Ysgol Henblas

Highlights from Latest Inspection

of achievements and direction on what needs to be developed further. R5.

Strengthen the strategic role of leaders in all aspects of the school's work, including developing governors£ understanding of their roles and responsibilities Since being appointed in April 2018, the headteacher has worked effectively with the foundation phase leader and governors in order to improve the quality of the school's leadership. The school's staffing is more stable and leaders£ roles have been established purposefully. Teachers are developing appropriately in their roles and contribute more purposefully to evaluation activities and setting a direction for the school within their areas of responsibility.

The school now responds soundly to n...ational priorities. The headteacher has included staff, governors, parents and pupils well in setting a stimulating new vision for the school. The feeling of staff and pupils towards the motto £gwreiddiau i dyfu, adennydd i hedfan£ (roots to grow; wings to fly) inspires them well for the future.

There are more robust processes in place to ensure that improvement activities come to fruition. There are early examples of improvements having a positive effect on provision and standards, such as provision for the foundation phase and to improve pupils£ reading skills. The role of governors is developing appropriately.

They visit the school more often to scrutinise pupils£ work and discuss provision, for example for ICT. A majority of governors contribute strategically through the standards sub-panel meetings, and show an increasing understanding of improvement activities and progress against the recommendations. They challenge the school's performance more appropriately, for example by challenging leaders and staff about performance data and reports.

They use self-evaluation processes more effectively in order to identify strengths, areas for improvement and set sensible new priorities for the future. For example, following an analysis of self-evaluation information, they have suggested that the number of pupils who attain the higher levels in mathematics needs to be increased, and that more able pupils£ numeracy skills need to be improved. As a result, this is one of the priorities in the most recent school development plan.

R6. Ensure that leaders implement the school's self-evaluation procedures and improvement plans effectively Leaders now have a better understanding of what needs to be improved in the school, and there are robust processes in place to address the improvements. They have established a range of appropriate self-evaluation procedures, including analysing pupils£ performance data, scrutinising their work, observing lessons and seeking the views of pupils and parents.

By doing so, leaders are beginning to develop a better understanding of standards and the quality of provision. As a result, they are beginning to identify new priorities based on valid information. Leaders are beginning to scrutinise progress against the priorities for improvement carefully.

Useful discussions between leaders within the school and governors who are linked to specific recommendations support scrutiny effectively. Although leaders do not need as much external support, they continue to rely on the advice of the consortium to monitor progress. Leaders have good ideas about how to monitor overall progress regularly, but it is too early to see this in action fully.

Overall, there is good progress against many of the recommendations, which shows the leaders£ increasing ability to address improvement plans more successfully. £ Crown Copyright 2018: This report may be re-used free of charge in any format or medium provided that it is re-used accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the report specified.