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Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Bryntirion Comprehensive School is an English-medium 11-18 mixed comprehensive school maintained by Bridgend local authority.  There are 1,121 pupils on roll, including 177 in the sixth form.  The school population is growing rapidly and in September 2017 the school will be oversubscribed in several year groups and close to capacity.  Most pupils come from the Bryntirion, Broadlands, Cefn Glas, Laleston and Penyfai areas of Bridgend.  Around 13.6% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is below the national average of 17.1%.  Around 12% of pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas in Wales.

Most pupils are from a white British background.  A very few pupils are from other ethnic groups and around 1.4% of pupils speak English as an additional language.  Very few pupils are fluent Welsh speakers.  Approximately 19% of pupils have special educational needs; this is lower than the national average of 25.1%.  The percentage of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs is 1.1%, and is lower than the national average of 2.4%.  There is a communication resource base for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorder attached to the school.  Pupils who attend the resource base are included within the school roll and fully integrated into the life of the school.

The current headteacher took up his post in September 2013.  The senior leadership team also includes two deputy headteachers, three assistant headteachers, a business manager and a seconded associate assistant headteacher.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Following the appointment of a new headteacher in September 2013, a new leadership team was formed with a mixture of existing post holders and new appointments.  This enabled the school to develop a strong strategic vision and direction, focused on improving educational outcomes for all and delivering a high quality education for the students of Bryntirion.  This strategic approach was supported by the development of a strong middle leadership team and the creation of an inclusive ethos for students and staff alike. 

During the period 2013 to 2016, Bryntirion Comprehensive School improved significantly in all areas, and maintained strong outcomes in all performance indicators across all key stages.

In September 2015, the headteacher was asked to lead an additional school, Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen, following a period of significant instability.  The school was placed in special measures following inspection and required rapid and sustained improvement.  The school was removed from special measures in June 2017.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

On taking up his post, the new headteacher reviewed and clarified roles and responsibilities at senior and middle leadership level, and established new line management arrangements.  Regular meetings focused on school improvement priorities were developed, including daily senior leadership ’catch-up’ sessions.  New arrangements for self-evaluation and improvement planning were introduced, led by the headteacher but involving senior leaders and key middle leaders.

Staff consultation and relevant training helped to create a collaborative culture of high expectation.  This, balanced with excellent working relationships, has ensured that staff feel empowered and involved in all areas of school life.  A focus on staff wellbeing has had a positive impact on work ethic and contributed to a very ‘happy’ working environment.  For example, a counselling service has been made available to staff on the school site.

A middle leadership programme was also developed, which enabled staff to develop their skills and understanding of successful school leadership.  This included a focus on issues, such as developing your team, establishing a clear vision, leading learning and teaching, intelligent use of data, leading and managing from the middle and managing change.  Professional development opportunities were provided to embed these skills, including secondments to the senior leadership team.  This approach has led to effective succession planning and enabled staff to develop their careers.

Governance arrangements were revised to increase levels of accountability and to strengthen the governing body’s focus on standards.

From September 2015, the headteacher was deployed in an executive headteacher capacity across Bryntirion and Coleg Cymunedol Y Ddderwen.  To ensure that this change in role did not impact on standards in Bryntirion, a new leadership structure was developed.  This enabled senior leaders at Bryntirion to take on enhanced leadership roles in the absence of the headteacher and to develop further the skills gained through training and modelling.  A distributive model was created, which provided opportunity for wider leadership development. 

As Bryntirion Comprehensive School has progressed on its improvement journey, an effective learning community has been established with a culture of sharing and striving to improve key areas of performance.  Systematic quality improvement arrangements have contributed well to strengthening provision, and levels of accountability are clear and robust.  This culture and approach have been mirrored successfully in Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen during the last 18 months, with well-designed and effective leadership and quality assurance processes. 

How have you shared your good practice?

In September 2015, the headteacher was asked to lead an additional school, Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen, following a period of significant instability.  The school was placed in special measures following inspection and required rapid and sustained improvement.

Many of the principles of strong leadership and effective succession planning behind the success at Bryntirion were implemented at Coleg Cymunedol Y Ddderwen.  These included a senior leadership re-structure, and establishing a new leadership team with greater clarity regarding roles, responsibilities and lines of accountability.  Line management procedures were clarified, with fortnightly link meetings and daily senior leadership ‘catch-up’ sessions.  Professional development for middle and senior leaders was established as a priority and all leadership development focused on improving quality and meeting the recommendations from the core inspection.  In particular, the focus on high quality outcomes, developing teaching and learning, self-evaluation and improvement planning, curriculum development and improving literacy and numeracy remained important factors for achieving and maintaining momentum for school improvement.  The extended leadership team provided clear succession planning arrangements and enabled strong middle leaders to gain valuable experience at senior leadership level. 

Good practice and strong leadership were shared across both schools.  This included, for example, a two-year secondment of a head of science to the Coleg from Bryntirion, and collaboration between senior and middle leaders in such key areas as:
• assessment
• the intelligent use of data
• curriculum planning
• additional learning needs
• teaching and learning
• literacy and numeracy
• provision for NQTs

In addition, shared governance arrangements helped greatly in developing a strong working relationship between the chairs and vice chairs of both schools.  Essential to the success of the collaboration was the underpinning principle that staff from both schools are equal partners.

A new governing body standards sub-committee and a revised accelerated improvement board also contributed to improvements in levels of accountability and leadership development.  Senior leaders were regularly invited to present on key areas of responsibility.  The chair of governors also conducted regular standards reviews in conjunction with the executive headteacher and head of school.  The appointment of the vice chair of governors at Bryntirion as consultant governor to the Coleg further strengthened the experience and impact of the governing body.

This practice has been shared across the two schools and through local and regional partnerships.

