Riding on a Crest of a Wave, An Extraordinary Voyage to Success

Estyn the school inspectorate has today published a full report on achievements at Glan y Môr School Burry Port. The report has awarded the school 10 excellent grades and 5 good grades out of a possible 15 outcomes. This result firmly places Glan y Môr as one of the top achieving schools in Wales and follows on quickly from its success in securing green categorisation status earlier this year. 

Current performance at the school and the capacity to improve have both been graded as excellent.

Glan y Môr has been in federation with Bryngwyn since 2014 and it has been on an extraordinary voyage to success, culminating in this excellent report, which is a tribute to the hard work, commitment and dedication of the governing body, staff and pupil population together with the total support of the wider Burry Port community. This whole story has been about school transformation and has seen Glan y Môr undertake one of the fastest school improvement journeys in Wales.

Academic standards and record levels of added value show all pupils matching or exceeding their full potential. It really is an exciting time to be part of the Glan y Môr learning community.

Standards, Learning Experience and Teaching

Since the federation in 2014, the sharp and sustained focus on pupil performance has resulted in an exceptional trend of improvement at key stage 4 in most of the key indicators. This steep trajectory has ensured that pupils’ outcomes in these indicators have remained well above those of similar schools in recent years.

Pupils are courteous and respectful to adults and to their peers. In general, pupils make strong progress in nearly all indicators from previous key stages and outstanding progress in the majority of key indicators, notably those that include English and mathematics.

Performance in Welsh is a significant strength of the school. Pupils make progress that is significantly better than expected in Welsh at key stage 4. The school provides extensive opportunities for pupils to use their Welsh language skills creatively outside their language lessons.

The school provides a wide range of high quality learning experiences that contribute very well to pupils’ development and progress. The range and scope of the many opportunities the school provides for all groups of pupils to participate in STEM activities are an exceptional feature.

The curriculum is planned carefully to meet the needs of all pupils. Pathways are tailored well to individual needs and aspirations. This contributes successfully to outstanding outcomes at key stage 4.

There is consistently good provision for the development of pupils’ numeracy and ICT skills across the curriculum. The school focuses strongly on developing teaching to improve the achievement of its pupils. Effective teaching is contributing well to high outcomes. Many teachers have high expectations of all pupils. They use a range of methods and resources that interest and challenge pupils to achieve highly. The school sets ambitious targets and tracks pupil progress very effectively.

Care Support & Guidance and Learning Environment

Personalised care, support and guidance for all pupils is at the heart of the work of Glan-y-Môr School. Glan-y-Môr is an inclusive, welcoming and caring school, which values all staff and pupils. It has well established strategies to keep pupils safe and encourage positive attitudes. The innovative and successful system for rewarding good behaviour is a notable feature of the school.

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, federation business manager and headteacher makes very effective use of its budget; the school provides excellent value for money.

Mr Paul Jones, the executive headteacher of the federation said; “I am absolutely delighted that Estyn has recognised the outstanding progress that Glan Y Môr has achieved. Estyn has recognised our excellent standards and high levels of well-being. The comments in the report are richly deserved by pupils and staff and clearly reflect the school’s ethos of “Success through Effort”. It is a hugely exciting time to be part of the Bryngwyn and Glan Y Môr learning communities.”

Mr Dave Williams, lead deputy of the federation 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 the 3Rs of respect, responsibility and relationships.”

Mr John Jones, head of school at Glan Y Môr said; “We are delighted that the efforts of staff, students and everyone involved with the school have been recognised to show what “success through effort” is all about. The school has been on an incredible journey that is far from finished, but we are very proud of the rapid progress we have made, not just in terms of student outcomes, but also in our work with and for our community, to provide them with a school that they can be proud of.”

Mr Steven Mears, chair of the governing body said;

“The Governing Body is overjoyed that Estyn has 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 inspection report which demonstrates the progress made by Glan Y Môr school. The governing body, headteacher, staff and pupils should all be proud of the journey they have made to make these improvements, and I am sure they will continue their journey to strive for excellence in all fields.”

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.