Borderbrook Anglican Voluntary Controlled School is an English-medium primary school in Wrexham. The school serves a rural area close to the English border. Since January 2016, the school and St. Paul’s Church in Wales Voluntary Aided Primary School have formed the Maelor Church Schools Federation. Both schools share the same headteacher and governing body. Borderbrook Anglican Voluntary Controlled School was last inspected in June 2010. This is the first inspection of the school since the federation. There are 29 pupils on roll, including a few part-time nursery pupils. Pupils are taught in two mixed-age classes. One class caters for foundation phase aged pupils and the other for pupils in key stage 2. Very few pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school states that a very few pupils are on the additional needs register. The percentages of pupils eligible for free school meals or on the additional needs register are much lower than the all Wales averages. All pupils are white British. No pupil speaks Welsh at home. The headteacher has been in post since April 2012. She was appointed as headteacher to both schools in the federation in January 2016. Further information is available from the Welsh Government My Local School website at the link below. http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/Schools/SchoolSearch?lang=en 1 A report on Borderbrook School November 2017 Summary The school is a nurturing environment that builds pupils’ confidence and self-esteem effectively. The way the school plans and delivers its personal and social curriculum is a strength, allowing pupils to explore their feelings and to discuss social and moral issues well. Nearly all pupils make good progress and achieve the expected outcomes and levels by the end of the foundation phase and key stage 2. However, the level of challenge pupils recieve is not always successful in ensuring that they reach their potential, particularly the more able pupils. The school is successful in delivering many parts of its planned curriculum. However, there are weaknesses in the planning and provision to develop pupils’ mathematical understanding. The headteacher has worked effectively and diligently to bring the staff and governors from both schools in the federation together as a united group. This supports a developing culture of teamwork successfully. Both schools in the federation share very similar strengths and areas for development. Inspection area Judgement Standards Good Wellbeing and attitudes to learning Good Teaching and learning experiences Adequate and needs improvement Care, support and guidance Good Leadership and management Good 2 A report on Borderbrook School November 2017 Recommendations R1 Improve the provision for mathematics and numeracy R2 Ensure that teaching challenges pupils to achieve to the best of their ability R3 Improve feedback to pupils so they know how to improve their work consistently R4 Ensure that monitoring activities focus more sharply on pupils’ standards and the quality of teaching What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection.