Many pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed are proud to be a part of the school community. They get on well and respect each other’s points of view. Overall, they benefit from purposeful opportunities to develop their understanding of Welsh culture and traditions. Many pupils behave well in lessons. They work productively with their teachers, work diligently throughout the lesson and respond constructively to verbal and written feedback. A few pupils do not show positive attitudes to learning, which means that they do not make sufficient progress. On the whole, strategic planning to develop provision for wellbeing and inclusion is not robust enough to ensure that teachers and leaders work proactively enough to address these issues. A strong feature of the school’s provision is the opportunities for pupils to develop their oral skills. Many pupils express themselves effectively and offer good extended answers when responding to questions or when presenting an opinion during a discussion. The school’s leaders have worked together effectively to ensure staff’s professional development to support the teaching of oracy skills and the effect of this can be seen in lessons. There are suitable opportunities for pupils to use their reading, writing and numeracy skills across the curriculum. However, there are not enough opportunities for pupils to develop their higher-order reading skills and digital competence. In many lessons, teachers plan activities that challenge pupils suitably. In these lessons, pupils make appropriate progress in their subject skills. The lesson’s tasks build sensibly, which means that there is a suitable pace to learning. In a few lessons where pupils make swift progress, teachers adapt the pace of learning skilfully to respond to pupils’ needs. These teachers plan their lessons expertly to ensure that all pupils make strong progress. Since being appointed in June 2020, the headteacher has worked diligently with the deputy head to ensure the smooth running of the school through the challenging period of the pandemic. They have also managed the school while work has been ongoing to complete the buildings. Due to the building work, pupils have little space to socialise and play outside. The school has self-evaluation processes that include beneficial activity, such as lesson observations and scrutiny of pupils’ work, and findings feed appropriately into school improvement plans. However, systems for gathering information to evaluate the school’s work do not focus specifically enough on pupils’ progress and skills nor the quality of provision.