Ysgol Maes Garmon is a designated Welsh-medium secondary school for pupils from 11 to 18 years old. The school was last inspected in January 2013. In November 2016, the school became part of the formal ‘Cwlwm’ federation with Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Mornant, under one operational headteacher and one governing body. However, in September 2018, the role of operational headteacher of the federation was abolished and there was a return to the system of two separate headteachers within the federation arrangement. Ysgol Gynradd Mornant now has an acting headteacher, and the headteacher of Ysgol Maes Garmon has been in post since 2010. There is also one deputy headteacher, three assistant headteachers and an additional learning needs co-ordinator on Ysgol Maes Garmon’s senior leadership team. The school is situated in Mold and is maintained by Flintshire local authority. The school serves towns and villages across Flintshire. Ten point four per cent (10.4%) of pupils live in the 20% most disadvantaged areas in Wales. There are 532 pupils on roll, including 67 in the sixth form. This is fewer than at the time of the last inspection, when there were 558 pupils, including 105 in the sixth form. Eight point eight per cent (8.8%) of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is lower than the national percentage for secondary schools of 16.4%. Fourteen point eight per cent (14.8%) of pupils are on the school’s special educational needs register, which is lower than the national percentage of 22.5%. Two point four per cent (2.4%) of pupils have a statement of special educational needs, which is similar to the national figure of 2.2%. Twenty six per cent (26%) of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes and 97% speak fluent Welsh. The school has “immersion” provision for a group of pupils in Years 7 and 8 who have transferred from English-medium primary schools, to enable them to be taught through the medium of Welsh in the main stream. Very few pupils come from ethnic minority backgrounds. No pupils speak English as an additional language. 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 Ysgol Maes Garmon December 2019 Summary Ysgol Maes Garmon is a close-knit, caring community, in which a strong emphasis is placed on supporting pupils to ensure that they develop as respectable citizens. The headteacher, staff and governors work effectively to ensure that pupils benefit from Welsh-medium education, beneficial support and broad learning experiences within the local community. A majority of pupils make appropriate progress in their subject skills and literacy and numeracy skills. The very few pupils who are new to Welsh-medium education make strong progress in their linguistic ability through the immersion provision in Years 7 and 8. Most pupils enjoy coming to school and behave respectfully towards teachers and their peers. They are extremely welcoming and polite towards visitors, and work well with teachers and other adults in the community. Most teachers know their pupils well and foster a valuable working relationship with them. Arrangements for supporting pupils with special educational needs are an exceptional feature of the school’s work. In a majority of lessons, teachers plan suitable tasks that develop pupils’ subject, oracy and number skills appropriately. However, due to shortcomings in teaching, pupils, particularly those who are more able, do not make as much progress as they could. Leaders understand their roles well and are wholly committed to the school. There are regular management meetings to discuss important aspects. Although leaders at all levels use data suitably to analyse pupils’ performance, they do not give detailed and frequent enough consideration to pupils’ standards in lessons and in their books, in order to evaluate the effect of their work. Inspection area Judgement Standards Adequate and needs improvement Wellbeing and attitudes to learning Good Teaching and learning experiences Adequate and needs improvement Care, support and guidance Good Leadership and management Adequate and needs improvement 2 A report on Ysgol Maes Garmon December 2019 Recommendations R1 Improve standards in skills in key stage 4 and for pupils who are eligible for free school meals R2 Improve the quality of teaching R3 Strengthen provision for skills, particularly numeracy and ICT R4 Improve leadership at all levels, particularly leaders’ ability to ensure high levels of accountability and their ability to evaluate the effect of provision correctly R5 Reduce the financial deficit What happens next The school will produce an action plan that shows how it will address the recommendations. Estyn will review the school’s progress.