Tylorstown Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

The headteacher at Tylorstown Primary School has developed an inclusive culture and pupils interact well with adults and each other. This culture of inclusivity helps pupils to build confidence and develop their self-esteem, whilst also respecting the views and feelings of others. Pupils are courteous and polite, and nearly all pupils' behaviour in class and around the school is excellent.

Staff encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own well-being and behaviour and this contributes effectively to their approach to school life. The youngest pupils begin to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding well. However, as they move through the school, the progress they make is inconsistent.

This means that too ...many pupils do not develop their skills well enough or make enough progress from their starting points. This has a negative impact on their work in other areas of the curriculum. Pupils with additional leaning needs (ALN) make good progress from their individual starting points.

Although the school is beginning to develop its curriculum to reflect the principles of Curriculum for Wales appropriately, progress is slow. Teachers use an increasing range of visits and visitors to enhance pupils' experiences and pupils respond positively to these. However, the school's curriculum does not offer opportunities for pupils to develop and use their skills in a cohesive and progressive manner.

The quality of teaching across the school is variable. Often, teachers' expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low and the pace of learning is too slow. Teachers regularly structure activities too tightly and guide pupils' learning too much.

This hampers pupils' capacity to become resilient, independent learners who can work things out for themselves. Teachers' feedback to pupils does not always help them to understand what they need to do to improve their work. Over time, leaders have not monitored the school's work robustly enough.

This means that they have not identified major shortcomings in the school's work or put in place actions to address them. Self-evaluation and improvement activities, as well as professional learning opportunities for staff, do not focus sufficiently well on improving the quality of teaching and learning. Members of the school's governing body are keen and enthusiastic but, they have been unable to provide effective support and challenge to the school due to an over-reliance of information from leaders about the quality of the school's work.

Recommendations R1 Develop leadership at all levels so that leaders have the necessary skills to bring about improvement R2 Ensure that evaluation processes focus on identifying the difference that teaching and learning experiences make to pupils' progress R3 Improve teaching and assessment R4 Improve pupils' learning experiences by developing a curriculum that meets their needs and enables them to develop their skills progressively What happens next In accordance with the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that special measures are required in relation to this school. The school will draw up an action plan to show how it is going to address the recommendations. Estyn will monitor the school's progress usually every four to six months.