Top of the Class

Estyn the school inspectorate have today published a full report on achievements at Bryngwyn School. It gives us immense pleasure to announce that in our recent inspection, Bryngwyn School was rated as Excellent in all 15 aspects of the school by Estyn.

This is the highest possible rating that the inspectorate can give, and therefore, the best that any school can achieve. These outcomes have only been achieved by 5 other schools in Wales, and places Bryngwyn firmly at the top of the class!
The school, which has 1022 pupils, has been deemed to have attained an “excellent” rating in all categories; standards; well-being of students; learning experiences; teaching; care, support and guidance; the learning environment; leadership; improving quality; partnership working; and resource management. Included below are some highlights from the full report:
Standards, Learning Experience and Teaching
There are several outstanding features. In standards pupils are praised as being highly respectful and showing exceptional care and concern for others. They demonstrated positive attitudes towards their learning and exemplary behaviour in lessons and around the school. Provision for more able and talented pupils is a particular strength of the school and the school uses particularly effective interventions to support pupils with weaker skills enabling pupils to achieve outstanding outcomes.
Provision for Welsh enables many pupils to make very strong progress in their language development.
Teaching is highly effective and makes an important contribution to the excellent outcomes of pupils. It is characterised by enthusiasm, strong working relationships between teachers and pupils and a secure understanding of effective teaching methods. A particular strength is the way in which many teachers provide immediate high quality verbal feedback, helping pupils to make swift progress and contributes significantly to the excellent standards they achieve.
Care Support & Guidance and Learning Environment
Pupil engagement is outstanding. The school is a highly inclusive and caring community. The personalised care, support and guidance of pupils and an emphasis on celebrating and rewarding pupil achievements is an exemplary feature of its work. There is a heartfelt commitment to the development of each individual pupil.
Leadership, Improving Quality, Partnership Working and Resource Management
The leadership of the federation of Bryngwyn School and Glan-y-Môr School is an outstanding feature that has made a significant contribution to securing very high standards and strong levels of pupil wellbeing. Governance of the federation is a significant strength. The head teacher of the federation provides dynamic and inspirational leadership. He is supported effectively by senior and middle leaders across the federation.
A particularly notable strength of the federation is the high level of collaboration between staff across the two schools. This has been exceptionally successful and has had a significant impact on improving the quality of provision in both schools.
Bryngwyn-Glan-y-Môr Federation has secured outstanding improvements to standards, learning experiences, and sustained high levels of attendance at Glan-y-Môr School whilst maintaining consistently strong standards, care, support and guidance and developing outstanding teaching at Bryngwyn School. Overall, the collaboration has had a very strong, positive influence on pupils’ standards and wellbeing. The Federation shares its expertise extensively in strategic planning, financial management and the development of aspiring middle and senior leaders.
The school through its governing body, business manager and head teacher makes very effective use of its budget; the school provides excellent value for money.
In addition, Current performance at the school and the capacity to improve have both been graded as excellent.

Mr Paul Jones, the Executive Head teacher of the Federation said; “We are delighted that Estyn have recognised both the excellent standards and excellent well-being that characterise our school. The comments are richly deserved by pupils and staff. This report reflects our heartfelt commitment to being the best that we can be. It is a hugely exciting time to be part of the Bryngwyn and Glan Y Môr learning communities.”
Mr Dave Williams, Head of School at Bryngwyn and Lead Deputy of the Federations said; “All our efforts are about providing the best possible experience for the pupils in our care. Our staff always go the extra mile to help our pupils to build a life for themselves based on 3Rs of respect, responsibility and relationships.”
Mr Steven Mears, Chair of the governing body said;
“The Governing Body are overjoyed that Estyn have recognised the excellent work going on at Bryngwyn and Glan y Môr Schools and the outstanding progress that has been made through the efforts of the staff. Our efforts are focussed on supporting and challenging the schools to deliver the best possible education for pupils and the reports clearly reflect that significant progress has been made since the Federation of Bryngwyn and Glan y Môr Schools.
We are very proud as a Governing Body and are very grateful for the efforts of staff.”

Carmarthenshire County Council’s education executive board member Cllr Glynog Davies said:
“This is an excellent report and I would like to congratulate the headteacher, staff and pupils. The outstanding results demonstrate the high standards, quality of teaching and learning environment at the schools.”

In 2014 the school Federated with Glan Y Môr School in Burry Port. Estyn inspected both schools during the week and Glan Y Môr School secured excellent in 10 of categories inspected and good in 5 other areas. Between them the federation secured 25 Excellent grades, an outstanding achievement, unmatched in Wales.

The current performance of BRYNGWYN school is excellent because:

• Performance in most key indicators has been consistently strong over the past four years and compares favourably with that in similar
schools
• Most pupils make more progress than expected from one key stage to the next
• Pupils’ attendance is consistently above modelled outcomes
• Most pupils behave exceptionally well and are enthusiastic and resilient learners
• The curriculum is planned carefully and creatively to ensure that it meets fully the needs and interests of all pupils
• In most lessons, highly effective teaching ensures that most pupils make strong progress
• The quality of care, support and guidance is outstanding
• The school’s culture of celebrating and rewarding achievement is highly successful in engaging pupils and their parents
• All of the school’s work is closely focused on enabling each individual pupil to achieve their potential

The school’s prospects for improvement for Bryngwyn are excellent because:

• The headteacher and senior leaders across the federation provide outstanding strategic direction for the school
• Leaders at all levels share a clear vision, focused on raising standards and placing the needs of each individual at the heart of the
school’s work
• The federation governing body provides the school with a consistently high level of challenge and support
• Self-evaluation and improvement planning across the federation has secured outstanding improvements to standards, learning experiences,
and sustained high quality teaching
• The school has an extensive range of high quality partnerships that have a significant impact on standards, provision and leadership
• The school has exceptionally strong arrangements for identifying and meeting the professional development needs of teaching and support
staff
• The school’s evaluation and management of its budget expenditure and resource allocation are extremely robust

The full reports can be viewed on the school website at www.bryngwynschool.org.uk/
Or Estyn www.estyn.gov.wales/provider/ysgol-bryngwyn-school