Sandycroft C.P. School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Pupils at Sandycroft CP School are very proud of their school and enjoy attending every day. They especially thrive in the extensive and well-developed outdoor areas, no matter what the weather.

Pupils feel safe and well cared for, and they trust that adults will always support them appropriately. During their time in school, many pupils, including those who are vulnerable and those with additional needs, make appropriate progress in most areas of learning and receive sensitive and highly effective support for their emotional well-being. Pupils themselves feel they make a difference through authentic opportunities to suggest ways to improve their school and to see their ideas realised.

Pupils' well-being is at the core of ...school organisation and staff work hard to ensure that the school is a thoughtful, inclusive and supportive environment for all pupils and for their families. Relationships across the school and community are strong. Many teachers are adept at finding interesting ways to engage pupils in their learning, particularly in the outdoors.

They are beginning to collaborate to consider how best to develop their professional knowledge and skills following an unsettling period during the Covid-19 pandemic. The care, support and guidance provided across the school community is exceptional and ensures that pupils are well prepared for learning and for life. Many pupils enter the school with literacy and numeracy skills below the expected level, with a few considerably below the expected level.

As pupils move through the school, they make sound progress in many aspects of learning including reading and digital skills, and in their understanding of mathematical concepts. They are beginning to transfer their skills across the curriculum, for example through their writing in the topics they study and the oldest children begin to demonstrate creativity in their work. However, they do not apply their learning in mathematics across the curriculum at the same level and their use of Welsh is underdeveloped.

Leaders, staff and pupils are continuing to develop their school curriculum to align with Curriculum for Wales and to reflect the environment and community in which they live. This includes improving teachers' understanding of how to design an effective curriculum and ensure that pupils build on their previous learning. Leaders regularly review the work of the school and there are suitable arrangements for evaluating the quality of school improvements.

However, monitoring activity does not always pick up on important areas of teaching and learning that need improving, such as how effectively teachers' planning and feedback helps pupils to improve their work and make the expected progress as they move through the school. Recommendations R1 Improve teachers' understanding of curriculum design and progression in learning so they can better plan to meet pupils' individual needs across the breadth of the curriculum R2 Focus improvement processes precisely on the aspects of teaching and learning that are most in need of improvement R3 Develop pupils' Welsh language skills and improve provision for numeracy across the curriculum 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 outdoor learning, for dissemination on Estyn's website.