The Twyn School, Caerphilly, praised for focus on wellbeing

The Twyn School has been praised particularly for its "inclusive and nurturing environment" where teachers develop warm and supportive relationships with students, meaning children feel happy and safe while at school. 

Inspectors noted the leadership's focus on wellbeing and emotional support which results in enthusiastic engagement from pupils in class and overall positive behaviour. 

A big focus of the report was the school's wellbeing provision, which inspectors described as "a strength". 

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 A wide range of thoughtful and responsive interventions are well embedded and have considerable impact on pupils’ social and emotional skills.

Skilled staff use ‘The Den’ nurture room effectively with individuals and groups to address their social, emotional, and learning needs by removing barriers to learning and providing a safe space away from busy classrooms.

There was also praise for the "effective support" given to those students with some additional learning needs, which ensures they make a suitable level of progress during their time at the school. 

Pupils are also seen to "enjoy celebrating their own culture" and feel valued in all aspects of school life, knowing who they can go to for support when it is required. 

This leads to pupils developing an understanding and respect for their peers of different backgrounds. 

Across the school the quality of teaching is deemed "variable". In a majority of classes, where the teaching is effective, pupils make good progress in developing their literacy and numeracy skills and they make suitable progress from their starting points. 

However, leaders have not monitored the impact of teaching carefully enough to ensure that pupils make the progress of which they are capable.

Inspectors have said they do not believe assessment is being used to "inform teaching and learning effectively", resulting in some students being unclear about the purpose of what they are learning. 

The school is beginning to develop its curriculum appropriately and is providing a range of engaging learning experiences for pupils.

However, there is not sufficient focus on developing pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding systematically and progressively as they move through the school.

There are plenty of opportunities for students to take on leadership roles and get involved with the local community, and are seen to "work proactively" in developing key areas across the school. 

Students and staff have positive relationships where pupils know the adults will listen to their views and will take them into account during decisions that may affect them. 

Inspectors have made three recommendations for improvement for the Twyn School. 

The school should improve self-evaluation processes and ensure that they influence improvement priorities more effectively. 

Inspectors also want to see an improvement in the quality and effectiveness of teaching to ensure that all pupils are challenged and supported consistently, and see that staff ensure that the curriculum supports all pupils to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding systematically and progressively. 

Estyn will now work with the local authority to support the school with their action plan on how they will address these recommendations.