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

In October 2016, Bryntirion Comprehensive was inspected and judged to be ‘excellent for current performance and ‘excellent’ for prospects for improvement.  Leadership was judged as ‘excellent’ and the report referred to ‘exceptional strategic leadership’.  Outcomes at Bryntirion are outstanding, with performance at key stage 4 in the highest quartile for all indicators. 

Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen was removed from special measures in June 2017.  School performance now compares favourably with that of similar schools, and the rapid improvement in all areas of the school is well recognised.  The school has moved from standards group 4 to 2 in national categorisation within an 18-month period.  The most recent Estyn visit stated that strong progress had been made in improving leadership at all levels, improving curriculum arrangements, teaching and learning, care, support and guidance, and self-evaluation and improvement planning.

In terms of leadership development, opportunities provided have enabled senior leaders in both schools to develop and enhance their skills, knowledge and experience of leading at a strategic level.  Most recently, two senior leaders have been successful in gaining headships elsewhere and other senior leaders have been promoted to new, more senior, roles.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

 
Ysgol San Siôr is a voluntary aided Church in Wales primary school in Llandudno, North Wales.  There are currently 245 pupils on roll.  There are pupils representing 15 nationalities in the school, with 17% of its population described as non-White British and around 23% as having English as an additional language.  A few of the school’s pupils are eligible for free school meals. 

Ysgol San Siôr provides a stimulating and challenging curriculum that empowers pupils to think for themselves and to exceed their expectations.  An understanding of the limitations of the classroom as a learning environment and the opportunities that the wider environment holds is a core principle that directs the school’s provision well.

The surroundings provide a rich and diverse learning environment that complements the work of the indoor classroom.  The school goldfish has been replaced by chameleons, chickens, tortoises, monitor lizards, geckos of every variety and exotic frogs, the size of saucers.  Staff aim to equip all pupils with the skills and knowledge to allow them to become responsible and active citizens as they proceed onto the next stage of their education.

The school aims to provide pupils with as many first-hand experiences as possible and believes that the use of the natural world as a resource is a key factor in maintaining core academic standards where pupils take pride in the world around them and develop a love of learning.  The school won the Welsh Government Best Primary Enterprise Award for the innovative ‘Wyau San Siôr’ enterprise.  Alongside the development of a creative curriculum that fosters more independent learning, Ysgol San Siôr also recognises the need to provide more direct teaching approaches to support learners identified as in need of additional support.  For example, the school uses evidence-based reading and numeracy interventions. 

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Many schools now keep chickens and animals in an effort to enrich the curriculum.  Ysgol San Siôr started in much the same way as other schools, keeping six chickens and collecting their eggs.  Staff then saw an educational and commercial opportunity that had not previously been exploited.  They also recognised the need to expand the school’s learning environment in a way that allowed pupils to expand and improve their literacy and numeracy skills through more relevant, contextualised tasks. 

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The school now produces over 20,000 eggs annually and states that it is the only school in Wales that can sell eggs to retail establishments.  The school is registered as a packing station and stamps each egg with a unique code allowing sales to retail outlets, following approval from Regulatory Services and Animal Health & Veterinary Laboratories Agency. 

The ‘farm school’ element challenges the children’s entrepreneurial skills effectively through the links established with a local Welsh food centre as an outlet to selling the school eggs as well as other outlets.  The school has also developed further business links with a joinery firm who supplies bedding in exchange for eggs.  This highly innovative project means that the school is not only recognised as a school that can sell eggs via retail outlets, but it has also won the accolade of Best Primary Enterprise by the Welsh Government Enterprise Troopers Scheme.  This has led to national recognition with appearances on BBC Countryfile, S4C, ITV Wales and other national programmes. 

Themed weeks allow full participation by all year groups, not only in collecting eggs and maintaining the coops but also in raising standards.  Staff plan activities across each area of the curriculum that are drawn from inspiration activities such as from Roald Dahl’s book ‘Danny Champion of the World’.  They include creative writing on how to catch a chicken; inputting data into ‘income / expenditure spreadsheets’ and calculating profits; determining the loudness of the ‘nuisance cockerel’ using data loggers to measure decibels and how likely it is to affect the local community; whilst also writing across a range of genres.  Embedding such activities into themed weeks has added great value to the work associated with keeping hens, and has been instrumental in the maintenance of high standards in pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills. 

The school has invested profits into similar projects, such as establishing an apiary on the school site.  In turn, it has used revenue from its honey harvest and egg sales to pay for reading dens and outdoor play equipment as well as extending the apiary.  The school council has a voice in deciding how the school should use its profits.  It has to be remembered that, in order to establish the farm, the school had to look at other ways of generating income.  It did this by dispensing with two 1,100 litre bins in preference for recycling bins.  This shift towards improving recycling generated sufficient funds to allow the school to develop the farm element in the first place. 

The eggs from the flock of 50 ornamental golden pheasants are also marketed and sold on eBay and the school hatch a percentage of the eggs each year to sustain the breeding flock. 

An orchard set up on the school field and vegetable plots allow the school to harvest fruit and vegetables to make chutney.  A detailed Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) has allowed the school to manufacture and sell the school chutney; while the school Nurture Group uses the fruit and vegetables grown in the school’s polytunnel and vegetable plots in exciting ways that raises their self-esteem and confidence. 

Each week the school timetables different classes to oversee the duties associated with running the ‘farm’ element of the school.  They link activities to the curriculum to raise pupils’ standards in a variety of ways. 

The entrepreneurial aspects of San Siôr are a fairly new development, proven to be popular, whereby children offer workshops to other schools, based on adaptation, ecology and conservation.  The quality of these workshops has been compared with similar commercial workshops to ensure value for money.  The school requires that pupils are to research and present their findings in vibrant ways to catch the interest of the audience, from holding a chameleon as it shoots out its elastic tongue to describing a common creature with more teeth than great white shark, but only one foot!  Pupils’ internet research skills have improved in line with their thirst for information. 

