A SECONDARY school hit by strike action over threats and violence from pupils has been found to be in need of “significant improvement”.
Caldicot School has been given a list of five recommendations, by education inspection service Estyn, to help it to “continue to improve”.
The 1,300 pupil school must address “shortcomings” in teaching, particularly how youngsters with “weaker skills” are supported and improve how pupils’ develop their skills.
The school has also been told to improve attendance, which lags behind other similar schools in Wales, as well as strengthen its strategic leadership and improve the strategic leadership of its provision for pupils with additional learning needs.
Inspectors, who visited the Monmouthshire school in October for the routine inspection, also said it must address the safeguarding issues they identified as “giving cause for concern” though they aren’t explicitly stated in the report that also highlighted the modern building’s “site security gives cause for concern”.
Teachers staged strike action in autumn 2023 as they said its then leadership had failed to take action over verbal abuse, and physical violence, from pupils towards them and other children.
In June 2024 a new acting headteacher, Alun Ebenezer, was appointed and immediately introduced a crackdown on uniform standards that included girls being sent home if skirts were deemed “too short”, leaving some in tears.
The inspection report found moral among teachers and behaviour of pupils has improved.
The report stated: “The acting headteacher has quickly changed the culture of the school to create a positive and caring environment where staff and pupils are valued members of the school community.
“The strong focus on improving staff well-being has meant that staff feel well supported and empowered to carry out their roles. In addition, many parents feel that recently communication has improved well. These parents, pupils and staff at the school support the acting headteacher’s drive for success.”
In September Mr Ebenzer said he had introduced “university style” classes of 60 selected pupils in years seven through to nine, due to a shortage of qualified maths teachers.
No direct mention of class sizes is made in the report but the inspectors highlighted concern at teaching standards and how pupils are supported, while recognising most teachers do a good job,
But the report found: “There is insufficient support for pupils with weaker literacy and numeracy skills.”
The school has completed an audit of skills but inspectors said how this will be used is in the early stages of development.
The inspectors found pupils in the Specialist Resource Base for those with complex needs aren’t making the progress they are capable of.
In May it was revealed Monmouthshire County Council had sent a “letter of concern” to the school over shortcomings in how it provides for pupils with additional learning needs.
The school is, with local primaries, developing its approach to the new curriculum for Wales which will overhaul how youngsters are taught, “in a sensible way” said inspectors.
Caldicot School must now put in place an action plan to address the five recommendations and Estyn will monitor progress in around a year’s time.
