Inspection Report 2007

INSPECTION UNDER SECTION 28 OF THE EDUCATION ACT 2005

A Report of the Quality of Education in

LLANEDEYRN PRIMARY SCHOOL
Wellwood
Llanedeyrn
Cardiff
CF23 9JN

Summary for Parents

School Number:6812094

Date of Inspection: 23-26 April 2007

BY

Glyn Gaskill

REGISTERED INSPECTOR 5539

Date of Publication: 04 June 2007

Under Estyn contract number: 1121906

Queens Printer and Controller of HMSO 2007: 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 copyright in the material must be acknowledged as aforementioned and the title of the report specified.

Copies of the report are available from the school.  Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide copies of the report free of charge to certain categories of people.  A charge not exceeding the cost of reproduction may be made to others requesting a copy of the report.

A SUMMARY REPORT FOR PARENTS

Llanedeyrn Primary School was inspected as part of a national programme of school inspection. The purpose of inspection is to identify good features and shortcomings in schools in order that they may improve the quality of education offered and raise the standards achieved by their pupils.  The inspection of all schools within a six-year cycle is also designed to give parents information about the performance of their child's school.  
A copy of this summary is sent to every family with a child at the school. The full report can be obtained from the school.

The inspection of Llanedeyrn Primary School took place between 23/04/07 and 26/04/07.  An independent team of inspectors. led by Glyn Gaskill undertook the inspection.  Estyn, a statutory body independent of, but funded by, the National Assembly for Wales, commissioned the inspection.

The team was required to report on the standards achieved by pupils, the quality of education provided by the school, the quality of leadership and management and the contribution made by the school to its pupils' spiritual, moral and cultural development.

The five-point scale used to represent all inspection judgements in this report is as follows:

There are three types of inspection.

For all inspections, there is a written report on seven key questions.
For short inspections, there are no subject reports.
For standard inspections, there are also reports on six subjects.
For full inspections, there are also reports on all subjects.

Estyn decides the kind of inspection that a school receives, mainly on the basis of its past performance.  Most schools receive a standard inspection.  All nursery schools, special schools, pupil referral units and any new or amalgamated schools receive a full inspection.

This school received a standard inspection.

Summary

  Llanedeyrn Primary School is an outstanding beacon of excellence in the way it makes use of the community to extend and broaden pupils’ learning and, in turn, provides for the needs of pupils’ families and the wider community.  Pupils and adults of all backgrounds are given many opportunities and much encouragement to take part in what the school offers.  Pupils make good progress in their academic learning and exceptional progress in their personal development.  The school has extremely appropriate arrangements for the well-being of its pupils.  Overall, good progress has been too reserved in two of the judgements it made in its self-evaluation report and awarded a higher grade in each.  
The team agreed with the remainder of the school’s judgements. 

Table of grades awarded

Grades for standards in subjects inspected

 Pupils’ standards of achievement in the lessons observed for the subjects inspected are as follows:

Pupils’ overall standards of achievement in these lessons is significantly better than the 2007 targets set out in “The Learning Country 1”.  

The overall quality of educational provision for the under-fives is appropriate to their needs and pupils are making good progress towards the Desirable Outcomes for Children’s Learning.

 In key stage 1 and key stage 2, pupils’ standards of achievement in the subjects inspected are as follows: 

Overall, pupils of all abilities, ages and backgrounds make good progress in their learning.

 Children enter the nursery with below average attainment but make good, and often very good progress as they move through the nursery and reception classes.

 Pupils’ key stage 1 overall results [the core subject indicator] in 2006 were well above the average for other similar schools and slightly above the average for all schools.  In recent years, there has been a steady upward trend in results overall.

 Pupils’ overall results at key stage 2 in 2006 were above the average for similar schools but well below the average for all schools.  The results for those pupils who do not have statements for special educational needs and have been in the school since year 3 was just below the average for all schools but well above the average for similar schools.  Overall results have improved over the last three years.

 In both key stages girls tend to do better than boys in English and mathematics but the school and pupils are working hard and are reducing the gap.  Performance in science is similar for both boys and girls.

 Across the school, pupils make good use of their communication, mathematics and information technology skills to help them learn in other subjects.

 Pupils respond well to basic instructions in Welsh and use Welsh in greetings but they do not sufficiently use Welsh in informal situations.

 Pupils’ creative skills are outstanding.  They are good aspects of pupils’ skills in problem solving but in mathematics these skills are not as good as they could be.

In the core subjects of English, mathematics and science, pupils have a good understanding of what they need to do to improve because they have personal targets.

 Pupils have good attributes to their work and their behaviour is very good.  They make outstanding progress in their personal development.

 Pupils show exceptionally good understanding of the diversity of beliefs, religions, cultures and the local community.

 The level of pupils’ attendance is below average.  A significant reason for this is that, in addition to sickness, pupils taking holidays during term time.  Absence is particularly affecting the progress of a minority of pupils.  A small number of pupils arrive late at the start of the school day but punctuality is good during the day.  

The quality of education and training

Grades for teaching

In the lessons observed, the quality of teaching was judged as follows:

The overall quality of teaching across the school compares very well with the findings of the 2004-2005 Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training.

 Throughout the school, teachers and learning support assistants work very well together which results in pupils making good, overall progress.  An outstanding feature is the very positive way parents respond to invitations to work alongside pupils in school and support them in their learning at home.  This aspect is particularly remarkable in early years and key stage 1.

 Planning for lessons is extremely thorough and successfully takes into account the needs of pupils of all backgrounds and abilities.

 Without exception, teachers make use of targets for pupils’ learning in their planning and teaching.  In the majority of lessons this challenges and guides the work of pupils well.

 There are many good examples of teachers asking pupils challenging questions so that pupils explain what they understand.

 In all classes, work is regularly marked, often with encouraging comment.  In the best examples of marking, pupils are given written or verbal guidance on how to improve and pupils respond as directed.

 From year 1 onwards, teachers ensure pupils have targets in the core subjects of English, mathematics and science.  This very positively helps pupils learning but does not always let them make their own decisions on the next steps to take in their learning.

 Teachers make good use of Welsh for greetings, instructions and display notices.

 In the nursery and reception classes, there are well established assessment systems which are effectively used to help children make good progress.

 In key stages 1 and 2, the school has recently re-developed its assessment procedures.  Procedures for assessing in English, mathematics and science are very thorough but in the other subjects not as detailed.  Aspects of these assessment systems are demanding on administration time but plans are in hand to simplify matters.

 In the special resource classes there are detailed procedures for keeping an eye on pupils’  progress and taking appropriate action where needed.

 Parents are well informed about their children’s progress.

 The school provides pupils with an exceptionally rich curriculum which is equally accessible to all.  The new mathematics schemes are thorough but have not had enough time to raise standards.

 The school offers an extensive range of well-attended, good quality out-of-hours clubs which most effectively promote pupils’ learning.  Provision at breakfast club is exceptional.  These activities, together with a great number of educational visits, contribute significantly to outstanding provision.

 The school has an exceptional and very effective range of links with parents and the community.

 Overall, provision for pupils’ personal, social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is outstanding.  Pupils’ knowledge of the culture and heritage of Wales is promoted well but bilingualism is not promoted as well as it could be.

 Overall, the way in which pupils are cared for, guided, and supported is outstanding.  The induction arrangements for pupils starting at the school are excellent.

 Newsletters from school to parents are of an unusually high standard and there is an excellent website.

 Bullying is not seen as a problem by both patents and pupils as they have confidence that, should instances arise, they will be dealt with fairly and swiftly.

 The school’s provision for meeting the need of all pupils with additional learning needs is good, and fully meets the special educational needs Code of Practice for Wales .  

Leadership and management

 All school staff, the governors and parents share the common aim to provide the best  for pupils and the community.

 The head teacher provides outstanding leadership.  All staff with management and leadership responsibilities are very effective in their work.  The governing body is well organised and effectively meets its statutory responsibilities.

 The school successfully plans for continual improvement.

 Taken together, the well managed, well qualified, committed and enthusiastic whole school staff is an outstanding feature of the school.

 The economic and efficient use of available resources together with the efficient management of school finances is outstanding.  The quality of accommodations and the way it is used and internally maintained is outstanding.  Overall, learning resources are good.  The school provides very good value for money.

In order to further improve, the school needs to:

R1     *Improve standards in mathematics in key stage 1 and key stage 2.

R2     *Continue to develop manageable and consistent procedures for assessment so that they promote the 
            progress of individual pupils across the curriculum.

R3     Improve pupils' attendance.

R4     Improve pupils' use of bilingualism.

*The school has identified these as areas for development.

A very small number of health and safety issues were raised with the school during the inspection and brought to the attention of the governors.

The governing body is responsible for amending its current development plan to incorporate action in response to the recommendations within 45 working days of receiving the report, showing what the school is going to do about the recommendations.  This plan, or a summary of it, will be circulated to all parents at the school.

Acknowledgement

The inspection team would like to thank the governors, head teacher, members of school staff, parents, other members of the community and pupils for their co-operation and courtesy throughout the inspection.