CAERPHILLY council has made positive progress towards addressing the findings of a report into the quality of its education services, according to the Welsh education inspectorate.

Last month, Estyn conducted a monitoring visit to review progress made since their inspection last year gave five recommendations for improvement in some areas of the council’s education services for children and young people.

The recent assessment saw progress made towards improvement in three of the five areas identified in last year’s inspection.

Following its monitoring visit, Estyn inspectors said the council has “prioritised the actions needed to improve its education and services for children and young people”.

The letter received from Estyn after last month’s monitoring visit also stated that “elected members and senior officers are committed to taking difficult decisions to improve provision and make effective use of resources”.

The feedback identifies that progress has been made to improve self-evaluation and target setting, align planning processes to make best use of resources and actions have been taken to reduce surplus capacity in schools.

Rhianon Passmore, the council’s cabinet member for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “The council’s education services have made great strides forward since last year’s Estyn inspection. This is the result of a great deal of hard work conducted by officers and Members to meet the recommendations contained within the inspection report.

“We are delighted to receive this letter showing the outcomes of Estyn’s monitoring visit, and we will continue to make further strides towards raising standards in education across our county borough.”

Estyn inspectors will carry out a further monitoring visit early in the New Year to assess progress on the final two remaining recommendations made following last year’s inspection.