A CAERPHILLY primary school has been praised for its pupils' high standards of literacy and communication skills by the inspectorate Estyn.

Teaching at Trinant Primary School in Crumlin is effective throughout the 126-pupil school, and levels of care, support and guidance are "very good", according to Estyn's latest report, which placed the school in the "good" category for both performance and prospects for improvement.

The headteacher provides effective leadership and promotes a clear vision for the school which has a good track record of bringing about improvements, the report said.

But Estyn tasked the school with raising standards in mathematics and the application of pupils’ numeracy skills between Years 3 and 6; improving the attainment of boys in reading and writing; as well as pupils’ fluency when speaking Welsh.

Pupils use skills in numeracy to construct tables and graphs, said the report, but they rarely use calculations outside maths lessons and many pupils’ ability to work independently and to solve problems is not well developed.

Standards, wellbeing, learning experiences, teaching and the learning environment were all praised as "good", as were leadership, improving quality, partnership working and resource management.

Much of the recent teacher training has taken place at a whole-school level "in order to develop the consistency of approaches and provision across the school", said the report.

A questionnaire given to pupils was returned completed by 81 students who said teachers and other adults in the school help them to learn and make progress.

Nearly all said they feel safe in school and know whom to speak to when they are worried or upset; the school teaches them how to keep healthy and provides lots of chances to get regular exercise; and the school has enough books, equipment and computers.

Most think homework helps them to understand and improve their work in school and the school deals well with bullying. Many said nearly all children behave well at playtime and lunchtime.