalised support required.  Distance-travelled markers are integrated into the EIT diagnostic tool to demonstrate value added.  Ten weeks after the initial referral for additional welfare intervention and support, the EIT is recalculated to help identify evidence of improvement.  The EIT is subsequently run every ten weeks that a learner receives additional support.

With the introduction of the ‘85%+’ attendance project, Grŵp Llandrillo Menai has further developed and integrated the EIT with existing college welfare referral routes to access support.  Monitoring of learner engagement takes place during the learner at risk panel meetings chaired by the director of learner services and attended by the appropriate assistant principal, programme area manager and welfare support staff. 

Support action plans are fully integrated into the Grŵp’s quality framework.  Personal tutors access action plans via the learner portal, eDRAC, while managers review and monitor performance indicators by area, course and learner via the portal’s dashboard.

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

The EIT diagnostic calculates a score and measures distance travelled for a set of criteria that include: attendance, level of basic skills attained, behaviour and career aspirations.  Of the learners that were eligible to receive TRAC mentor support that participated in the first year of the project, 88% achieved an improvement of 10% in their EIT Score.

Ninety-one per cent of the learners identified as being at risk of disengaging completed their programme of study.  Of those who completed their course, 90% achieved their qualification.  The nine per cent who did not complete the academic year returned to college the following year to either complete the programme or to enrol on another at the same level. 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the setting/school/provider

Ysgol Pen Coch is a day special school that provides education for pupils with a wide range of learning needs.  These include profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD), social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD), autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and complex learning needs.  There are currently 94 pupils at the school, aged two to eleven.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

As a pioneer school for the Welsh Government, Ysgol Pen Coch is involved in developing and piloting a new curriculum for Wales.  At Ysgol Pen Coch, this includes the development of personalised learning to meet the complex needs of pupils through focused interventions and individually tailored support.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The school uses a wide range of activities to address individual pupils’ specific needs, and to make sure that pupils develop the skills they need to make progress and succeed in line with their needs.  This includes a strong focus on pupils’ emotional and behavioural development and their communication skills.

The school website provides up-to-date information on the therapies and interventions used at the school.  One very successful intervention is the virtual reality room.

The school uses its virtual reality room to reduce anxieties and prepare pupils for the world outside.  The room allows pupils to experience and play out difficult situations that they often meet during their daily life and routine.

Handheld controllers and sensors give a whole new feel to the artificial reality experience.  There are transmitters and receivers on the walls and the immersive experience is very real.  This allows a pupil to explore and experience situations as if they were actually present in that environment or place.

When choosing the most appropriate experiential situations, the school liaised closely with parents about situations that caused them the greatest concern.  One of these was crossing the road.  One of the teaching staff visited the local pedestrian crossing, took photographs and made a recording of all the sounds experienced there.  She then transferred these onto a programme on the computer, which is connected to the virtual reality equipment, creating a 3D version of the crossing.  Sounds were projected onto three walls in the room, giving pupils a 360 degree experience.

Pupils participate in individual weekly sessions of between 10 and 15 minutes for a period of eight weeks.  Sessions consist of three stages.  During the first stage, pupils have to look for and listen to all the sights and sounds associated with crossing the road using a pedestrian crossing.  They learn how to press the button to activate the red and green man and they learn to be patient and look and listen continually for the red and green man.  Once they are confident with the first stage of the experience, pupils move onto the second stage in the virtual reality room.  This involves actual pedestrian traffic lights, which have a timer built into the workings.  Using the timer, pupils have to stand still at the crossing until the lights change and the green man appears.

At the third stage, pupils go outside to a pedestrian crossing.  All of the 30 pupils who took part in this intervention recently were able to arrive at the crossing, press the button to activate the red and green man, and wait patiently until it was time to cross without becoming agitated or stressed.  Each pupil was able to cross the road with confidence.

Recently, the virtual reality room was made into the secondary school that the Year 6 pupils will be transferring to in September.  Some pupils were not previously able to take part in the school’s usual transition projects, due to the high anxiety levels they encountered.  Through the virtual reality room, pupils are able to practise ‘going to’ the secondary school in preparation for their actual transition at the end of the summer term.

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

Pupils who experience the virtual reality room are able to carry out specific activities with significantly increased confidence.  This has had a significant impact on pupils’ readiness to learn, wellbeing and engagement. 

Estyn’s recent inspection report noted: “The innovative approach to the curriculum is a strength of the school. Staff focus relentlessly on understanding pupils’ individual needs and providing an appropriate range of enrichment activities to motivate and engage them”

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has written and contributed to a broad range of research and publications in which it has shared its good practice.  A list of publications is available on the school website: http://ysgolpencoch.org/course/view.php?id=376
 
The school has also shared this work with other pioneer schools.