Ysgol y Bedol is located in the village of Glanamman, in Carmarthenshire. There are 357 pupils between 3 and 11 years old on roll, including nine full-time and 37 part-time nursery-age children. They are divided into 14 classes, including three mixed age classes. Approximately 30% of pupils on average over a rolling three-year period are eligible for free school meals. This is significantly higher than the national percentage of 18%. A few pupils speak Welsh at home and very few are from an ethnic minority background. The school has identified 38% of its pupils as having additional learning needs. This is again significantly higher than the national percentage of 21%. Very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs. The headteacher was appointed to the post in September 2017 and the school was last inspected in April 2012. 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 Y Bedol October 2018 Summary The wellbeing and care of pupils are central to the work of Ysgol y Bedol. Staff place a strong emphasis on creating a safe learning environment for their pupils, which has a relatively positive impact on their behaviour and wellbeing. However, teachers do not always have sufficiently high expectations in terms of pupils’ standards or academic aspirations, especially in the development of their Welsh language oral skills. As a result, a minority of pupils do not make sufficient progress, especially in key stage 2. In a short period, current leaders have established an ethos of successful cooperation among staff. They have made beneficial improvements to aspects of provision and pupils’ standards. Although leaders identify the school’s strengths and many of the areas for improvement, monitoring procedures are not always rigorous enough to identify or address important issues such as the lack of challenge in teaching. Inspection area Judgement Standards Adequate and needs improvement Wellbeing and attitudes to learning Adequate and needs improvement Teaching and learning experiences Adequate and needs improvement Care, support and guidance Adequate and needs improvement Leadership and management Adequate and needs improvement 2 A report on Ysgol Y Bedol October 2018 Recommendations R1 Ensure that the school addresses the safeguarding issue raised about the car park R2 Raise teachers’ expectations to ensure that teaching is challenging enough and responds appropriately to the needs of pupils of all abilities R3 Improve pupils’ Welsh language oral skills R4 Improve pupils’ reading and writing skills in both languages in key stage 2 R5 Improve teachers’ understanding of levelling and ensure that their assessments are accurate R6 Strengthen leaders’ monitoring role to ensure that procedures are thorough enough to address the areas for improvement What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to show how it is going to address the recommendations. Estyn will review the school’s progress.