SCHOOL OF THE WEEK: Ebbw Vale's Glyncoed Primary School

It may look small from the outside but the classrooms and corridors have stimulated a grand hunger and intrigue for learning among its pupil roll of 350.

At the helm is head teacher Becky Sims, who has spent five years in the role.

The head teacher and her staff believe in fostering all of the children’s wellbeing needs in accordance with their academic progress.

“My personal priority has always been about the children’s wellbeing – it is equally important as their academic success and I think the two are completely interlinked,” said Mrs Sims.

“We’ve worked on both those agendas, developing a whole school approach to wellbeing but also ensuring there is excellent teaching on offer in each of the classes.

“We want every single child to reach their full potential.”

In her half-decade as head teacher, Mrs Sims adds the school has made key changes in the day-to-day running of Glyncoed.

“We’ve improved our pupil performance and increased their attendance,” she said.

“Regarding improved attendance, first of all we’ve publicised it within the school. We do a weekly newsletter for every parent with the attendance for each class and we have a colour-coded system.

“Our aim is for every class to have more than 97 per cent attendance and there is an award for the class in the infants and the juniors for the best attendance.

“There’s a trophy and a certificate for that but there’s also a termly raffle for children with attendance in the green category has a chance to enter the prize draw.

“At Christmas for example, there was a big hamper with treats, games and decorations in it.”

The school is keen on helping pupils feel secure in their educational and personal needs, which is monitored regularly.

“A large number of our students take part in the PASS survey – pupils attitudes to staff and self – each year and that measures how the children feel about school and about themselves as a learner,” said the head teacher.

“We can identify small groups who would benefit from some extra support or extra intervention for their self-esteem and confidence.

“There’s also a school-based counselling service and a SAP group – student assistance programme – which is a weekly enhanced circle time and we have a fully qualified ELSA – an emotional literacy support assistant.

“That is a Welsh Government initiative where one of my members of staff is specially trained to deliver emotion literacy sessions for children.”

For a large primary school such as Glyncoed, it has just five simple concepts at its heart but beliefs which foster a feeling of family among its roll.

“We have a robust school behaviour policy. There are just five school rules which are applied throughout the school whether that be at breakfast club, nursery or up to Year 6,” said Mrs Sims.

“They are: listen to the chosen speaker; follow instructions first time; stay on task; keep hands and feet to yourself and use polite words.

“We talk a lot about our Glyncoed family. In assemblies and classes, we remind the children that at the school we are all members of the same family.

“All the staff set high expectations for the children’s behaviour and how they respect and treat each other.

“We are keen for the children to have a real say in what goes on in school. We have the school council, eco-committee, our team of digital wizards and we’ve just introduced a teaching and learning committee.

“That will be the children having their own input into what goes on in lessons for what and how they learn.

“We also have a Criw Cymraeg so the pupils have lots of opportunities to be involved and help make some decisions regarding the school and how it is run.”

Two areas of the school which are continually developing is Glyncoed’s ICT provision and Welsh language education methods.

“The governing body at the school and the PTA have been really supportive – together they have raised £10,000 this year towards improving the ICT equipment. I feel very lucky in that regard,” said Mrs Sims.

“That will help the school develop an ICT suite and we can use the digital skills to improve the pupils’ ability to learn across the curriculum.

“I believe that with better ICT skills, it can lead to raising standards in literacy and numeracy as well.

“The school is also lucky, regarding Welsh language education, that we have two members of staff taking part in the Welsh Government’s pilot sabbatical scheme.

“One of the teachers – Laura Chislett – does one day per week in school and the other four at Cardiff University after she was selected do to the one-year qualification.

“She’s raising her personal Welsh language skills and comes back to visit all the classes and pass that onto the children.”

The celebratory mood around the Ebbw Vale school comes from the recent outcomes of the Estyn report – a sea of good ratings.

For the head teacher, the ratings were a reflection on the aptitude of key components at the school – its pupils and its staff.

“Now that Estyn grades in five key areas, I was absolutely delighted to have those consistent ‘good’ ratings across the board,” said Mrs Sims.

“I thought that the report reflected our children. It was lovely that the first page talked about how the pupils are engaged with their learning and proud of their work.

“They really care about taking part in lessons.

“It reflected how well teachers are considering the pupils wellbeing and creating an atmosphere of safety and inclusion.

“I am proud of the senior leadership team also. They’ve worked very hard as a team for the last five years to deliver lots of changes and improvements.”

Not content with the Estyn success, Mrs Sims already has the school’s next education target in its sight.

“In terms of the national categorisation for schools in Wales, we are yellow at the moment but we are working closely with the challenge advisor to go for green next year,” she said.

“That is our big aim for us as a school. Fingers crossed that we can do it.”

But the head teacher reserved special praise for one key aspect of life at Glyncoed – its surrounding community.

“In Blaenau Gwent, there is the real strong sense of community and that is visible at the school,” said Mrs Sims.

“Our parents are so supportive and it is clear that they want the best for their children.

“They aspire of their children to do really well in school.

“The school along with the cluster schools and our feeder school – the secondary phase at Ebbw Fawr Learning Community – is looking at how do we challenge our pupils, particularly the more able children.

“Our school is so invested in how we can help the children reach their potential when they are set to leave us.

“It is up to us now to keep the school and its pupils moving forward.”