‘Progress’ being made at school placed in special measures

PROGRESS has been made at a Blaenau Gwent secondary school which was placed in special measures following a report by education watchdog Estyn, a council meeting has heard.

An inspection of Brynmawr Foundation School in December found it was “unsatisfactory and needs urgent improvement” in four areas – standards, wellbeing and attitudes to learning, teaching and learning experiences and leadership and management – and “adequate and needs improvement” in one – care, support and guidance.

Pupils have “made much less progress than expected”, inspectors found.

A council report said the new head teacher at the school had worked positively with staff and pupils to create stability, but that these changes had not had a “sufficient impact” at the time of the inspection.

Concerns over the Estyn report were raised at a meeting of Blaenau Gwent council’s education and learning scrutiny committee on Tuesday.

Cllr John Morgan pointed to concerns in the report over pupils not making enough progress in lessons.

“It seems as if some of the basics are missing at the school and you are concerned about the pupils receiving those lessons,” he said.

“The worst part for me was on leadership management which was unsatisfactory and needs urgent improvement.”

Cllr Morgan asked what improvements have been made since the report was published last December.

Sarah Davies, from the Education Achievement Service which supports schools, said leadership at the school has been “significantly strengthened”, with a deputy headteacher and two assistant headteachers appointed.

“The impact of that team now has to be demonstrated, particularly in classroom practice,” Ms Davies said.

Ms Davies said there had been “a deficit of professional learning” at the school and that self evaluations had not been “robust enough” – but that steps have been taken to address these issues.

Brynmawr councillor Wayne Hodgins said “the foundations for improvement” appeared to be in place at the school.

Lynn Phillips, the council’s interim corporate director of education, said the authority is continuing to work with the school.

“We recognise satisfactory progress, moving towards strong progress has been made, so the school is definitely on the right footing,” he said.

“But we do now need to see some impact of that progress that is currently taking place.”