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A very rural primary school with 82 pupils based in 3 classrooms. The headteacher teaches two days a week, so has both leadership and teaching responsibilities. 92% of children from Welsh medium homes, with Welsh as the first language in the school. Others have at least one parent who speaks Welsh. The headteacher worked at the school for 24 years as a supply teacher initially before making transition to be the headteacher. Governors asked the headteacher to gain the necessary qualifications to become the official headteacher in 2019.
92% of children are from Welsh medium homes
The school has reportedly always been good in terms of standards and academic levels, and tries to make sure children have vast variety of experiences. The school has a close and supportive relationship with the local community. When the current headteacher came into post, the academic standards were high, but there was a need for modernisation, building teamwork, developing assessment structures and classroom ethos planning.
Schools in the local area are very different, with some serving 40 pupils and others serving 400. In 2019, there was a lot of change in school leadership, so the headteachers in the local area started to work together, as they were all new to their roles in their respective schools. When COVID-19 hit, the headteachers built an even stronger relationship and support network, with great support from their GwE Support Officer. The GwE Support Officer was considered vital in helping the schools build their bond with one another.
The schools started SPP in September 2022. A two-year programme of peer review was developed off the back of initial training. This particular school had an Estyn inspection when starting SPP, where the improvement area identified related to strengthening outdoor learning. The self-review process with SPP helped to identify where the school was already strong on outdoor learning, but perhaps had not been clear in their articulation of this to Estyn. The headteacher noted:
“I went over the planning we had and we found we were doing it [outdoor learning], we just needed to sell it more. It gave me a lot of confidence, looking at the self-review and seeing we are doing a lot but also identifying some ideas we need help with, such as using science and tech outside etc.
So a strong point was definitely the self review, it brought us together within the school, made us stronger, and people more open in discussing their plans and building their ideas as we moved along. Something we found in this programme we work together as a team.”
Headteacher
“SPP develops their leadership, confidence, knowledge, and understanding”Headteacher
We are all finding our feet with the new curriculum. We have the opportunity to be creative, but not everyone is confident and we’re pushing them out their comfort zone. By doing this programme [SPP] it has strengthened our curriculum and our relationships in the school and outside the school. It has developed my staff to be individuals who can be confident and creative and not be scared to say ‘we’re good at things, come see’.
The bonds have improved and strengthened. People are more honest, more open, not the nervousness of people coming and looking because people are always around the school. Other schools ask to come and look and what we’re doing. We are used to having that professional discussion and that wouldn’t have happened without this programme.”
The headteacher believed that teachers attending more workshops would have been beneficial, as they found it difficult joining in visits without having the necessary background information.
