PENYGARN Community Primary School, in Pontypool, has a vibrant and lively atmosphere where the children are eager to learn and the members of staff are eager to teach.

The school, which caters for four to 11 year-olds, has 426 pupils from nursery to year six.

But despite this large number, Penygarn prides itself on its family feel and the integral role it holds within the community.

This community feel is something which newly appointed head teacher Louisa Sellars wants to focus on and accentuate.

Mrs Sellars has been acting head at Penygarn since January this year, but took on the permanent position at the start of this academic year.

She said: “The community approach is something we all really want to focus on.

“As a school, we want to work on supporting our families, which also means including parents in education.”

Penygarn has introduced a number of initiatives to further improve upon the school performance.

Mrs Sellars said: “We have lots of different extra-curricular activities including sports clubs and Welsh club.

“We have eco warriors and we also focus on developing pupils’ ICT skills.”

One of the schemes is called ‘Read, Write Inc’, a phonics programme to improve reading and writing skills.

Within the scheme, pupils are usually put into groups according to their needs and are taught through active strategies such as games and actions and stories to help them remember particular sounds.

The scheme has proved very successful, with pupils having the opportunity to gain additional support.

The primary school also likes to encourage outdoor learning.

Recently, pupils have been involved in an autumn focus week which has allowed them to conduct some of their lessons, such as art and maths, outside.

Teacher Jo Bailey explained: “We want the children to experience the big wide world and as part of this we have been recently studying the Galápagos Islands, and by taking them outside to learn, lessons become more engaging and fun.”

Mrs Bailey said that the children are always very enthusiastic about any outdoor initiatives and recently brought in bags and bags of conkers for an outdoor art project.

Learning outdoors is also encouraged through the school’s eco club and as part of Forest School Education.

Nursery pupils also participated in the outdoor education, by joining together with parents to make scarecrows.

The scarecrows were made out of recyclable materials and showcased in the nursery garden.

Nursery teacher, Louise Evans said: “The pupils had come up with the idea of making the scarecrows themselves.

“They wanted to do something creative and we had recently been learning the ‘dingle dangle scarecrow’ song, so they decided to make these.”

The scarecrows have proved very popular among the other early years pupils with reception children coming out to view the brightly coloured models.

The nursery has also undergone a major transformation in order to modernise the facilities.

The walls have been painted neutral colours, and the classrooms have been furnished with new tables and chairs.

As part of the refurbishment, the classroom is also equipped with a new activity water tray, a whiteboard and an investigation tray where the children can discover new objects.

Mrs Sellars feels it imperative to encourage a progressive and enriching learning environment for all pupils.

“We really take on a holistic approach at this school and we want to develop and engage pupils who are at all different levels.

“Members of staff want to focus on our school improvement plan by developing opportunities for pupils at the school.

“The new refurbishments, including the nursery and the library, are also contributing to the education of our pupils by improving the learning environment.”

Mrs Sellars said that one of the things truly valued within school is the open and caring nature always apparent between staff, parents, pupils and volunteers.

“I think something that really makes the school unique is the fact that all these bodies come together to make the school a success educating our children is something that is important to the whole community.”

The head teacher also remarked upon the tireless efforts of the Friends of Penygarn committee in raising funds and ensuring the school is involved with key events within the local area.

One of their recent triumphs was a summer fete, which Mrs Sellars believes was the first summer fete in many years that raised more than £1,000.

“The dedication of parents and volunteers to put things like this together is really great and something really unique about Penygarn.”

Mrs Sellars hopes to carry the school forward continuing to support and improve the children’s education.

“We want to be a centre of excellence and achieve the highest standards and provide the best leadership and management for all our pupils.”

Penygarn is now due an inspection after the school was last inspected in 2009 under the old Estyn inspection scheme.

The school was rated as Grade 1, the highest grade, for how well learners are cared for, guided and supported.

Grade 2 was awarded to all other categories including leadership and strategic management and how well the pupils achieve.

The report said: “Penygarn school has successfully undergone the amalgamation process and is now well placed to continue to improve.

“Its provision for pupils’ care, guidance and support is very good and as a consequence, pupils’ personal and social development is outstanding.”

Fact File:

Headteacher: Louisa Sellars

Pupils: 426

Age range: four to 11-years-old

Motto: Learning to live, living to learn

Last Estyn report, January 2009 under old inspection scheme where the school was rated as Grade 2 level for all categories including leadership and strategic management and how well pupils achieve, apart from how well pupils were cared for, guided and supported which received a grade 1.

In order to make improvements the school was advised to raise standards in English at both key stages, including the quality of pupils’ speaking, reading, writing and presentation and to make improvements in the quality of education at Key Stage 1, including the overall quality of teaching and consistency of assessment.