FROM colourful murals and dense woodland to vibrant spacious teaching spaces, Nant Celyn Primary is a school bursting with ideas and energy.

Nestled within the sweeping valleys of Cwmbran, the £6.4million development took shape in 2010 as the first school to be built in Torfaen since the council was established in 1996.

Replacing the old Brookfield and Hollybush Schools with state-of-the-art facilities and a striking new purple uniform, head teacher Amanda Jones led the school through its first years.

Now under new leadership, the school is pushing forward improvements with a vision of becoming a flagship for education in Torfaen.

Since arriving at the school earlier this year, head teacher Jonathan Bussy has made several changes, from improving behaviour and fitness to developing innovative environmental projects.

“I live local to the school and had seen Nant Celyn being built and it always interested me to work in my own community,” he said.

“I like going into town and bumping into the families and the kids and seeing them when they have left the school and how they’re growing. I like to be the ‘community school head teacher’.

“So when the job came up here I jumped at the chance to apply for it. When I started it was clear that the school had undergone a significant amount of change in terms of leadership.

“There was a lot of unsettlement and uncertainty about the direction of the school - but staff on the other hand, I was absolutely amazed with them when I started here and how it had been run by them.

“Since I started, it has really been a case of bringing the school together, bringing consistency, looking at the potential of the school and agreeing what to spend money on.”

As we navigated winding corridors adorned with pupil displays and artwork, classrooms crackled with laughter and activity.

Thanks to the work of parents, even filing cabinets were given a touch of magic with several units covered in intricate paintings of characters from children's literature.

For Mr Bussy, a major step towards increasing pupil engagement and behaviour was a £55,000 allocation over the summer holidays to separate classrooms with walls.

“The Year 5 and 6 classrooms for example. Sometimes you have children with emotional issues who struggle in that big noisy environment and it affects everybody else,” he said.

“Now we have those walls built in place, everything has just calmed right down and we can start to build what we’re doing.

“The outdoors were also very compartmentalised and all the children were on individual playgrounds. We have opened it all up now and the children can now mix and mingle.”

Experiencing the outdoors is also a focus at Nant Celyn— a concept which is evident in the school’s ‘Daily Mile’, a daily ritual encouraging kids to walk or run a mile to get their minds and bodies active.

Prominent murals displayed on the outside of the school buildings also celebrate key features of the school, from the community spirit of Cwmbran to appreciation of wildlife and the school’s allotment.

A fourth mural also celebrates a highly-anticipated feature at the school which is yet to be developed — a crazy golf course.

One of the most unique features of Nant Celyn is its outdoor wooded area, which is home to environmental learning, hedgehog sanctuaries, bug hotels made from logs and bee colonies.

Around 10,000 bees, housed in two hives, were set up by company Mel Torfaen Honey earlier this year and teachers and children have received training in beekeeping and hive maintenance.

Last week, the school’s beekeeping project was also recognised by Torfaen County Borough Council, with council leader Bob Wellington CBE presenting the school’s eco committee with certificates.

In the future, Mr Bussy hopes other schools will visit Nant Celyn to use the resource and that the school can produce and sell its own brand of honey.

Another strength of the Cwmbran School is its specialist provision for the hearing impaired and children on the autistic spectrum, with classrooms and staff dedicated to small teaching groups.

Autism services are part of the school’s special needs resource base, which includes ‘focused tasks’ and sensory areas such as a rooms filled with music, a disco light and soft surfaces.

Mr Bussy believes that the services create a sense of “equality and inclusion” as pupils mix and interact with children with additional learning needs as “part of their everyday life”.

“We have a fabulously talented staff and they’re so caring for these kids and they understand their needs,” he said.

“There is a definite demand now for children to have additional support for conditions such as autism where there aren’t enough spaces in specialist provisions. We’re well placed to lead the way there.”

Alongside opening the school’s autism and hearing impaired services up to those who need it, the school also hopes that sports clubs and community groups will take advantage of the school hall.

“We have 460 children in this school who all live very close so it makes sense that this a close resources for them and the parents as well,” Mr Bussy said.

Other future plans include buying more I-Pads to improve digital literacy, developing the outdoor areas to include table tennis tables and even buying a few chickens.

Looking to the future, Mr Bussy believes that “the potential of the school is huge”.

“I’ve only been here since January and you can only do so much in that time," he said.

"The outdoor areas in particular are going to be an outstanding provision, including our forest area.

“I want to see the outdoor areas used in all weathers, not just when it's sunny and it’s all about breaking those habits of being in the classroom all the time.

“Nant Celyn has all the facilities of a beacon or flagship school for Torfaen but it has had that couple of years where it has sat still and been unable to develop due to factors outside of our control.

He added: “We want the children here to have exactly the same chances in life as children from more affluent areas and there should be nothing to stop them.

“We need to make sure that they have as many experiences here as possible so when they leave they have an idea of what they would like to take on in future.

“We want to broaden their horizons and give them much wider aspirations.

“We do have a long way to go but we have everything to be able to do it. The talented staff, the building itself and the kids. There’s nothing to stop us now.”

For more information on Nant Celyn Primary, visit: www.nantcelynprimary.co.uk.

Fact File

Number of staff: 70

Number of pupils: 460

School Motto: Learn. Enjoy. Achieve.

Age range: 3 – 11

Head teacher Jonathan Bussy

Last Inspection: 2011

Chair of Governors: Collette Thomas