The Greenhill School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Under the supportive leadership of the headteacher, staff at Ysgol Greenhill work together effectively to secure a happy and respectful learning community. Together they have developed a culture of openness and collaboration and share an ambitious goal to become a self-improving school. As a result, leaders have secured improvements in many important areas of the school's work, such as pupils' learning and attitudes and the provision of care and support for pupils' wellbeing.

Leaders seek pupils' views regularly on the quality and suitability of its provision and make changes accordingly. This includes amendments to pupils' learning experiences and to the provision for developing pupils' personal and social education. Overall, ther...e is a suitably coordinated approach to improving pupils' literacy, numeracy and digital skills, including support for pupils who have weak basic skills.

However, the provision for developing pupils' Welsh language skills and their understanding of the culture and heritage of Wales is limited. Many teachers plan their lessons well to ensure that pupils make good progress in their learning, subject knowledge and in developing relevant literacy and numeracy skills. Teaching assistants collaborate well with teachers to ensure that pupils who require support receive beneficial assistance as they work.

In a few cases, there are shortcomings in teachers' expectations of pupil achievement which means that they either over-manage tasks, give too much support or they do not plan activities that are challenging enough. This means that pupils, especially the more able, do not make as much progress as they could in lessons and over time. The school has a broad and valuable range of provisions to support pupils' well-being.

These include individual, tailored resource centres that provide learning, behavioural and emotional support as well as a nurture centre for pupils with low attendance. The school also hosts a local authority learning centre for pupils with autistic spectrum conditions. The additional learning needs team work relentlessly to ensure that pupils who access these provisions are supported purposefully to enable them to make progress in their learning and social skills.

Many pupils have positive attitudes towards school and their learning. They feel safe and value the friendly and supportive nature of staff. They settle swiftly in lessons and engage well in activities.

Pupils value the 'Ready to Learn' system which rewards positive behaviour and provides relevant support for any pupil who displays negative behaviour. Despite the school's persistence in promoting good attendance and the interventions it offers to pupils who continue to miss school, attendance rates have not improved well enough since the time of the pandemic. Sixth form pupils are strong ambassadors of the school.

They are friendly and polite towards visitors, conduct themselves well and are good role models for the younger pupils. Nearly all sixth form pupils say they are well supported to make progress in their academic, personal and social development. Many benefit well from valuable opportunities to lead and influence aspects of the school's work.

For example, senior prefects run the school's numerous pupil groups, house captains and deputy captains organise and manage house activities and trained peer mentors support younger pupils with their learning and social skills. Overall, sixth form pupils develop into mature, knowledgeable young people who speak highly of the valuable experiences they have had during their time at school. Recommendations R1 Improve attendance R2 Strengthen the provision for developing pupils' Welsh language skills and their understanding of the culture and heritage of Wales R3 Ensure that teaching provides sufficient challenge to ensure that all pupils make strong progress What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection.