A CHIRK primary school has received a positive Estyn report, but inspectors raised site safety issues during their visit.
The education and training inspectorate visited Wrexham Council school Ysgol Y Waun, on Lloyds Lane in December.
While no details have been elaborated on in the report about the safety issues that were raised, addressing health and safety concerns was one of three recommendations made by the inspectors going forward.
The report states: “Staff understand that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and know who to speak to if they have a safeguarding concern about a pupil. However, inspectors brought issues related to site safety to the attention of school leaders during the inspection.”
Inspectors were impressed by the teaching at the school and also praised its leadership too, particularly the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
“Teachers provide high quality lessons throughout the school”, the report said.
“They plan interesting and exciting activities that engage pupils well.
“For example, in Year 3 pupils are enthused when staff provide activities that encourage them to persuade others to recycle. Most teachers have a good subject knowledge and use a range of teaching strategies effectively to engage pupils’ interests. For example, a letter from a famous environmental activist motivates pupils in Year 1 to learn about ways to protect our planet.
“The headteacher provides calm leadership whilst developing open and honest working relationships with the whole learning community. This has enabled him to identify staff strengths and to build on them providing opportunities for staff to develop as leaders at all levels.
“The highly effective deputy head teacher supports the head teacher well. She provides robust challenge and support to staff and coaches them to improve their teaching skills effectively.”
Although inspectors would like to see more opportunities for learners to use their maths skills in real-life situations, they praised the high quality teaching and support they receive, along with the overall inclusiveness of the school.
The report adds: “Ysgol Y Waun is a caring and inclusive school at the heart of its community.
“Despite being across two separate sites, the school provides a collective family feel where all pupils and families are made to feel welcome.
“Nearly all pupils settle quickly to school life and make rapid progress in all areas of learning.
“Progress in literacy skills, particularly the development of writing skills, is very successful with most pupils writing exceptionally well by the time they leave the school. This is due to the high quality teaching and support pupils receive from all staff across the school.”
The following recommendations have been made by inspectors to the school for the future;
Address the health and safety concerns identified during the week of inspection.
Refine self-evaluation processes to ensure that school development planning and grant planning targets are well focused.
Improve provision to support pupils’ application of their numeracy skills across the curriculum and in real-life situations.
The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection. The report can be found in full on the Estyn website.
