Through its mission, ‘Together in Christ, we make a difference’, the school has built an inclusive community where every individual is valued. Pupils participate enthusiastically in a wide range of extra-curricular activities and most volunteer to support local charities. Many pupils behave well and generally have a positive attitude to their work, particularly in lessons with practical tasks. However, a few pupils do not engage sufficiently in their work. Most staff establish positive working relationships with their pupils. The majority of teachers deliver well-planned lessons that enable many pupils to make suitable progress, particularly in the core subjects. However, assessment practices are underdeveloped and a minority of teachers do not explain clearly enough how pupils can improve the quality of their work. The recently appointed headteacher is providing sound leadership and a clear sense of purpose, based on creating an inclusive school with care and concern for others at its heart. Although there are a range of suitable policies and processes in place, these do not always work coherently. Leaders do not act promptly enough on the findings from self-evaluation activities. In particular, they do not consider sufficiently the effectiveness of provision by its impact on pupils’ skills, or plan well enough for improvement. Inspection area Judgement Standards Adequate and needs improvement Wellbeing and attitudes to learning Adequate and needs improvement Teaching and learning experiences Adequate and needs improvement Care, support and guidance Adequate and needs improvement Leadership and management Adequate and needs improvement 2 A report on St Illtyds R.C. High School January 2019 Recommendations R1 Raise standards, across the school, in particular at key stage 4 R2 Strengthen the effectiveness of leadership, including self-evaluation and improvement planning, at all levels R3 Improve the quality of teaching and assessment R4 Improve behaviour What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to show how it is going to address the recommendations. Estyn will review the school’s progress