Reinvesting funds into like-minded projects has been a central philosophy to the projects undertaken at the school.  While the school is in its infancy with bee keeping, staff have increased the hives from one hive two years ago to seven hives today.  One of the hives has a camera that relays images of the bee hive activity to a screen in the school foyer.  The educational value of keeping bees is tremendous and will be developed further, while the commercial value has already been fully realised, with all honey sold within days of each honey harvest, at Wales’ oldest Honey Fair in Conwy.  The school will further investigate how bees can be used to raise standards across the curriculum in the future. 

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

This work has enabled teachers to plan a relevant and engaging curriculum that meets the needs of all learners.  Teachers have ensured that the school’s rich learning environment is used effectively to provide challenging contexts to develop pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills.  Pupils now confidently apply a range of numeracy and literacy skills to a very good standard across the curriculum.  Pupils’ oracy skills and, in particular, their confidence in presenting to a wide range of audiences have improved significantly over recent years. . Pupils also have a very good understanding of entrepreneurial work, including key aspects such as profit and loss and simple accounting. 

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared this work through appearing on national and local television, BBC Countryfile, ITV News, CBeebies, S4C Ffermio, BBC Radio and local radio.  Following from this publicity, schools from across the United Kingdom have contacted it for advice and to make visits to see the work in action.  John Moores University now arranges annual visits with 40 students to see first-hand how the learning environment can impact on standards and have included the school as a case study for their next publication, “Understanding Sustainability in the Early Years across the UK”. 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the School

Ysgol y Preseli is a designated bilingual comprehensive community school for pupils aged 11-18.  The school is maintained by Pembrokeshire local authority.  It has 906 pupils with 162 in the sixth form.  The school is located in the village of Crymych in the north of the county and it serves an extensive rural catchment area that includes the towns of Haverfordwest, Pembroke and Tenby.  In general, pupils come from areas that are neither prosperous nor economically disadvantaged.  Four point nine per cent (4.9%) of pupils are eligible for free school meals. A minority of pupils (approximately 43%) are from families where Welsh is spoken in the home and almost all pupils speak Welsh fluently.  All pupils are taught through the medium of Welsh.  The school admits pupils from the full range of ability.  Twenty-one per cent of pupils are on the school’s additional learning needs register, and 1% 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 proceed with developments relating to the curriculum and professional learning.

Context and background to sector-leading practice?

Ysgol y Preseli has been delivering the Baccalaureate to all pupils in key stages 4 and 5 since 2005.  Baccalaureate results are excellent.  In 2016, the Baccalaureate was rated for the second year.  Eighty-nine per cent (89%) of the cohort succeeded in gaining an Advanced Diploma and 100% of registered pupils.  The A*-A success rate was 51%, and the A*-C success rate was 100%.  The 2007-2016 Legacy Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification success rate was excellent.  In terms of outcomes, the Baccalaureate’s success in key stage 4 and key stage 5 has placed the school in the vanguard in Wales.

The Baccalaureate Co-ordinator is a member of the Management Team.  The revised Baccalaureate provides an opportunity for the school to develop a new approach to delivering the challenges of the Skills Challenge Certificate.  The Baccalaureate Co-ordinator is responsible for leading key stage 4 and key stage 5 teams.  In 2016, co-ordinators were appointed for each challenge, making use of their expertise to draw up a stimulating and inspiring programme of learning and teaching.  The school considers this to be an effective method of allocating responsibilities and nurturing expertise in the various challenges.  The Co-ordinator produces an annual Self-evaluation and Departmental Improvement Plan.

Description of nature of strategy or activity?

The Co-ordinator and the Challenge Co-ordinators are responsible for preparing challenging and appropriate schemes of work, which develop rationally from contextual knowledge.  The department is committed to providing interesting, challenging and stimulating learning experiences, for example the #MENTRO17 Enterprise Conference.  The conference provided an opportunity for pupils to work as a team, to solve problems and to think creatively before going on to receive advice and support from successful local business people and entrepreneurs.  Emphasis was placed on developing employability and innovation skills.

The school provides information about all available career opportunities and offers impartial guidance to help pupils choose the correct pathway.  The school recognises the inclusion of the Baccalaureate and the Skills Challenge Certificate as an integral part of the school’s Careers and World of Work programme.  Pupils receive high-quality guidance and advice on their career learning pathway, for example the Paving the Way Conference for Year 11, the Seren Network Conference and the Future Pathways Evening for Years 11 and 12.

Skills Challenge Certificate challenges nurture the necessary skills to succeed in employment.  In order to enrich provision for pupils as it delivers an innovative programme of learning, the department has forged direct links with local businesses and entrepreneurs.  The department uses input and advice from entrepreneurs when structuring and implementing provision, ensuring that schemes of work, activities and feedback are fit for purpose, not just in meeting the challenges’ requirements but also in preparing pupils for a future career path.

In order to meet the needs of the Community Challenge, the school has developed constructive and exciting partnerships with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and with the Paul Sartori Foundation.

Nurturing pupils’ digital skills is a priority for both the school and the department.  The ‘Bring Your Own Device’ scheme is used in Years 10 to 13 to enrich digital experiences.  The department takes advantage of the latest digital developments to enhance pupils’ personal effectiveness and to prepare them for the demands of future employment.  There is evidence that the department uses Facebook, Show My Homework, Hwb and Twitter effectively to communicate with homes in order to raise parents’ awareness of the qualification’s relevance.

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

Close co-operation between the school and businesses and entrepreneurs gives pupils a key insight into employment.  The programme of learning and teaching goes beyond meeting the qualification’s requirements and enriches pupils’ understanding of what lies ahead of them as they venture into further education, higher education and employment.  By providing opportunities for pupils to learn about successful entrepreneurs’ experiences, successes and mistakes, pupils are equipped to be innovative, to think creatively and to take risks, as required by Skills Challenge Certificate challenges.

How have you shared your good practice?

