School staff delighted with their glowing Iestyn report
STAFF at a South Wales school say they are “delighted” following a glowing Estyn report that recognised its “positive, caring, inclusive ethos”.
Brynnau Primary School received the education watchdog’s glowing report last week which gave them four “goods” and one “excellent” across the five key inspection areas.
The report judged that “nearly all pupils make good progress from their individual starting points”, and that “nearly all pupils have positive attitudes to learning and engage well with their lessons”.
It also said teaching was “generally good”, and that “teachers plan and deliver interesting lessons that excite pupils’ curiosity and motivate them to achieve well”.
Vanessa McCarthy, who is headteacher of the school in Brynna, near Llanharan, said: “We are absolutely delighted with Estyn’s recognition of our school’s positive, caring, inclusive ethos.
“As a school we strive hard to develop our pupils as ethical 21st Century citizens and welcome the recognition of our effective strategies to help our pupils develop their understanding of equality and diversity.
“The need to develop tolerance, awareness and respect underpins our school vision and are reflected in our school values – it was great to have this identified as a clear strength of our happy school.”
The report was released on January 12 for the Rhondda Cynon Taf school, which currently has 223 pupils on roll, aged between three and 11, as well as 29 nursery children who attend parttime.
It also judged that the school’s pupils had “plenty of opportunities to apply their literacy skills” across the curriculum.
The inspection took place in November last year, and its report said headteacher Ms McCarthy and senior leaders worked effectively to secure strong levels of wellbeing among the pupils and good standards of achievement.
For the care, support and guidance category, the school was rated as “excellent” – the highest mark.
While for the categories standards; wellbeing and attitudes to learning; teaching and learning experiences; and leadership and management, Estyn gave the school a “good” rating.
Ms McCarthy added: “We are especially proud of the report’s extremely complimentary acknowledgement of our pupils’ positive attitudes to learn- ing and their exemplary behaviour. The physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of our pupils is of paramount importance to us – it was so good to have our success in this crucial area recognised.”