Ysgol Golwg Y Cwm

Highlights from Latest Inspection

The school has welcoming and supportive family ethos, which is maintained very effectively by all staff. They work together tirelessly to provide excellent care for pupils and their families.

The headteacher is a passionate and inspiring leader. She has a clear vision based on providing the best possible opportunities for all pupils within a kind and happy learning community. Governors, leaders and staff at all levels support this vision successfully.

This approach leads to confident, thoughtful pupils who trust the adults who care for them. Most pupils thrive and make good progress. This includes pupils that attend the specialist teaching facilities and those with additional learning needs (ALN).

A particularly s...trong feature of the school is the fact that pupils identified with ALN contribute successfully to the range of pupil groups such as the school council. Teachers collaborate successfully and ensure that the curriculum builds on pupils' knowledge skills and understanding over time. The curriculum is inclusive and is easily accessible to all, including those with additional needs, those who have English as an additional language or pupils who face socio-economic disadvantage.

The school provides effective opportunities for pupils to develop their Welsh oracy skills. Welsh is heard and used continuously throughout the day, and this supports pupils' positive attitude towards the language. Across most aspects of their learning pupils make good progress.

However, a few activities do not always provide opportunities for them to develop independence as well as they could. Leaders and staff work closely with a wide range of agencies to ensure excellent support and guidance for pupils and their families. The work of the family liaison officer is key in signposting families to agencies who may be able to provide support in different, often challenging circumstances.

Highly skilled teachers and support staff provide an extensive range of interventions designed to support pupils' emotional needs and help them deal with challenging situations. Recommendations R1 Refine provision to ensure that there are consistent opportunities for pupils to develop their independent learning skills What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection. Estyn will invite the school to prepare a case study on its work in relation to working in partnership with a range of agencies to support families and promote pupils' wellbeing, for dissemination on Estyn's website.