Resources are often shared with other schools on request as a means of sharing good practice.  The department works closely and constructively with Pembrokeshire schools and Welsh-medium schools in the region to ensure quality and to strengthen assessment processes.  The department’s resources are hosted on Hwb+.  Relevant stakeholders are invited to visit or participate in events such as the #Mentro17 Conference.  All activities are publicised via the school’s Facebook page.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Gymraeg Casnewydd is situated in the Ringland area of Newport.  It provides education for pupils between 3 and 11 years old.  There are 353 pupils on roll, including 52 nursery-age children.  Welsh is the school’s everyday language and the main medium of teaching and learning.  English is taught formally in key stage 2.

Approximately 2% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes.  A little over 18% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, and 20% are on the additional learning needs register.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

The school acknowledges that use of creative strategies engages all pupils’ interest and leads to high standards in terms of attainment across the school. 

Description of the nature of the strategy or activity

The staff weave a combination of creative strategies skilfully into planning and teaching across the school.  They nurture and promote pupils’ thinking skills effectively by using activities based on the philosophy for children.  This challenges their metacognition and allows them to question, discuss and write about intense experiences maturely and very fluently.  By combining the use of improvised drama strategies, creativity is promoted in all areas of learning.  This combination stimulates pupils’ appetite to write to a very high standard.  

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

At the end of key stages, teachers’ assessments show that pupils’ standard of attainment at the higher outcome in the Foundation Phase and the higher level in key stage 2 is consistently higher than the figure for Wales. 

In comparison with similar schools, pupils’ attainment in Welsh literacy in the Foundation Phase places the school in the top 25% for the second year in succession.  In key stage 2, attainment in Welsh and English has continued to place the school in the top 25% for the last five years. 

During the last inspection, Estyn identified that the school’s practice in terms of writing at the higher levels, and across the curriculum, is extremely effective.

The report acknowledges that:
• most pupils make very good progress from their starting points and apply their skills in a variety of writing genres very successfully
• writing skills are consistently good across the key stages and place the school in the top quartiles for the higher levels
• most pupils apply their literacy skills effectively in both languages and, by the end of key stage 2, write purposefully, interestingly and in a way that engages the reader
• pupils’ attitude towards learning is exceptional, and nearly all pupils show an interest in their tasks and work diligently for extended periods of time

How have you shared your good practice?

• Providing training on Philosophy for Children across south Wales during the time of the Newport Literacy Advisor (2010) 
• Training Welsh and English-medium teachers in Gwe schools (2016)
• A presentation on the principles of using drama to stimulate literacy (EAS conference 2015)
• Led a literacy session in the WJEC’s national conference
• As a Professional Learning School, newly-qualified teachers observe the good practice as part of their training   
• Training in Welsh-medium schools outside EAS (2017)

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Greenfield School is a special school maintained by Merthyr Tydfil local authority.  There are 178 pupils on roll aged from 3 to 19.  All pupils have statements of special educational needs for severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties, autistic spectrum disorder or social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.
The headteacher and the senior leadership team have been in post since September 2014. 

Context and background to sector-leading practice

The headteacher and the senior leadership team have a clear strategic direction for the school and provide pupils with positive and high quality learning experiences.  They promote a culture of high aspirations and expectations for all staff and pupils.  Senior leaders embraced the challenge to improve pupils’ Welsh language development and encourage the regular use of the language.  These ambitious improvements became strategic priorities for the staff and governors of the school.

Nature of the strategy or activity identified as sector leading practice

The starting point for planning these improvements was the outcomes of the school’s own quality assurance processes.  These processes highlighted the need for a change of culture, full staff buy-in and increased staff confidence if the school was to achieve its ambitious targets.  As a result, over the last three years, the school has placed particular emphasis on extending the opportunities for staff and pupils to learn Welsh, to use their Welsh language skills confidently and proudly around the school and to promote worthwhile opportunities to learn about the culture and heritage of Wales.

Culture and ethos

Leaders at all levels at Greenfield School promote a highly inclusive and caring community that values and supports all of its pupils and staff.  The school motto ‘opening doors to the future’ permeates through all aspects of its work successfully.  Leaders have developed a positive culture of continuous improvement throughout the school and the attitude towards the Welsh language is outstanding.
 
All staff have a thorough understanding of the school’s strategic direction and values in relation to Welsh language development and reflect these well through their own work.  This helps to promote the very positive ethos at the school and contributes to extensive progress that nearly all pupils make in their Welsh language skills in relation to their needs, abilities and starting points.

Staff training and support

The school’s highly effective and well-established quality assurance and performance management arrangements enable senior leaders to identify individual and whole school professional development needs well.  These link well with the school improvement plan and the professional development opportunities on offer for all staff, including the wide range of support staff working within the school.  Welsh language training is tailored to the needs of the school and the individuals.  The school invested heavily in initial whole school training to introduce basic Welsh words and phrases.  Staff were supported to attend further courses to develop their confidence and improve the quality of spoken Welsh around the school.  There are highly valued mentoring and coaching arrangements in place for all staff, including supply staff.  As a result, staff practise their Welsh language confidently with colleagues and pupils. 

Teaching and assessment

At Greenfield School, no pupils are disapplied from Welsh.  Teachers plan interesting and engaging tasks in lessons that are well matched to pupils’ needs, abilities and starting points.  There are extensive opportunities for pupils to practise their Welsh skills in lessons and around the school. 

To develop pupils’ Welsh language skills further, the school recognised the need to track pupils’ progress in Welsh more effectively.  As a result, staff are developing a robust data tracking system to monitor the small steps of progress they make over time.  This innovative system is used well by staff to plan for progression and provide sufficient challenge, particularly for the more able pupils.  Staff and pupils, where appropriate, set aspirational targets for improvements in Welsh and these are monitored effectively by senior leaders as part of the quality assurance cycle.  Robust procedures for tracking pupil progress have enabled the senior leadership team to identify continuously the professional development needs of all staff.  This supports staff to deliver suitably challenging lessons that meet the wide range of needs within the school. 

