Hafod Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Hafod Primary School is a caring, inclusive school with pupils' well-being at its heart. The positive relationships between staff and pupils and among the pupils themselves are a strong feature of the school. Staff know pupils well and respond with sensitivity to their emotional and social needs.

This contributes greatly to their well-being and helps pupils to settle easily to school life. Most pupils make good progress from their starting points including those eligible for free school meals. Pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) including those in the learning support class (LSC) make effective progress from their individual starting points.

Teachers and support staff have a strong understanding of pupils' strength...s and areas for improvement. For instance, teachers regularly identify short term targets that help pupils understand how to achieve the next steps in their learning. They plan responsive activities that enable pupils to practise and develop the individual skills they are currently working on.

These approaches are successful in supporting pupils to make good progress. Leaders and staff are developing a broad and balanced curriculum that focuses well on developing pupils' skills progressively over time. Pupils across the school have suitable opportunities to contribute to their learning experiences by suggesting ideas for activities at the beginning of each theme.

However, overall, opportunities for pupils to make decisions about what and how they learn are at an early stage of development. Younger pupils and those in the LSC have a few opportunities to learn outdoors during lessons. However, outdoor areas are underdeveloped and, across the school, provision for outdoor learning is limited.

The school has a strong track record for making and sustaining improvement. This is particularly evident in the provision for pupil well-being and in the school's beneficial links with its families. The school has a strong culture of safeguarding and arrangements to keep pupils safe are effective.

Leaders strive to promote good pupil attendance. However, rates of attendance have not improved well enough over time, particularly for vulnerable pupils where absences have increased. Recommendations R1 Ensure that all pupils have regular worthwhile opportunities to make choices about what and how they learn R2 Provide effective opportunities for outdoor learning across the school R3 Improve attendance, particularly for vulnerable pupils What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection.