Ysgol Gynradd Beaumaris

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About Ysgol Gynradd Beaumaris


Name Ysgol Gynradd Beaumaris
Address Maeshyfryd, Beaumaris, LL58 8HL
Phone Number 01248 810451
Phase Nursery, Infants & Juniors
Gender Mixed
Number of Pupils 43 (32.6% boys 67.4% girls)
Number of Pupils per Teacher 11.8
Local Authority Isle of Anglesey
Highlights from Latest Inspection

Nearly all pupils enjoy school and take pride in it. They are confident that the school responds promptly to any concerns they may have. Nearly all pupils are polite and thoughtful, behave very well and treat their peers and visitors with respect and care.

This is a strong feature of the school. A close and supportive working relationship can be seen between staff and pupils. Teachers know the pupils well and, on the whole, provide them with appropriate support.

However, in the school's upper years, they have a tendency to over-direct learning, which limits pupils' independence. Teachers do not always have high enough expectations in terms of what pupils are able to achieve, particularly in developing their literacy and nu...meracy skills. In the school's lower years, staff plan a range of purposeful and stimulating activities that engage pupils' interest effectively.

However, across the school, teachers do not plan thoroughly enough to improve pupils' Welsh literacy skills, particularly their oral skills. This has a negative effect on pupils' ability to communicate in Welsh in formal and informal situations. In addition, in the school's upper years, teachers do not plan effectively enough to develop pupils' mathematics skills and provide regular opportunities for them to develop their skills across all areas of learning and experience.

As a result, pupils' numeracy skills are limited. With recent support from the regional consortium, leaders, including members of the governing body, are beginning to develop a suitable understanding of the school's main strengths and some areas for improvement. However, leaders have not monitored the school's work thoroughly enough or held staff to account for the quality of provision and pupils' outcomes.

Self-evaluation and planning for improvement processes have also failed to address important issues in provision, including recommendations from the previous inspection. Although leaders have begun to implement procedures, they are reliant on external support to act on priorities for improvement and monitor progress. Recommendations R1 Respond to the health and safety concerns relating to the school grounds R2 Develop the leadership responsibilities of members of staff and governors so that they act more strategically R3 Improve self-evaluation and planning for improvement processes to identify all the school's areas for improvement to raise standards and strengthen provision R4 Raise the standards of pupils' Welsh across the school, particularly their oral skills R5 Plan purposeful opportunities for pupils to develop their skills across the curriculum R6 Provide more opportunities for pupils to make decisions and take responsibility for their own learning in order to develop into independent learners What happens next In accordance with the Education Act 2005, His Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that special measures are required in relation to this school.

The school will draw up an action plan, which shows how it is going to address the recommendations. Estyn will monitor the school's progress, usually every four to six months. Main findings Learning On entry to the school, most pupils' Welsh literacy skills are lower than expected for their age.

Very few pupils speak Welsh on entry to the school. Most pupils, including those with additional learning needs (ALN) and those who are eligible for free school meals, make sound progress in their English literacy skills. However, many pupils do not develop their Welsh literacy and communication skills and their numeracy skills soundly enough by the end of their time at the school.

Across the school, most pupils listen to the contributions of others appropriately and for extended periods. Many respond suitably to each other's contributions and give meaningful attention to instructions from adults. Most of the youngest pupils recognise common Welsh language patterns suitably, for example when discussing the days of the week and describing the weather.

Although they enjoy talking while role-playing in the learning areas and during playtime and lunchtime, they do not use Welsh as part of their play. As they move through the school, most pupils' progress in their spoken Welsh skills is limited. They do not use the Welsh language enthusiastically, confidently or independently enough.

Most older pupils are able to discuss familiar topics maturely in English. They are happy to share their ideas and express an opinion, for example when discussing and comparing Wales to other countries in the football World Cup. The youngest pupils enjoy listening to Welsh stories and sharing a book with a friend; for example, they talk enthusiastically when referring to characters and the text in their favourite books.

Over time, they develop suitable Welsh phonic strategies to read simple texts successfully. By Year 4, many pupils read English fluently and with suitable expression and understanding. They describe the role of characters in stories, recount events well and make sensible predictions about what could happen next.

They use different sources successfully when researching information about subjects with which they are familiar. However, most pupils' Welsh reading skills have not developed sufficiently and they do not read Welsh texts voluntarily. Pupils' higher order reading skills, such as skimming, translanguaging and summarising, are also limited.

Many of the youngest pupils make appropriate progress in their early writing skills. Pupils in the reception class make simple marks by using a range of purposeful equipment in the indoor and outdoor areas. In Year 1, many are beginning to form familiar letters and words correctly and, by Year 2, many write simple sentences successfully.

A majority of Year 4 pupils write for a purpose in Welsh and English appropriately. This includes writing a thoughtful letter to the local vicar to say thank you for the opportunity to see the coffin of Princess Gwenllian at the church. Many older pupils use syntax fairly correctly and use a range of punctuation, including capital letters, a full stop and a question mark appropriately.

However, pupils do not always have time to re-draft their finished work. Most older pupils write confidently in English and this is evident in the standard of their finished work. However, when writing in Welsh, they are too reliant on support from teachers when writing extended pieces of work.

By Year 2, a majority of pupils make sound progress in developing their number skills. They use a range of resources effectively, including blocks, counters and shells to add numbers to 30. Over time, their expand their knowledge to create number sentences for addition and subtraction.

Most pupils have a suitable understanding of two-dimensional shapes and some of their properties. In the school's older years, many pupils have a sound understanding of multiplication tables and can double whole numbers. They use simple graphs effectively to gather information, for example when discovering the distances of different objects that have been thrown from a catapult.

However, only a few of the school's older pupils make suitable progress in developing their basic mathematics skills. Many pupils do not have a sound understanding of fractions, decimal numbers or percentages and their understanding of how to calculate by using the 4 mathematical operations is limited. This limits pupils' ability to apply their numeracy skills across the curriculum.

Most pupils make sound progress in developing their digital skills. Many succeed in presenting digital information by using a range of programs effectively. For example, pupils embed text, graphics and writing successfully in their presentations on recycling plastic and the effect of pollution in the Arctic.

Many older pupils use their digital skills confidently to gather information, for example when gathering parents' views on the advantages and disadvantages of constructing a third bridge across the Menai Strait. Many pupils make appropriate progress in developing their creative skills, for example by emulating the work of local artists or weaving various Celtic patterns. Through the opportunities they are given to play a variety of instruments, including drums, the ukulele and the piano, their develop their musical skills effectively.

Well-being and attitudes to learning Nearly all pupils enjoy school and take pride in it. They feel completely safe there and know whom to approach for advice if anything is worrying them. They are confident that the school responds appropriately to any concerns they may have.

Nearly all pupils are polite and thoughtful, behave very well and treat their peers and visitors with respect and care. This is a strong feature of the school. Most children show positive attitudes to learning and develop as hard-working and enthusiastic learners.

They work together harmoniously and stay on task for extended periods, although they do not always persevere when facing difficulties in their work. They listen well to instructions and presentations from adults and work consistently well individually, in pairs and in small groups. Most pupils have recently begun to respond positively to the few opportunities they are given to influence what they would like to learn within their termly themes.

The youngest pupils enjoy making choices about the equipment they would like to use in the learning areas, for example when making analogue clocks from natural resources in the outdoor area. As part of the theme 'Gwarchod Biwmares a'r Blaned' ('Protecting Beaumaris and the Planet'), older pupils decided to collect litter to use as part of their artwork emulating the work of a local artist. As a result, they show good levels of motivation and interest in their work.

However, teachers in the school's older years do not always give pupils enough opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning. This hinders pupils' ability to make independent choices about how they learn, for example by deciding how to present their written work. Many pupils value the oral feedback they receive from staff.

Most of the youngest pupils use feedback effectively to improve their work, for example when working in groups to place numbers in order up to 12 to add on a clock. Most older pupils use oral feedback appropriately to respond to mistakes in their work on the spot, for example by correcting spelling or syntax errors. However, they do not use feedback effectively to improve the content of their written work and there are few opportunities for pupils to re-draft their work.

They are also too reliant on support from staff to solve problems, which means that they do not challenge themselves as well as they could. Pupils have recently been given appropriate opportunities to contribute to some aspects of the school's life and work. For example, pupils on the school council organise purposeful activities to raise whole-school awareness of the negative effect of bullying, and the well-being council raises money for a mental health charity.

The understanding of many of the school's older pupils of moral and social values and equality is developing appropriately. They discuss the negative effect of racism on society maturely and refer appropriately to their work in studying the lives of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. Most pupils have a sound understanding of the importance of healthy eating and drinking and understand the effect of exercise on their health.

They participate enthusiastically in physical education lessons and attempt to try new foods as part of the school lunch provision. Teaching and learning experiences Across the school, teachers plan a range of stimulating activities that engage pupils' interest successfully. Recently, teachers in the school's upper years are beginning to plan together suitably to ensure consistency in provision for pupils to develop their skills across some of the areas of learning and experience.

For example, as part of their work on the Celts, pupils are given beneficial opportunities to develop their art and creative skills by designing and creating Celtic masks from different materials. However, teachers do not always plan effectively enough to ensure regular opportunities for pupils to develop all skills. Across the school, teachers do not plan systematically enough to develop pupils' Welsh language skills.

This has a negative effect on pupils' ability to communicate in Welsh confidently in lessons and informal situations. In addition, in the school's upper years, opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematics and numeracy skills across the curriculum are limited. This means that teachers do not develop the full range of numeracy skills for the school's older pupils.

There is a close and supportive working relationship between staff and pupils across the school. Teachers know the pupils well and provide them with appropriate support while working and interacting with each other. However, teachers do not have high enough expectations of pupils, particularly their literacy skills and, in the school's upper years, their numeracy skills.

Teachers in the classes at the top of the school have a tendency to over-direct learning and do not always allow pupils to make choices about the way in which they want to present their work. This limits pupils' ability to make decisions, take responsibility for their learning and develop as independent learners. Teachers are beginning to plan purposefully to introduce the Curriculum for Wales.

Where teaching is at its best, they provide beneficial opportunities for pupils to guide the direction of learning by suggesting ideas at the beginning of each theme. Overall, teachers provide a suitable range of opportunities for pupils to write for different purposes across the curriculum, for example by seeking parents' views about the advantages and disadvantages of constructing a new bridge across the Menai Strait, before writing persuasive text. Purposeful activities such as this provide valuable opportunities for pupils to learn about local history, including what Anglesey was like during the age of the Celts and the history of Welsh princes.

Teachers enrich the curriculum effectively and provide purposeful opportunities for pupils to visit a number of local attractions, including Melin Llynon to study Celtic roundhouses. These experiences are valuable in enriching pupils' knowledge and understanding of the history and culture of the local area. Beneficial opportunities are provided for pupils to develop as global citizens, for example by learning about how to take care of the environment and the harm that plastic causes to life in our seas.

In the school's lower years, the teacher has worked effectively with staff from nearby schools to develop the indoor and outdoor areas. These areas are now stimulating and engage the interest of nearly all pupils. The outdoor area is attractive and there is a good range of effective resources to develop pupils' creative, communication and joint play skills.

Pupils are given beneficial opportunities to make choices about their learning, for example by deciding which ingredients to use when preparing a tea party in the mud kitchen. However, teachers in the school's upper years do not make enough use of the areas outside the classroom to enrich provision and develop pupils' skills. The school's procedures for monitoring and tracking pupils' progress are not effective enough to identify pupils' standards and attainment.

Teachers do not have a sound enough understanding of pupils' Welsh literacy and numeracy skills. As a result, provision does not always provide purposeful support to ensure that pupils make sufficient progress in their learning. Care, support and guidance The school is a caring and familial community that promotes good behaviour, courtesy and respect effectively.

The supportive and friendly relationship between staff and pupils is a strong feature of the school. Staff support the emotional, social and well-being needs of nearly all pupils successfully through a cross-section of purposeful activities. For example, teachers hold regular well-being sessions that provide valuable opportunities for pupils to discuss and express an opinion on important aspects of life, such as developing respect and the importance of being a good friend to others.

As a result, pupils learn important values, including empathy towards others, friendship and the benefits of co-operation. They encourage pupils to keep fit effectively, for example through weekly sports activities. Teachers provide beneficial opportunities for pupils to understand the importance of staying safe, for example through lessons on road safety and safe use of the internet.

The school promotes pupils' personal development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. Teachers plans purposeful opportunities for pupils to learn about their local community and its history, for example by visiting the local church to see the coffin of Princess Siwan as part of the theme on Welsh princes. The rector visits the school regularly and teaches pupils important moral and spiritual values.

Within these sessions, pupils are given beneficial opportunities to reflect on their own beliefs and time to discuss what makes good citizens in society. Staff have recently provided purposeful opportunities for pupils to express their views about provision. Through the school council and well-being council, pupils are given appropriate opportunities to contribute to school life and make some decisions.

However, these opportunities do not ensure that pupils have a strong enough influence on the school's life and work. The school makes suitable provision for pupils with additional learning needs. It has recently included pupils in the process of creating individual one-page profiles, which include important information about their interests and how to take care of their well-being.

The headteacher, who is also the additional learning needs co-ordinator, tracks the progress of pupils with additional learning needs appropriately in relation to the targets in their individual plans and their progress from their individual starting points. Teachers use this information appropriately to identify pupils who need additional support in terms of their reading skills and well-being needs. Leaders promote and support a culture of safeguarding and pupils' well-being effectively.

Staff have a sound awareness of the school's safeguarding processes and leaders respond appropriately to any individual cases. They work effectively with other agencies, where appropriate. The school promotes an anti-bullying culture and pupils are given regular opportunities to learn about how to stay safe.

The school has appropriate procedures for ensuring that pupils attend regularly. The overall safety of the school accommodation is good. However, leaders were alerted to a concern about the safety of the school's site during the inspection.

Leadership and management Recently, a period of instability in terms of staffing has had a negative effect on the headteacher's work to set a strong strategic direction for the school and improve pupils' outcomes. A lack of co-operation between some members of staff and their understanding of their leadership responsibilities have hindered joint planning and ensuring the development of pupils' skills over time. As a result, leaders have not monitored the school's work and held staff to account for the quality of provision and pupils' outcomes.

Leaders do not ensure that all pupils make the expected progress, for example in developing their Welsh literacy skills, and their mathematics and numeracy skills across the curriculum. The headteacher places great emphasis on ensuring that pupils feel happy and enjoy their time at the school. She has high aspirations for improving the quality of provision for the school's pupils.

Over time, leaders have not used self-evaluation and planning for improvement processes to improve important aspects of provision and pupils' outcomes. For example, nearly all recommendations from the previous inspection continue to be important issues for the school, including improving standards in Welsh and developing the ability of leaders to act more strategically. Very recently, with intense support from the regional consortium, the headteacher has begun to identify the school's strengths and some of the main areas for improvement.

With support, she has begun to implement new self-evaluation processes, by monitoring provision within lessons and learners' standards. This includes evaluating standards in mathematics and numeracy by scrutinising pupils' work and evaluating teachers' plans. Teaching staff also receive purposeful support from the consortium to develop important elements of the school improvement plan.