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

The values and identified priorities have helped create a positive culture and ethos at the school.  Nearly all pupils make strong progress in their learning from their starting points and in relation to their individual needs and abilities. 

Nearly all pupils make extensive progress in their Welsh language skills in relation to their needs, abilities and starting points.  They recognise and use Welsh words confidently to greet staff, visitors and each other.  A minority of pupils use a wide range of phrases to describe their feelings, talk about what they are learning and find out information about visitors.  A few pupils can extend on their answers and ask probing questions in Welsh confidently.  Pupils use their Welsh language skills confidently and proudly around the school.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Oakleigh House School was established in 1919 and has been owned by the international schools group, Cognita, since 2007.  Oakleigh House is situated in the Uplands area of Swansea and offers independent education to boys and girls from the age of 2½ to 11 years.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

As a non-selective school, Oakleigh House recognises that they have children of a wide ability range but the school expects all pupils to aim high and achieve their very best.  The school believes that all children should aim to achieve things that they never expected.  Whatever their starting point, children are encouraged to reach their targets and ‘a little bit more’.  The school has adopted, and adapted, a growth mindset approach, based on the belief that intelligence can grow and develop over time.

The school aims to ensure that the strategies they employ to support their pupils’ learning are appropriate for all children regardless of their ability.  These strategies are designed to develop children’s learning skills, including reasoning, risk taking, resilience and perseverance, as well as widening their use and understanding of vocabulary and general knowledge of the world around them.  The school offers the same support and encouragement to all pupils and works to ensure that ‘our practice and provision is suited to the needs of all’.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

As part of the school’s work towards achieving the ‘NACE Cymru Challenge Award’, the staff were introduced to the work of Carol Dweck (2012) and the concept of the growth mindset.  They explored the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset and were encouraged to consider how they could influence the way the pupils thought of themselves; in particular, to think about how to open pupils’ minds to believe in themselves and be prepared always to ‘have a go’.  The aim was to help staff to identify ways in which they could encourage the pupils to become more resilient when faced with a challenge, to understand that we learn from our mistakes, and to become more independent in all aspects of their learning. 

The school wanted pupils to realise that each step in their learning was part of a bigger goal and not the goal itself.  Rather than focusing challenge activities only towards the more able pupils, the school ethos changed to promote ‘challenge for all’ – the belief that with a growth mindset all pupils can achieve more than they expect of themselves.

The pupils were taught to be flexible when they approached a task or an aspect that they found challenging, by staff encouraging them to find a solution independently before asking the teacher for help.  Often, staff use the ‘6Bs’ approach created in different forms, founded on Dweck’s work,  such as:
• Be Brave: don’t let a lack of confidence hold you back
• Be Still: stop and have a think, sometimes the solution will come to you
• Ask a Buddy, can a buddy explain it to you more clearly?
• Backtrack: have a look at the learning intention or success criteria, or look back at previous work
• Bits and Bobs: remember to use the resources or tools in the classroom to help you
• Ask the Boss: if you have explored all the other options and you are still stuck, then it is time to ask an adult for help’

Pupils were encouraged to use the positive language of growth mindset in all activities in class, around school and in everyday life, and the younger pupils were encouraged to say ‘I can do it’ before an activity.  Staff reinforced this philosophy through the developmental language they used when marking and giving feedback, praising pupils for showing initiative, seeing a tricky task through and acting on advice and suggestions on how they could improve.

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

As part of regular feedback from pupils on the quality of teaching, pupils have reported a change in their attitudes to school and themselves.  Pupils have reported that they have been allowed to take control of their own learning and are less concerned about making mistakes.  They enjoy exploring open-ended tasks and thrive when they show their peers and the teacher what they are capable of, what they know and how they know.  During lessons, pupils remind each other of the 6Bs and other strategies that they can employ to help themselves succeed.  They believe that they take on challenges more, and are open to taking on responsibilities and lead roles in group activities, which they may not have considered before.

Staff report that they have become more ‘flexible and agile’ in their teaching and in their expectations of pupils’ outcomes: ‘there is no limit to what any pupil can achieve’.  Staff have developed their own practice to provide pupils with valuable opportunities to apply and develop their independent learning skills.  For example, in addition to challenge activities in the curriculum, staff have actively sought other opportunities for pupils that open their minds to challenge, such as puzzle days and an Olympic torch challenge workshop.  Often, in these activities, pupils who were normally reserved or reluctant to participate are now demonstrating the confidence to become involved and take on leadership roles.  Staff have then been able to encourage these pupils to apply the same confidence to their classroom learning.

The school achieved its ‘NACE Cymru Challenge Award’ in September 2016.  The Award report acknowledged that the school provided “learning experiences which have a strong focus on thinking and problem solving”.  The report recognised that the teachers employ “well developed open ended questioning techniques which challenge and stimulate thinking and curiosity” and that “learners are valued and feel safe to take risk without the fear of failure”.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared its practice with other schools within the Cognita group both nationally and in Europe.

Dweck Carol (2012) Mindset: how you can fulfil your potential. London, Robinson

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Parcyrhun C.P School is situated on the outskirts of the town of Ammanford in Carmarthenshire. The school has a Welsh language stream and an English stream, and both languages are used in the school’s day-to-day life.  The school has a special unit for pupils with hearing impairments.  There are currently 196 pupils on roll.  They are divided into eight mixed-age classes.

Just over 25% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.  Forty-two per cent (42%) of pupils have additional learning needs, including 12 pupils who are registered at the special unit. Six per cent (6%) of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes, and 8% of pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The headteacher has been in post since January 2009.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Leaders have high expectations for raising standards by ensuring that teachers provide education of the highest standard.  The school’s aim is to develop an ethos of excellent teaching that will enable pupils to develop their literacy skills successfully.  By implementing robust self-evaluation procedures, the need was identified to develop these skills by taking advantage of every opportunity to develop literacy across the curriculum.  Providing excellent teaching is the foundation of the school’s mindset, and the school has succeeded in creating an open ethos of monitoring, evaluation and reflection in order to implement that vision.

