Bassaleg School is a mixed 11-19 school to the north east of Newport. Currently, it has 1,749 pupils on roll with 405 in the sixth form. This is slightly lower than at the time of the last inspection, when there were 1,767 pupils in total including 502 in the sixth form. Pupils come mainly from six partner primary schools. Around 6% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. This is much lower than the national average of 16.4% for secondary schools in Wales. Around 2% live in the 20% most deprived areas in Wales. One point four per cent of pupils have statements of special educational needs compared with 2.5% for Wales as a whole. Around 8% of pupils have a special educational need, which is much lower than the national average of 20.1%. Many pupils are from a White British background. A few pupils come from an ethnic minority background. A few pupils speak English as an additional language and a very few speak Welsh fluently. The school is currently a pioneer school and is working with Welsh Government and other schools to take forward developments relating to the curriculum and professional learning. The headteacher has been in post since September 2018. The leadership team is made up of two deputy headteachers, a director of business and three assistant headteachers. The school was last inspected in November 2014. Further information is available from the Welsh Government My Local School website at the link below. http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/Schools/SchoolSearch?lang=en 1 A report on Bassaleg School May 2019 Summary Bassaleg School is an inclusive school in which care support and guidance is central to its ethos. The school’s comprehensive provision to strengthen pupils’ sense of community, promote respect for diversity, support them to become ethically informed citizens and to develop their leadership skills is a strong feature of its work. This has contributed successfully to a culture where equality and diversity are celebrated and where pupils demonstrate a secure sense of social awareness and responsibility. Performance at key stage 4 generally compares well with that in similar schools. The school’s performance in the sixth form has improved in recent years and overall pupils in the sixth form make sound progress. The quality of teaching helps many pupils to develop their skills in a wide range of contexts well. In particular, pupils demonstrate strong literacy skills and express their ideas and views confidently and articulately in discussions and in writing. Leadership at all levels have a shared commitment to the values of the school. Secure improvement processes are used effectively to enhance the quality of the school’s work and outcomes for pupils. Inspection area Judgement Standards Good Wellbeing and attitudes to learning Good Teaching and learning experiences Good Care, support and guidance Excellent Leadership and management Good 2 A report on Bassaleg School May 2019 Recommendations R1 Improve outcomes in key stage 4 in a few areas across the curriculum R2 Improve the attitudes to learning of a few pupils R3 Reduce the variation in teaching and assessment to ensure that pupils of all abilities make sufficient progress What happens next Bassaleg School will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection. Estyn will invite the school to prepare a case study on its work around involving vulnerable groups in student representation and its personal and social education and tutorial programme for dissemination on Estyn’s website.