This includes guidance on how to plan jointly and work together more closely to design provision that applies all skills purposefully across the curriculum. These procedures have not yet been embedded firmly at the school. Staff and governors do not play a full part in the self-improvement process and the effect of co-operation among staff does not show progress in pupils' outcomes.

As a result, it is too early to judge the effect of this activity on improving pupils' standards. Leaders have also not acted on improving other important weaknesses, such as pupils' Welsh literacy skills, particularly pupils' oral skills. The governing body ensures that the school has appropriate arrangements to promote healthy eating and drinking; for example, pupils are encouraged to eat a range of healthy foods as part of school lunch.

Members of the governing body have a suitable understanding of the school's main strengths and some areas for improvement. Members of the sub-panels, including the staffing, finance, health and well-being and curriculum panels meet virtually to discuss important issues that arise and to provide appropriate support and guidance to the headteacher, where necessary. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the full body meets virtually to discuss the school's strategic priorities.

At times, they act as a critical friend by challenging the headteacher about standards. This is done by asking suitable questions based on data about pupils' progress. However, members of the governing body do not currently fulfil their role robustly enough or contribute strategically enough to improving the quality of provision and pupils' standards.

The headteacher has allocated funding appropriately to employ a temporary member of staff to work with the school's older pupils to improve their Welsh reading skills. This is beginning to have a positive impact on some of the pupils' skills. However, the school does not have a strategic plan to improve pupils' Welsh literacy, particularly their oral skills.

This is having a negative effect on the ability of nearly all pupils to communicate confidently in Welsh. The school provides a suitable range of opportunities to staff to attend courses and training that link with some of the school's strategic priorities. Teachers have attended training on how to design a curriculum that meets the requirements of the new Curriculum for Wales and staff in the school's lower years have received training on enriching the school's outdoor areas.

However, the performance management targets of teaching staff are not incisive enough and do not respond purposefully to the school's main areas for improvement. Evidence base of the report Before an inspection, inspectors: • analyse the outcomes from the parent and pupil questionnaires and consider the views of teachers and the governing body/members of the management committee through their questionnaire responses During an inspection, inspectors normally: • hold a meeting with parents to hear their views on the school and its effectiveness • meet the headteacher, governors, senior, middle leaders, and individual teachers to evaluate the impact of the school's work • meet pupils to discuss their work and to gain their views about various aspects of their school • meet groups of pupils in leadership roles, such as representatives from the school council and eco-committee • visit a broad sample of lessons, including learning support groups and the specialist resource base (where appropriate), and undertake a variety of learning walks to observe pupils learning and to see staff teaching in a range of settings, including classrooms, support groups (where appropriate) and in outdoor areas • visit the specialist resource base within the school to see pupils' learning (where appropriate) • observe and speak to pupils at lunch and break times and at a sample of after-school clubs • attend assemblies and daily acts of collective worship • look closely at the school's self-evaluation processes • consider the school's improvement plan and look at evidence to show how well the school has taken forward planned improvements • scrutinise a range of school documents, including information on pupil assessment and progress, records of meetings of staff and the governing body, information on pupils' well-being, including the safeguarding of pupils, and records of staff training and professional development After the on-site inspection and before the publication of the report, Estyn: • review the findings of the inspection alongside the supporting evidence from the inspection team in order to validate, moderate and ensure the quality of the inspectionCopies of the report Copies of this report are available from the school and from the Estyn website (http://www.estyn.

gov.wales) The report was produced in accordance with Section 28 of the Education Act 2005. Every possible care has been taken to ensure that the information in this document is accurate at the time of going to press.

Any enquiries or comments regarding this document/publication should be addressed to: Publication Section Estyn Anchor Court, Keen Road Cardiff CF24 5JW or by email to [email protected] This and other Estyn publications are available on our website: http://www.

estyn.gov.wales/ This document has been translated by Trosol (Welsh to English).


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