A description of the nature of the strategy or activity

Effective procedures have been established, which include joint planning, evaluation and reflection on teaching practice among teachers.  While planning to deliver the Literacy and Numeracy Framework, an emphasis was placed on developing purposeful resources by creating games and original resources to provide regular opportunities to develop pupils’ skills.

The aim while devising these games was to:

• raise pupils’ standards of literacy across the curriculum
• take advantage of every opportunity to raise standards of literacy
• ignite pupils’ curiosity and enjoyment when learning
• develop teachers to become excellent practitioners

The school succeeded in creating fun and stimulating games that skilfully interweave opportunities for pupils to practice their oral, reading and writing skills on a daily basis.  The games develop according to the pupils’ age and ability, from the nursery class up to Year 6, where the resource is used to target higher order reading skills.  These games are now a routine part of daily learning and have developed in terms of quality and form.  Teachers in both streams work together and share resources, and they refine the games according to the requirements of the task, the specific skills to be developed, and the level of challenge. 

In addition to monitoring by members of the senior management team, teachers have been given regular opportunities to monitor learning and each other’s work.  Results of formal and informal monitoring have been discussed in staff meetings, and good practice, effective resources and original ideas are shared by all.  A bank of differentiated games has been created over time, which develop pupils’ literacy skills effectively.

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

By developing and using the various language games over a period of time, a positive effect can be seen on a number of aspects.  The school considers that pupils have made excellent progress in terms of their outcomes, and all pupils have excellent literacy skills which, as a result, ensure full access to the curriculum. 
The games succeed in engaging pupils’ interest and creating a positive attitude towards learning, and a happy and stimulating ethos on the classroom floor.  Games are often delivered by support staff, who take advantage of every opportunity to extend pupils’ skills within a specific task.  The school’s pupils are now completely familiar with the requirements of the literacy games and are able to play them independently.  An additional effect is the extremely positive development that has been seen in pupils’ independent, co-operative and concentration skills.

How have you shared your good practice?

Ysgol Parcyrhun has been identified as a Professional Learning School, and has been invited to share excellent practice by writing a case study for the Professional Learning Schools network of the ERW regional consortium.  In addition, the challenge adviser has identified excellent practice in the school in terms of teaching and learning.  An exemplar video was created for the ERW website in order to share excellent learning and promote staff development across the region.  Several schools across the region have visited the school to this end. 

The school has already shared its vision in terms of raising standards of literacy and excellence in teaching by addressing staff at a training event for Foundation Phase co-ordinators in Carmarthenshire, which was organised by local authority officers.  The school expects to continue to develop and share its good practice with other schools. 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Pencae is situated in the suburb of Llandaff in the city of Cardiff, and the catchment area serves pupils from the western area of the capital city.

The school’s numbers are consistent, with 210 pupils at the school from the Reception class up to Year 6.  A number of Welsh-medium and non Welsh-medium nurseries transfer children to the school for the Reception class as the school has no nursery provision. 

Over the last three years, approximately 2.5% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals, which is significantly lower than the average for Wales.  Sixteen per cent (16%) of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes, and the remainder of the pupils come from homes in which either one or neither parent speaks Welsh. 

Approximately 11.5% of pupils are on the additional learning needs register, and approximately 2% are from ethnic minority backgrounds. 

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Pupils’ bilingual and multilingual skills are developed effectively as they are immersed in the Welsh language in the Reception class.  This gives them a firm foundation to be able to communicate and apply their linguistic skills in more than one language later while at the school, for example French and Mandarin.

Description and nature of the strategy or activity

Advantage is taken of every opportunity to promote pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the importance of appreciating and respecting the languages, cultures and traditions of other countries by conducting specific activities throughout the academic year, for example within international days and weeks.  Languages are taught through simple activities that promote occasional use of language frequently.  An effective example of this is when two students from a university in the Basque Country visit the school annually for half a term in order to investigate procedures for teaching and learning a language in a school whose medium of instruction is a European minority language.  Advantage is taken of this opportunity to promote the Basque language as they teach pupils for short periods each week during this half term.  Pupils benefit greatly from this experience, not only by communicating in more than one language, but also by developing their translanguaging skills in a language other than Welsh or English.

This is developed further by a teacher within the school teaching French to pupils between Year 3 and Year 5 for specific periods every fortnight.  Parents join with members of the wider community at the school to hold a French club each week, and share direct experiences with pupils about being born and raised in France.  Different aspects are earmarked, for example fruit and vegetables, school and interests, in order to enrich pupils’ experiences further.

As part of the transition activity with the secondary school, all primary schools invest in specific provision by employing a specialist language teacher to teach French for an hour a week in all primary schools that feed into the secondary school.  The result is that there is consistency in the secondary school pupils’ standards of French in Year 7, and it is also a medium to promote modern foreign languages for the future. 

The school has developed a robust partnership over time with the Confucius Department at Cardiff University.  As a result of this, a Mandarin teacher, who was born in China, teaches Year 5 pupils for an hour a week, in addition to holding a Mandarin Club for more able and talented pupils in Years 5 and 6 for half an hour each week.  Initially, pupils’ oral skills are developed through a variety of fun activities, for example singing songs and taking part in language games in order to immerse children in the language.  Following this, listening activities are conducted in order to develop pupils’ reading and writing skills.  Pupils decode Mandarin symbols confidently in order to read letters and simple words initially, before reading simple phrases and sentences in contexts that are of interest to pupils, for example school, and farm animals.  The aim of all of this is to develop pupils’ curiosity towards foreign languages and foster the skill of being able to communicate with increasing confidence in a language other than Welsh or English.

Pupils have recently sat the ‘Young Children’ Test’ in order to measure their progress in Mandarin.

