Pupils at Cilffriw Primary School enjoy coming to school and are happy and well behaved. Despite this, senior leaders and governors need to strengthen the school’s safeguarding culture. The school has an appropriate vision to develop pupils as independent learners who achieve well. However the quality of teaching is too variable and teachers do not have high enough expectations of the standards that pupils can achieve. They do not use ongoing assessment data well enough to help plan next steps in pupils’ learning. As a result, too many pupils do not make the progress they are capable of and do not develop the skills needed to become effective independent learners. Pupils’ standards in Welsh and digital competence are particularly weak. In addition, teachers do not provide pupils with sufficient opportunities to use their literacy and numeracy skills in meaningful and authentic contexts. Provision for pupils in the specialist classes is good. Teachers use a variety of different teaching methods to engage pupils with their work. As a result, all pupils in these classes make strong progress. However, the progress of pupils with additional leaning needs (ALN) in mainstream classes is too inconsistent. The school has recently revised its planning to implement the Curriculum for Wales. There is now greater consistency in teaching approaches, but too often staff do not build systematically on pupils’ existing knowledge and skills in learning activities that they plan. Senior leaders are committed to the school. However there are serious shortcomings in the way that they plan strategically to improve the school. Senior leaders do not ensure that roles and responsibilities are clearly distributed and communication, particularly with parents, is inadequate. Senior leaders do not monitor and evaluate the work of the school in a systematic way or use the findings well enough to make improvements. As a result, they do not always identify and address important shortcomings in the school’s work quickly enough. Senior leaders and governors do not have an appropriate overview of how they are ensuring that pupils eligible free school meals and those from those from low income households are making appropriate progress.