Staff in Ebbw Fawr Learning Community are committed to the school’s vision of creating a safe, secure and caring environment to ensure that pupils are ‘learning to achieve together’. This vision is communicated clearly by the headteacher who is a strong role model that has high expectations of himself and others. Leaders work well with each other and succeed in creating an ethos across the school sites that encapsulates the ‘Ebbw Fawr Way’ of being ‘Ready, Respectful and Safe’. Promoting pupil well-being is central to the school’s work and it has an extensive range of provision to support pupils in an inclusive and supportive environment. This contributes towards its pupils feeling safe in school and displaying a positive attitude towards their work and school life. A positive feature of the school is the numerous opportunities it provides for pupils to take on leadership roles. Most teachers plan and adapt work that meets the needs of nearly all pupils. They engage pupils in their learning, provide valuable experiences that relate to their everyday lives and successfully remove barriers to learning. As a result, most pupils in primary phase and many pupils in the secondary phase, including those with additional learning needs (ALN) and those eligible for free school meals make at least suitable progress over time. Whilst there are good opportunities for pupils to develop their oracy and reading skills, they do not write at length often or purposefully enough. Teachers promote positive behaviour well and there are robust arrangements to promote good attendance. The Ebbw Vale Engage (‘EVE’) programme ensures that a few pupils in danger of disengagement attend regularly and benefit from alternative off-site provision. Although attendance at the time of the inspection remains lower than before the pandemic it has improved significantly over the last few months. The learning resource base (LRB) successfully supports secondary pupils with a range of significant additional educational needs to make sound progress and attend school regularly. Leaders mitigate the effect of poverty on pupils’ attainment and well-being effectively. They monitor and evaluate the school’s work carefully and implement changes effectively. They use the opinions of pupils and parents well to make improvements to provision, especially for pupils’ well-being. However, when evaluating teaching, leaders do not always consider the impact on pupils’ progress well enough Recommendations We have made 2 recommendations to help the school continue to improve: R1 Sharpen self-evaluation processes to focus more specifically on the impact of teaching on learning R2 Provide more opportunities for pupils to develop their writing skills and write at length for authentic purposes 2 A report on Ebbw Fawr Learning Community November 2023 What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection. Estyn will invite the school to prepare a case study on its work in relation to the impact of the whole school approach to remove barriers to learning, for dissemination on Estyn’s website.