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

All pupils speak Welsh and English very eloquently and attain consistently high standards, and the school’s older pupils communicate confidently in French and Mandarin.  The school considers that its more able and talented pupils make excellent progress in the variety of linguistic experiences that they receive both within the school and beyond and, as a result, they transfer to the secondary school with sound linguistic skills.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school takes advantage of every opportunity to promote pupils’ multilingual skills in the local community and beyond and, as a result, shares good practice inevitably.  The school has shared good practice, in addition to strategies and activities for teaching language, with other schools in the cluster and the consortium.  In addition, it is developing further partnerships with Cardiff University and beyond, by taking part actively in a case study with the Open University.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Pencae is situated in the suburb of Llandaff in the city of Cardiff, and the catchment area serves pupils from the western area of the capital city.

The school’s numbers are consistent, with 210 pupils at the school from the Reception class up to Year 6.  A number of Welsh-medium and non Welsh-medium nurseries transfer children to the school for the Reception class as the school has no nursery provision. 

Over the last three years, approximately 2.5% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals, which is significantly lower than the average for Wales.  Sixteen per cent (16%) of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes, and the remainder of the pupils come from homes in which either one or neither parent speaks Welsh. 

Approximately 11.5% of pupils are on the additional learning needs register, and approximately 2% are from ethnic minority backgrounds. 

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Ysgol Pencae has developed exciting partnerships with the local community to ensure that science is ‘funky’ and up-to-date for its pupils.  Practical science workshops are conducted weekly across the school.  A specialist visitor or borrowed scientific equipment will often have triggered these workshops.  By engaging with exciting partnerships in the community, learning experiences in science at Ysgol Pencae are rich, relevant and living.

It is an urban school that takes advantage of the opportunities that are available, in addition to playing a more proactive part in forging relationships within the community, including the school’s parents.

There are many rich opportunities in Cardiff to develop effective partnerships with educational, commercial and community organisations.  The school wanted to develop effective and sustainable partnerships to engage interest and enrich the science curriculum, in addition to engaging interest in careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) for girls in addition to boys.

Description and nature of the strategy or activity

When planning, teachers seek opportunities tirelessly to bring the subject to life for pupils.  It is believed that working with STEM specialists, who are passionate about their field, is an effective way of stimulating pupils’ interest and understanding.  At the beginning of each theme, the child’s voice is given a prominent place in planning, as staff think about suitable partnerships, in addition to pupils’ initial questions. 

The objectives of engagement are to: 
• take advantage of services that are available locally to enrich the curriculum
• ignite pupils’ enthusiasm while bringing science to life
• raise the subject’s profile within the school.

The school seeks different opportunities to develop new partnerships continuously.  Staff are always willing to forge a prosperous relationship with a very wide range of organisations.  Here is a glimpse of some of the activities that are in place as a result of this work at Ysgol Pencae:

External partnerships:
• Extra-curricular science clubs are held for all of the school’s pupils by a commercial company.
• PQSM Award www.PSQM.org.uk.  This is a scheme that develops and celebrates teaching and learning in primary science.  The school is aiming to receive the silver award as the co-ordinator monitors the subject within the school under the supervision of a specialist mentor. 
• The school has developed a valuable relationship with STEM ambassadors through cenhadon@gweld-gwyddoniaeth.co.uk.  The co-ordinator will occasionally attend Gweld Gwyddoniaeth training courses in order to gain new ideas for scientific investigations.  Year 6 pupils have also won Crest Discovery awards under the supervision of these ambassadors after showing, through a series of practical workshops, that they have developed their co-operation skills, in addition to their scientific knowledge.  The school has borrowed scientific equipment, such as solar cars, from them during the workshop on alternative energy. 
• The school took advantage of opportunities to invite shows by scientific companies and experts, such as the Dragon Show and Techniquest shows, to the school to inspire pupils.
• The school also arranges educational visits to broaden their scientific knowledge, such as to a local electricity power station.

Parents
• A group of enthusiastic parents, who are mathematicians and scientists, hold an after-school Science Club.  These clubs support the theme work that is done in the classroom by leading rich learning tasks, such as observing real animal organs.
• While studying rocks in Year 3, a parent at the school, who is a geologist, was invited to the class to talk about his work studying volcanoes.
• A parent who is a midwife came to speak with pupils in the Foundation Phase about the importance of hand hygiene.  They learnt how to wash their hands correctly, and had an opportunity to observe the cleanliness of their hands under an ultraviolet light.

Higher Education partnerships
• As part of its partnership with the Department of Biosciences at Cardiff University, a successful Science Fair was organised in the school hall for the school’s families.  Pupils from Ysgol Uwchradd Plasmawr were invited to hold display stalls.  Students from the university also prepared exhibitions to inspire the large number of children and parents who attended the fair.
• The school takes advantage of the expertise of its STEM Ambassador from the university’s Department of Biosciences, who also helps to broaden the scientific knowledge of pupils in Year 6.  They do so, for example, by conducting question and answer sessions at the beginning of the ‘Under the Skin’ theme, and explaining blood circulation before the workshop of the effect of exercise on the heart rate.  The Ambassador also shares specialist equipment, such as pulse monitors and voltage meters, with the school in order to conduct exciting workshops while practising the pupils’ measuring skills.
• Students from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine came to visit the school to conduct ‘Asthmatic Rescue’ workshops with older pupils.  Following this, pupils planned an investigation with narrow and wide drinking straws in order to test the information that was presented to them by the experts.
• Ysgol Pencae is part of the TAPS Cymru project, which is the Teacher Assessment in Primary Science.  This is a project that was established by Bath Spa University in 2013.  The project’s objectives are to develop a whole-school reliable assessment model for science.  This self-evaluation resource, which is a pyramid that is already available online, provides good ideas on assessing the subject.  Under the supervision of science tutors from Cardiff Metropolitan University, the school is gathering examples of assessment activities in order to produce a TAPS Cymru pyramid.

