Treorchy Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

The school has established a strong sense of community both within and outside the school. The sense of pride the pupils have for their heritage is deep rooted.

The homely and inclusive ethos supports pupils to develop positive attitudes to learning through a range of interesting experiences. The school provides the pupils with skills, develops their confidence and raises their aspirations so that they can 'believe, learn and grow' together. Pupils develop a wide range of strong mathematical, literacy and other skills as they progress through the school.

However, opportunities for pupils to apply their numeracy skills across the curriculum and to respond to teachers' feedback are underdeveloped. The pupils really enjoy com...ing to school. They love sharing their work and what they have achieved.

They collaborate very well with each other from a young age, for example whilst having 'breakfast' together in the home corner. Nearly all pupils show a mutual respect towards all adults and towards their peers. Overall, pupils' behaviour is very good across the school.

Most pupils make good progress from their starting points. They contribute well to a variety of groups and committees and share their ideas with enthusiasm about what they would like to change or improve in their school. The school is embracing the Curriculum for Wales well, and plans a range of authentic experiences successfully.

Many staff prepare their activities well, but, on occasions, there is a tendency to over direct the learning, which hinders the challenge for more able pupils and all pupils' ability to work independently. There are very strong working relationships between staff and this supports learning successfully. The headteacher, school leaders, staff and governors have placed well-being and the care, support and guidance of all pupils at the heart of school life.

The school has developed a highly successful partnership with parents through regular engagement activities, which supports the whole family. All staff develop their professional skills and knowledge together well, and this enables them to adapt provision to best meet individual pupils' needs. Recommendations R1 Ensure that teaching consistently provides opportunities to develop pupils' independent skills and challenges all pupils, particularly those who are more able R2 Develop the quality of feedback so pupils know how to improve their work R3 Ensure that pupils have sufficient opportunities to apply their numeracy skills in their work across the curriculum What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection.