We pride ourselves that we are ‘A Happy, Caring, Learning Family’ and we are pleased that our most recent Estyn report (November 2024) recognises that we are a family with a strong sense of community and belonging.
School wishes to thank all stakeholders for their support and positivity during the process. As a Headteacher I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the children and members of staff for their commitment, hard work and excellent teaching and learning. The report emphasized a real friendly, family feel with a strong sense of community, where relationships between all stakeholders display a huge amount of respect.
‘Godre’rgraig Primary School is a welcoming school where staff place pupils’ well-being at the heart of everything they do. The school has a strong sense of community, and staff create warm and effective working relationships with pupils.’
I believe this sums up Godre’rgraig perfectly and below is an extract of some of the highlights from the report.
Strengths of the school
- Relationships, well-being, community feel, friendly, warm and welcoming, happy and inclusive
- Holistic development of the child, children at the centre
- Good understanding of the curriculum which is broad and balanced and provides a variety of motivating learning experiences
- Pupil voice
- Vision
- ALN
- Professional learning, teamwork
- Safeguarding
‘Godre’rgraig Primary School is a welcoming school where staff place pupils’ well-being at the heart of everything they do. The school has a strong sense of community, and staff create warm and effective working relationships with pupils.
Godre’rgraig Primary School is friendly and welcoming and has a strong community feel. Staff know the pupils well and strive to meet their individual needs. They work hard to ensure that all pupils are included in all aspects of school life. During a period of uncertainty for the school, governors have worked with leaders to provide reassurance and to prioritise the well-being of pupils and staff.
Staff and pupils treat each other with mutual respect and have strong working relationships that build pupils’ confidence effectively. Pupils are eager to talk to adults and develop their speaking skills successfully, particularly in informal situations. The provision for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) is a strength of the school and supports these pupils to make good progress towards their individual targets. Most pupils’ progress in learning Welsh is at an early stage of development.
Pupils play an active part in school life and take their leadership roles seriously.
Older pupils are beginning to evaluate the quality of their work and look for ways in which it can improve.
The headteacher provides effective and sensitive leadership. He has worked with all members of the school community to establish a clear vision and to build a strong ethos of teamwork. Staff are eager to make the most of professional learning opportunities, and their focus on improving the quality of teaching and learning is beginning to improve outcomes for pupils.
The headteacher has worked with governors, and the school community, to establish a clear vision for an inclusive, happy school where pupils develop the range of skills, they need for the future through stimulating learning experiences. As a result, most pupils, including those eligible for free school meals, make suitable progress in developing their knowledge and skills.
A strength of the school is its provision to support pupils with additional learning needs (ALN). Staff understand the needs of individual pupils and work collaboratively with partner agencies to meet these needs. Suitably trained support staff deliver programmes that support individual pupils well. They tailor activities to the pupils and deliver them in a supportive and friendly manner. This helps pupils to make good progress against their targets and to feel relaxed and empowered to have a go at new things.
The school has a holistic approach to developing pupils’ understanding of values and relationships and their spiritual awareness. This work proceeds very well across the school. Teachers have a secure knowledge of a Curriculum for Wales. They plan with clear learning intentions and take good account of pupils’ views and interests when developing new topics. The curriculum is broad and balanced and provides a variety of motivating learning experiences including in music, art and drama.
Although the outdoor space is currently limited, teachers make suitable use of what is available to enhance learning. Many pupils engage well with their learning and cooperate and collaborate successfully with others.
Leaders have identified the need to develop pupils’ skills in speaking and listening and the work associated with this has been extremely successful in developing pupils’ oral skills to a high standard, particularly in informal situations. Overall, staff model language well, and nearly all pupils listen attentively. The youngest pupils develop effective reading skills quickly and this rapid progress continues as they move through the school. Teachers use purposeful contexts to develop pupils’ writing skills for a range of audiences. By Year 6, most pupils use specific vocabulary and accurate punctuation when writing engaging stories and persuasive campaigns.
School has only two recommendations to develop –
R1 Improve the quality of monitoring and evaluation to ensure that processes identify areas for improvement robustly, including ensuring that teaching provides suitable challenge in all areas of the curriculum
R2 Improve the quality of feedback to pupils to help them to make the progress of which they are capable over time