Primary school partnerships
The co-ordinator works closely with co-ordinators from local primary schools in order to share good practice and discuss current ideas.  Staff are trialling a resource that has been prepared by a local school in order to develop pupils’ self-assessment skills in their scientific skills.

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

The school believes that fostering partnerships within the community has contributed to:
• high standards in pupils’ scientific skills
• high levels of pupil engagement in scientific learning by bringing the subject to life and making it relevant to them
• strong rates of increase in the percentage of pupils who achieve level 5 at the end of key stage 2
• a notable increase in pupils’ interactive skills when working in a team to develop scientific investigations
• organising a successful Science Fair in the school hall to celebrate the success of various partnerships, by bringing them all together at the fair

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared good practice with other schools in the cluster and the consortium by conducting workshops and presentations for teachers on different aspect of teaching and learning in science.  In addition, it is developing further partnerships with the universities in Cardiff and Bath Spa University.  The school will also continue to take advantage of opportunities that are offered by organisations, such as Gweld Gwyddoniaeth, in order to enrich pupils’ experiences in this area. 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Presteigne Primary School is in the small county town of Presteigne, on the Welsh-English border in the Powys local authority.  Pupils attending the school come from the town and the surrounding rural areas.  There are 168 pupils, aged between three and eleven years on the school roll.  There are seven classes with those in the Foundation Phase being of mixed age. 

Context and background to sector-leading practice

Presteigne Primary School is a reflective and self-improving school.  It strives to improve teaching and learning, and to give pupils the best opportunities to achieve positive outcomes.  As a community school, serving a rural town, it is committed to developing partnerships with stakeholders and the local community; it has an extensive range of partnerships that support pupils’ learning and wellbeing successfully.  The school is pro-active in seeking out staff professional development opportunities at local cluster schools and at schools further afield where there is evidence of excellent practice.  The school has an identified  member of the senior management team who has responsibility for the development of partnerships.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Presteigne Primary School has developed highly effective partnerships that have led to the pupils achieving very good standards, outcomes and well-being.  The school has very active and effective pupil voice groups, which empower the pupils and enable them to contribute to developing the school. 

The school council has extended its understanding of democracy by the attendance of the town’s deputy mayor at school council meetings.  The deputy mayor leads discussions about the processes and protocols of town council meetings; this has resulted in pupils having a deeper understanding of the role of elected office.  This has supported the school’s vision of having purposeful pupil voice groups that have a noticeable impact on the quality of teaching, learning and wellbeing of the pupils. 

The school council also holds meetings with the local high school’s student council, thus developing joint project opportunities.  For example, all school council members (Foundation Phase to key stage 4) have completed surveys on the provision and facilities for children and young adults in the town.  They shared this information with the town council with the aim of securing future improvements. 

The school council leads ‘learning walks’ and ‘listening to learners’ activities.  Staff and the senior management team use the information gathered from doing this to identify priorities to improve teaching and learning.  For instance, the pupils identified aspects of information and communication technology (ICT) that the school could use to support elements of learning within lessons.  As a result, teachers now plan for the use of ICT in an increasingly creative and purposeful way.  The learning walks also identified strengths and areas to develop with regard to the pupils’ Welsh language skills and use of everyday Welsh.

The school is actively involved with ‘Dementia Friends’, an Alzheimer’s Society project.  All staff and governors have received ‘Dementia Awareness’ training from a facilitator.  This involved working through everyday tasks and considering the challenges that dementia sufferers face.  Children in upper key stage 2 have received training, and now participate in a range of school and community based activities, which develop dementia friendly communities such as villages, towns and cities where more people understand dementia, thus reducing fear and avoidance.  For example, a project has focused upon how senses, such as sound, can act as triggers for memories.  Pupils and sufferers have been learning songs from the different decades.  As a result, pupils at the school have an excellent understanding of how their contributions can support the wellbeing of others in their local community whose experiences are different from their own.

The school plans opportunities to develop family engagement on a termly basis.  The school runs open afternoons for parents and carers to visit and see the whole school at work.  It also invites parents and carers to have lunch with their children.  The school provides opportunities for parents and carers to visit their children’s classroom and work alongside their children and to forge close links with the teachers and support staff.  Staff invite family members to visit classrooms when they are delivering a specific aspect of the curriculum, such as Welsh, reading or ICT.  This strengthens family-school links whilst informing parents of classroom practices, standards and provision. 

Sharing best practice is a regular agenda item for staff meetings.  The school has also developed a peer support network, which enables staff to work alongside each other to observe and develop best practice.  To extend this, staff identify opportunities available in other schools that will develop aspects of standards, provision and wellbeing.  This has included staff and members of the senior management team visiting schools across the local authority, regional consortium and Wales.  Examples include visiting and observing best practice with regard to ICT and the Digital Competency Framework, marking, giving feedback, responding to pupils’ work, and developing numeracy by using rich tasks. 

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

• Pupil engagement and pupils’ interest in learning is high.  They demonstrate very positive attitudes to learning and engage well in lessons and in developing the whole school.  The pupils work positively when contributing to community-linked projects.  As a result, attendance has been very good over the past 3 years, and the school is in the top 25% when compared with similar schools. 
• Behaviour in lessons and around the school is exemplary.  Pupils are polite and show respect for adults and each other.  The school puts great emphasis on the value of the pupils’ ideas and contributions to whole school development.  The sense of shared ownership and responsibility has resulted in nearly all pupils becoming more self-governing and reflective with regard to their learning and wellbeing. 
• Parents and carers are developing a greater understanding of their children’s learning.  This has led to an increase in parents’ own confidence, skills and participation.  For example, 98% of parents regularly attend parents’ evenings and over 95% of parents regularly attend school events such as the annual Eisteddfod, St. David’s Day celebrations and school productions. 

How have you shared your good practice?

Presteigne Primary School has shared its practice with the partners involved.  Staff welcome the opportunity to share their experiences with other schools and contribute to the development of partnership working.