School Development Summary
2022-2023
Throughout 2021-22 we constantly reviewed and evaluated our progress within three areas:-
Vision and Leadership - We have strong processes to enable all staff to develop as leaders. as a result our team drive our curriculum vision forward with consistency and enthusiasm.
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning - We pride ourselves on being an inclusive school that provides authentic, purposeful and relevant learning experiences for every learner. As a result, nearly all pupils thrive in Llanrhidian in terms of achievement and well-being.
Well-being, Equity and Inclusion - There is a caring and respectful ethos that permeates the daily life of school and this has effectively supported pupils' wellbeing consistently over many years. School leaders and the ALN team track and monitor pupils' progress effectively as they move through the school. As a result both pupils and staff display high levels of personal well-being and relationships are positive. The school has very good links with its community and nearly all parents and carers feel they are kept fully informved and are involved in school life.
For a full self evaluation document (SED), please click here.
Summary of Targets 2022-23
Due regard is given to the following national priorities:
NP1: Improving pupils’ progression by ensuring their learning is supported by a range of knowledge, skills and experience
NP2: Reducing the impact of poverty on learners’ progression and attainment
Curriculum Learning & Teaching
| Target | Rationale |
| Literacy – Further develop reading strategies to find information and/or ideas to support their independent work | A range of monitoring activities has highlighted the need to support pupil independence. Skills that enable pupils extract appropriate information from text supports a range of tasks including their self-directed learning. Whole school personalised assessments demonstrated that this was an area for improvement, especially in Year 2- 4. NP1 |
| Numeracy – Further develop strategies for calculation using mental and written methods | A range of monitoring activities has identified that too many pupils are over reliant on “manipulatives”, especially numicon. These pupils are unable to visualise to make strong connections between numbers which is hindering their progress when using numeracy in other contexts. This was also identified as an area for development in the personal assessments. NP1 |
| Science/DCF - Develop computational thinking across all pods | An audit of science and DCF has highlighted that staff lack most confidence computational thinking. Although DCF skills across the school are strong, there is a clear area less advanced in terms of both pupils’ and staff skills. NP1 |
| Teaching - Continue to develop choice and challenge to facilitate appropriate self-directed learning to apply existing knowledge, skills and understanding. | The school has made good progress against this target, however further refinement is needed to ensure that all teacher are adhering to the “Teach it”, “Practice it” and “Apply it” approach to planning their pedagogy. The school remains committed to supporting practitioners' understanding of what works in curriculum design by investing in the enquiry and pedagogic skills of all staff. NP1 |
| Develop a wider range of additional clubs and activities to better reflect the four purposes | Both pupils and parents have raise that a wider variety of clubs would better meet the needs and interests of the pupils. NP1&NP2 |
| Develop Welsh oracy as a cluster approach to ensure progression, high standards and positive attitudes | There is a wealth of good practice to develop Cymraeg across the cluster. However to ensure equity of provision, the partner schools need to agree and implement a cluster approach to developing Welsh oracy. NP1 |
| Improve the diversity of the curriculum, ensuring that learning reflects Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic perspectives. | In order to meet the statutory requirements of the Curriculum for Wales, all schools need to develop a coherent plan to deliver an authentic curriculum that reflects both a local and national context as well as promoting human rights and diversity. NP1 |
| Curriculum Design - Further develop a shared understanding of progression, within each AoLE, across the whole cluster. | The school is committed to enabling all learners, and in particular those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to progress along their own learning pathway and raise their aspirations to achieve their full potential; allied to a range of assessment approaches to understand and support this progress. In order to maximise this pupil progress, and give each learner the best life chances, it is vital that all pupils enter Gowerton with equity of high quality learning experiences. As a result, the cluster has recognised the need to develop a concept map across progression steps 1-5 to ensure the planned progression of all AoLES. NP1&NP2 |
Well-being Equity & Inclusion
| Target | Rationale |
| Revisit assessment for learning techniques to ensure pupils are evaluating their learning accurately, with limited adult involvement. | As part of our monitoring in 2021-22, AfL was raised as an area that needed re-visiting to ensure progression of techniques across the school. This will support pupils with “stage appropriate” self and peer evaluation, as well as ensuring pupil participation levels remain high. NP1&NP2 |
| Further improve pupil participation through developing provision that best suits the need of individual learners at the top end of the school | The school has successfully developed “Relax and Refuel” time which supports with meeting pupils’ preferences at break times. For example, pupils have a range of activities they can engage in. However, there are too many instances where pupils are struggling to co-operate independently. The school needs to consider its provision to best suit this need by ensuring the school environment supports learners’ and practitioners’ well-being. NP1&NP2 |
| Further develop pupil screening to identify additional learning needs across literacy and numeracy. | Early intervention has a profound effect on supporting pupils to progress. Existing screening identifies speech and language, dyslexia (highlighted pupils) and motor skills difficulties. However, the ALNCO has recognised the need to extend this to screen all pupils for dyslexia, and dyscalculia from Y3-Y6. In addition, nonverbal reasoning and phonological battery assessments need to be introduced for identified pupils. NP1&NP2 |
| Re-develop "Pupil Progress Meetings" to align with school expectations of standards and progress in line with the curriculum for Wales | Covid has impacted negatively upon the rigour of pupil progress meetings, and this needs to resume to ensure that all pupils are on track and get the best possible intervention to meet their needs. As a result the school needs to re-visit and improve upon the previous model to ensure all staff are aware of pupils’ needs, next steps and the provision required. The school will continue to listen to our pupils as they engage with their learning and support them in achieving their aspirations NP1&NP2 |
Vision & Leadership
| Target | Rationale |
| To strengthen and develop links with its stakeholders through face to face engagements and events. | Covid has impacted negatively upon community events and therefore stakeholder engagement. This has left the school without the same strong connections that give us feedback and views that supports and informs our school improvement. In addition there is the need to support pupils’ aspirations towards the four purposes through developing links with the world of work. The school is committed to co-constructing a curriculum, in line with the Curriculum for Wales Framework, which promotes a broad range of knowledge, skills and experiences (including social and interactional experiences) with a clear understanding of why these matter. The school aims to be at the heart our community to support and promote educational achievement. NP2 |
| Re-design AoLE monitoring to ensure processes are robust, streamlined and effective to facilitate improvement. | The school has reviewed is AoLE monitoring, and while robust, it is often approached with a bias. A 360° view of each AoLE is needed to ensure progression is at the heart of planning and assessment. AoLE monitoring must become more formative, and more collegial to ensure a whole school approach is secured. Through this process the school will embed reflection, self-evaluation and improvement, providing good opportunities for leadership. NP1&NP2 |
Reviewing Progress of Targets
The staff and governors have robust systems to review the progress of all targets throughout the year. However, an annual summary is presented to governors at the end of the Summer term. This final evaluation informs the following year's Self Evaluation Document (SED) and School Development Plan (SDP).