“We are on a roll now”.

These are the words of Angela Taylor, head teacher of Pontllanfraith Primary School.

The last year has been a whirlwind for the 250-pupil school in Blackwood, whose pretty greenery and school playing fields are hidden behind its colourful, but concrete, façade.

The school’s motto – ‘learning together and learning for life’ – is based on teamwork and it is clear this important value is in action every day at the school.

Ms Taylor, who has led the school for nearly four years, puts the school’s achievements over the last few years down to this incredible teamwork.

In their inspection report in March 2014 the school was rated as adequate and Estyn began a period of monitoring on the school.

But then in April last year, after efforts by the staff at the school, Pontllanfraith was told this period had ended after they had shown good progress.

It was welcome news to everyone at the school. Ms Taylor said the staff had been told the systems were in place to make the improvements and it was just a matter of waiting for them to kick in – and they finally had.

Ms Taylor said: “The inspectors did recognise how well staff work together and I think we have achieved what we have so quickly because we are a good team.

“Our school has definitely been in a big school improvement journey.”

One of the suggestions made to the school was to develop the role of pupils in their own learning – and this is what has happened.

The school set up a learning squad - a group of children who come up with ideas of improvements within the school.

Ms Taylor, who has been at Pontllanfraith for eight years, said the school wanted to improve standards in reading and the children were tasked with a project to make the reading areas more attractive.

The learning squad were given a budget and told to look on Amazon to see what equipment they could buy to improve the reading areas.

Another area they had to improve was maths. After the inspection report came out in2014, Pontllanfraith decided to up standards in numeracy.

As Ms Taylor said: “Maths was our weakest area and it had to go up.”

The school teamed up with another Caerphilly school to collaborate and drive up standards.

And it worked so well that Pontllanfraith, which is now rated yellow in the categorisation system, has now become a school which help other which are struggling.

“We are now the school supporting other schools,” Ms Taylor said.

“We have held workshops for other schools and they have looked at our books. We have gone from being supported to supporting.”

It is this quick turnaround which the school is so proud of, although Ms Taylor makes it clear the improvements have happened because of excellent teamwork.

The teamwork also extends to the close role the parents and community play in school life as well.

In November last year the school’s parent and teacher association was relaunched and since then have made leaps and strides in fundraising for the school’s playground project.

The school building, which is Victorian and more than 100 years old, does not currently include a playground for the juniors. The infants have a playground but there is no such equivalent for the older children.

But thanks to the work of the newly-formed PTA, the school will be having a new playground built on the site of its current car park behind the school by this summer.

“I can’t believe how well they have done already,” Ms Taylor said. “This year it’s really taken off. They have been really, really productive.

“We are doing an awful lot of work with the parents. What we haven’t got, which a lot of schools have, is a nice playground.

“It’s the link with them and the wider community which is amazing. We have raised enough, for the rest we can put up what we have got in the school budget.”

The PTA organised fundraisers and used links with Sainsbury’s to help raise money for the playground plan.

Pontllanfraith Rugby Club also ran a fundraiser and the school wrote letters to local businesses appealing for help.

Ms Taylor also takes the Argus to see the school’s special resource base for children with autistic spectrum disorder.

ASD provision is an important part of the school, which teaches pupils with the most significant needs, and they have two classes of six, divided into infants and juniors.

Elsewhere in the school there are seven mixed-aged classes of children.

The school also have an active school council, year six prefects and ambassadors for the school.

The duty of the ambassadors, Ms Taylor explains, is to stand up for the UN rights of the child and they also lead the school council.

And it was the school council, she said, who carried out a survey of pupils to see if they backed the plans for a school playground.

The eco-committee is also well established at the school, leading to the school being awarded its first green flag earlier this month.

Each member of the eco-committee, which is linked to the school’s attractive outdoor area including pond, bug hotel and allotment, has a specific role and badge.

Ms Taylor said each teacher also runs an extra-curricular club with options for the children including a homework club, Welsh dance, ICT, hockey, football and Lego. There are also a group of digital leaders who are children skilled in IT.

The school’s choir is also successful.

“We sing very well here at Pont,” Ms Taylor said. The choir of junior children have sung at sheltered housing, Llandaff Cathedral and Springfield community centre.

It is clear there is an incredible amount of teamwork at Pontllanfraith, from the way to the eco-committee works together to the staff themselves.

The school is most certainly on a roll and one which looks set to continue throughout 2016.