Cwmbran High School stays in special measures for fifth year

The school was placed in special measures in December 2018 following an inspection by Estyn, and in 2019 the school's governing body was replaced by an interim executive board.

Inspectors from Estyn undertook an enhanced monitoring visit to the school in February.

This visit was undertaken because the school has been in follow up during the whole of the current inspection cycle.

The high school was  judged to have made insufficient progress in relation to the recommendations following the most recent core inspection.

This means His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales is maintaining the level of follow-up activity.

Estyn will re-visit the school in around four to six months’ time to monitor progress against a sample of the recommendations

The school has recently taken a variety of 'suitable approaches to strengthen leadership, the quality of teaching and the provision for the development of pupils’ skills.

Many of these strategies are at an early stage, and it remains the case that, overall, pupils do not achieve as highly as they should.'

However, improvements to 'provision and leadership are beginning to have a positive impact on the progress that pupils make.'

This academic year, the school has refined and strengthened its pastoral leadership structure.

This includes the creation of 'Heads of Phase' roles as well as the appointment of staff with specific roles to work with disengaged pupils and monitor pupils’ attendance.

'This is helping the school to take a more strategic approach to this aspect of its work, and is beginning to have a positive impact on pupils' well-being.'

Recently, the school has taken a 'range of appropriate actions to strengthen this aspect of its work, including new appointments to senior and middle leadership roles.'

Leaders have 'refined whole-school approaches so that they are more strategic and coherent. As a result, staff now have a much clearer understanding of their role in developing pupils’ skills alongside their subject knowledge and understanding.'

However, much of this work is at an 'early stage of development and the provision to support the progressive development of pupils’ skills remains inconsistent and insufficiently developed across the curriculum.'

The school has  'streamlined its approaches to improving the quality of teaching to ensure there is a clear focus on those aspects most in need of development.'

However, there continues to be 'shortcomings in around half of lessons. In these cases, teachers’ expectations of what pupils can do are too low.

As a result, they plan undemanding tasks or over-scaffold work, which restricts pupils’ progress. In addition, there is too much tolerance of lack of engagement and passive learning.'

The school is beginning to establish 'stronger links with parents, partner primaries and the local community.

Communication is becoming more effective, and this is helping to share information and to build relationships.'

Cwmbran High School was contacted for comment.