NOW in its second term of a two-year pilot scheme to trial a new management structure, it is clear the school, in Coed Eva, Cwmbran, seems to be thriving.

From September last year the primary school saw its existing headteacher, Gill Ellis, take charge of not one, but two Torfaen schools, sharing her time between both.

Coed Eva, along with Blenheim Road Primary School in St Dials, are now both directed by executive head Mrs Ellis, while each school appoints their own associate headteacher.

It is a unique structure which has not been seen much in Gwent, but staff at the school have said the arrangement has been working extremely well, and it’s only term two.

For Claire Moses, who took up post in the newly created associate head teacher role in September, she said the two separate roles complement each other.

Mrs Moses, who has taught at the school for 22 years, said: “Gill Ellis is in charge of driving up standards and strategy, which gives me more of the chance to deal with the day to day running of the school.

“I work with the children, parents and staff. In a school this size it’s so important someone can do that with the staff. That’s a positive of having an associate and executive head.

“It has been working really well. Gill shares her time between both schools, so for two-and-a-half days a week Gill comes in.”

The start of the 2014/15 academic year also brought changes to the lower end of the school, with refurbishment work undertaken to the single-storey nursery building on the site.

“The nursery is very much a focus at the moment,” said Mrs Moses. “We have had a lot of money put into our main project, the nursery. It was refurbished in the summer holidays.”

It is easy to understand why, with an astounding 104 pupils on roll at the nursery school who are split between two groups of around 50 pupils who attend in morning and afternoon sessions.

Around £20,000 was spent on work to the nursery area, including knocking down the walls and putting in a kitchen and partition.

Mrs Moses said the new layout means the types of activities have also been able to adapt. Two smaller rooms in the area allow nursery staff to lead quieter activities.

“The quiet rooms we can use for focus groups, or activities based on the Read Write Inc. Programme. If they can learn their sounds in nursery that’s a fantastic start.”

The nursery classes, like the rest of the school, are now also equipped with iPads and ICT facilities, meaning technology is being incorporated into learning even further.

What also is striking about the school is its strong sense of pastoral care and emphasis on shared values.

Each month a new value is chosen, for example “happiness”, which becomes the focus for the whole school assemblies and PSE lessons.

At the final assembly of the month, children come to the front and showcase a piece of work they have done which relates to the month’s value.

For Mrs Moses, the emphasis on shared values is incredibly important and has been noted by visitors as producing thoughtful and better behaved children.

“Visitors have come to me and say the children are so well mannered. It’s all about the ethos of the school.

“People do say the ethos is really positive and calm.

“We have music playing in the reception area and have candles in assemblies.

“We know how important it is we role model ourselves to others. Even to other staff, it’s about us being role models.” It seems clear staff at the school, which counts 524 pupils on roll, enjoy their workplace. Out of the 14 staff at the school, eight have joined in the last year which Mrs Moses said is a “positive thing”.

Sarah Coombes, behaviour and pastoral support officer at the school, spent her summer holidays making a huge patchwork mural of the school’s shared values which now hangs in the foyer of the school.

And many more teachers at the school give up their time to run extra-curricular clubs including rugby, football, netball, gardening and even the newly launched Norwegian club.

The associate headteacher herself, who joined the school in 1992 as a newly qualified teacher, is clearly passionate about the staff and children.

She said: “The school means everything to me. Every day I always want to come to school, I’m so passionate about it.

“I love it here. Engaging with the children, that is my forte. And the school is very popular, we have got a big waiting list. It’s all good news.”

The school prides itself on its inclusion of the pupils in its learning, shown by its work with the Pupil Voice scheme to increase pupil participation and a more organised scheme of target setting for children.

Thanks to Pupil Voice, which has been running at the school since September 2014, pupils at Coed Eva “are becoming a big part of their learning”, said Mrs Moses.

She said: “They are choosing the topics and what they are learning. The teacher asks them what they want to learn.

“They may have to learn about World War two, for example, but the children can choose exactly what they want to learn about, for example the Holocaust. It’s great. They take ownership of these activities and the children are more engaged and more keen to do activities and do them well.”

As well as engaging pupils, staff at Coed Eva have also made efforts to involve parents even further into their children’s learning.

Parents were invited into the school to sit in on a mock lesson, to showcase what goes on while their children are at school.

Afterwards parents filled in a questionnaire with their thoughts which, as well as workshops, helped decide which learning formats were working well.

The school’s last Estyn inspection was in 2010, just a year after the junior and infant school was amalgamated, where it scored good.

But Mrs Moses is feeling optimistic for the next inspection which is yet to be scheduled, but will be the first inspection of the school under the new management structure.

She said: “We were all good then but now we are aiming for excellent. There have been lots of changes, but all positive changes.”