St Gwladys Bargoed School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

St Gwladys is an inclusive and nurturing school where pupils feel valued and cared for.

There is an established culture of mutual respect. This is a strong feature that enables nearly all pupils to thrive, show resilience and embrace challenge within a positive working environment. The headteacher leads a team of dedicated staff who work collaboratively to develop pupil well-being and support them to be caring and successful learners.

Leaders and staff support the headteacher effectively and there is a strong sense of teamwork across the school. The school provides a well-developed curriculum that gives meaningful opportunities for nearly all pupils to develop resilience and experience challenge. Teachers ensure that lesso...ns are well planned and build on pupils previous learning.

They provide opportunities for nearly all pupils to work both independently and collaboratively. Very good use is made of the limited outdoor space, enabling all pupils to experience a wide range of high quality learning activities that promote the development of skills across the curriculum. This is a very strong feature in the early years.

The school provides effective support for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN). The governing body is supportive of the school and values the role the school plays in the local community. However, its role in challenging the school is not fully developed.

Pupils are proud of their school. They enjoy learning and speak with enthusiasm about their experiences and the roles they play as part of the school community. Parents appreciate the support and guidance they receive from the school.

They attend a range of activities that enable them to support pupils in their learning and well-being. The headteacher has been successful in developing a wide range of partnerships with other schools and organisations to improve curriculum delivery and professional development opportunities for all school staff. There is a suitably strong culture of safeguarding throughout the school.

However, during the inspection the team brought a few matters to the attention of school leaders, for example in relation to traffic management. Recommendations R1 Address the safeguarding issues identified by the team during the time of the inspection R2 Further develop the evaluation of pupils' learning, improvement work and grant spending 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 developing pupils' independence in the early years and how this continues as pupils move through the school, for dissemination on Estyn's website.