A SCHOOL in Gwent has won plaudits for championing children’s creativity.

Pupils at Gilwern Primary School enjoy a variety of learning experiences ranging from those on their doorstep – like Raglan Castle – to the South Pole.

A team from Welsh inspection agency Estyn visited the school in October and has now published its findings.

They said “nearly all pupils enjoy their time at Gilwern Primary School”.

Younger children “settle into school life quickly and engage positively with each other and adults”, and “make good progress in developing a wide range of skills”.

Opportunities to learn outside are also a strong feature of school life, the inspectors said.

Pupils are “happy and confident when learning indoors but especially in the school’s enticing outdoor areas”.

“In particular, they enjoy activities such as music and most make good progress in developing their creativity,” the inspectors added.

Older children at the school, however, may not “always make the progress they could” and “the attitudes to learning of a minority of older pupils, boys in particular, become less positive in class-based lessons”.

The school curriculum is “broad and balanced” and inspectors singled out the “Gilwern Around the World” for particular praise as “creative and innovative”.

“This provides valuable opportunities for contextual learning,” Estyn said. “For example, on their virtual journey around the globe, pupils learn about faiths, such as Hinduism, when they ‘arrive’ in India and develop their scientific skills through ice melting experiments, when ‘visiting’ Antarctica.”

There are other opportunities to learn about the wider world, too, and Year 3 pupils excelled when delivering a ‘breaking news’ television broadcast about their imaginary discovery of China, inspectors noted.

Estyn said teachers at Gilwern Primary use specialist expertise “extremely well to develop pupils’ skills, knowledge, understanding”.

Teachers “foster a positive culture of reading” and “plan appropriate learning opportunities for pupils to explore, practise and enhance their skills”.

The inspectors said Gilwern Primary was a “nurturing and caring environment where staff and pupils display mutual respect so that all members of the community feel valued”.

Its leadership team, they added, had “established a clear vision to support the learning and well-being of pupils” and “worked creatively and thoughtfully to design a curriculum that matches the aspirations and ethos of the new Curriculum for Wales”.

Leaders are also “committed to staff wellbeing” and the school “engages positively and effectively with parents”.