Primary School Ysgol-Y-Graig Primary School is in Merthyr Tydfil. There are 193 pupils on roll, aged from 3 to 11, including 24 nursery pupils who attend full-time. There are seven single-aged classes, a nursery class and a pilot nurture class, which caters for pupils aged 7 to 11 at the school. About 20% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is slightly above the national average of 18%. The school identifies around 21% of pupils as having special education needs. This is in line with the national average. Around 12% of pupils come from an ethnic minority background and around 8% have English as an additional language. No pupils speak Welsh at home. The school’s last inspection was in March 2015 and the current headteacher took up his post in January 2018. 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 Ysgol-Y-Graig Primary School November 2019 Summary The school has clear procedures to identify what it does well and what it needs to do to improve. The headteacher has high expectations of all staff and promotes a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement well. Since his appointment, he has implemented changes that have had a positive impact on pupils’ standards, the quality of teaching and the school environment. Senior leaders contribute well to improvement planning and are beginning to develop their leadership skills effectively. Pupils generally make suitable progress in developing their literacy and numeracy skills, but progress tends to accelerate as pupils move through key stage 2. However, they do not generally have opportunities to apply their information and communication technology (ICT) skills well enough across the curriculum. Many pupils behave well and have positive attitudes to learning, particularly in key stage 2. The school is an inclusive community and caters well for the needs of pupils in the nurture provision. 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 Good Leadership and management Good 2 A report on Ysgol-Y-Graig Primary School November 2019 Recommendations R1 Improve consistency in the quality of teaching across the school R2 Develop pupils’ independent skills and give them a greater voice in what and how they learn R3 Develop the skills of leaders at all levels R4 Improve attendance What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection.