SCHOOL OF THE WEEK: Caldicot School

Located in the heart of the town it serves, the secondary school is reportedly an oversubscribed one with a growing roll, with the current total standing at 1238 students.

The school's headteacher is Susan Gwyer-Roberts, who has been at the helm for 14 years.

There are four main teaching blocks at the school, with the Grayhill building being the first to be built in the 1950s to act as the town's community college.

The school also boasts two gymnasiums, an astroturf and 13 acres of playing fields running alongside the school as well as the use of the facilities of the nearby leisure centre.

The school's most recent Estyn report in 2013 saw the school rise from one of the Welsh Government's lowest-ranking schools to one of the top-rated in Gwent.

Its senior management team were praised for their “strong and effective leadership” while pupil behaviour, performance and the prominence of Welsh second langauge was described as “very good”.

Speaking at the time of its release, Mrs Gwyer-Roberts said: "We have very committed and dedicated teachers, who have worked their socks off.

"It's a privilege to be head teacher of this school."

Currently the school is undergoing major changes as it looks forward to the future with a new school build.

After serving the community for close to 50 years, it will be rebuilt as part of Monmouthshire County Council's £81m investment into the Welsh Government-supported 21st Century Schools programme.

While the new site is slowly taking shape before its targeted early 2018 finish date, the school continues to go from “strength to strength” according to Deputy Headteacher Simon Rees.

The school has pedigree with exam results, having seen several former pupils seek further education at renowned establishments such as Oxford and Cambridge.

According to Mr Rees, this year has been the most “productive” year for some time, with success in both exam results and extra-curricular activities.

Last summer the school achieved their best Key Stage 4 results in its history, with 69.1 per cent of pupils achieving the Welsh Government's Level Two Inclusive Threshold results, which equate to 5 good GCSEs including Maths and English.

In addition, 67.8 per cent achieved the CSI measure of achieving 5 good GCSEs including English, Mathematics and Science.

This second set of results placed Caldicot as the second-highest performing school across the five local authorities in South East Wales.

At A-level, every student achieved a minimum of two A levels last year with record numbers of 70 per cent moving onto university.

The school also has pedigree with sending students to renowned establishments such as Oxford and Cambridge.

Mr Rees believes that the implementation of a “comprehensive revision” programme which ran through half-term an Easter breaks helped to achieve such results.

“We were very pleased with how well our pupils performed in 2015 – our best results on record,” said Mr Rees.

“Pupils have been enthusiastic about the revision sessions staff put on offer during the holidays and after school.

“We feel very positive about the 2016 results, possibly breaking some of our own records.”

Students are also achieving successful creative outputs outside of the school as well as making a difference to the community surrounding them.

The school's music department has been heavily involved with several events this year, including the National Festival of Music.

After the school chamber choir was entered into the festival in March, they were selected to perform at the fringe festival in Birmingham on July 8.

They will also feature extensively in the upcoming National Eisteddfod in Abergavenny where they will perform across the festival.

The choir recorded the Welsh hymn 'Gwahoddiad' at Monmouth's Nimbus studios for the official Eisteddfod CD and will be joining Monmouthshire Children's choir to perform on the main Pavilion stage on August 2 and 4.

A group of pupils also wrote and composes their own song with Welsh lyrics, which will be performed on the Maes Da tent on August 5.

The school choirs regularly fundraise for the local foodbank through concerts and carol singing in the town centre, with a special concert planned on October 19 which will involve local primary school children.

The choir's director, and music teacher, Sara Humber said she was “very proud” of her pupils and spoke of their eagerness not to “turn anything down”.

Caldicot has also become a hub for improving teaching not only within their own school, but for schools across the South East Wales region.

The school's close partnership with the Education Achievement Service (EAS) saw staff from across the region take part in workshops at the school.

Caldicot is also one of a number of Pioneer Schools across Wales who are chosen to provide training and support to newly-qualified teachers.

The school's Welsh department is one of 15 schools across the country who are working with Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni to develop a new curriculum for Wales.

Mr Rees said that the school are "delighted" to be involved with so many programmes and that the staff at Caldicot are greatly profiting from them.

“The boost to confidence and staff morale has been significant, particularly in the light of so many positive comments we have received from participating schools,” said Mr Rees.

“We aim to build on our current success with more initiatives in the future, as the new build will have a dedicated staff training hub.”

FACTFILE:

Motto: Committed to Achievement

Headteacher: Susan Gwyer-Roberts

Chairman of governors: Peter Nurcombe

Number of pupils: 1238

Age of pupils: 11 to 18 years old

Last inspection: November 2013

Estyn rated the school's current performance as “good” for the good standars that pupils had achieved at Key Stage 4 as well as the performance from both students and teachers in Welsh second language.

The school was rated as having “good” prospects for improvement due to the headteacher and the senior management's “strong and effective leadership”