The number of Powys schools causing concern is "frightening"
The number of schools causing concern in Powys has been described as “frightening” by a senior councillor.
At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Learning and Skills scrutiny committee on Thursday, January 16 councillors and lay independent members discussed a report on the outcomes of recent school inspections by education watchdog Estyn.
Head of learning and school improvement Anwen Orrells said that from now on members would receive updates on this topic each term rather than waiting until the end of a full academic year to bring a report to the committee.
Mrs Orrells explained that the education department had looked at all recommendations given to schools by Estyn and were concentrating on a couple of key areas that had been identified.
Ms Orrells said: “Most of the recommendations were based around the quality of teaching and learning experiences.
“The second area of priority is around leadership.
“Around leadership it was very much focussed on leaders (headteachers) accurately evaluating the strengths and areas for development in school and the impact this has on the progress of learners.
“This has informed how we are supporting and challenging our schools.”
Conservative group leader Cllr Aled Davies said: “Why are we letting our children down?
“Standards in schools have been slipping and this is the first time we have seen this sort of data for a long time.
“In secondary schools the outcomes are deteriorating, some schools are in special measures and the number in an Estyn category is quite frightening.”
Mrs Orrells said: “We are asking ourselves that, we may need to focus on the level of challenge.”
She added that many of the “middle” tiers of school leadership are “one man bands” who need to be able to bounce ideas “back and forth,” with someone else, who can provide the necessary support and challenge.
Mrs Orrells said: “The importance of the secondary support team is bringing people to work together.
“We are an affluent county compared to others so our outcomes should naturally higher be than Wales (average).
“We will not rest until our standards are where we want them.”
Cllr Davies: “I don’t doubt your commitment but there is something fundamentally going wrong in our schools.”
“It may be something to do with the funding and asking our schools to do too much.”
Mrs Orrells explained that a “strong relationship” has been forged with Radyr Comprehensive school which is just outside Cardiff.
Many headteachers and teachers from Powys have been to visit Radyr to see how they have “driven” teaching and improvement there.
Mrs Orrells said: “We are looking at every option available to support our senior leaders and teachers.”
Estyn are due to inspect the council’s Education department next month.
In the 2023/2024 academic year 20 schools in Powys received an Estyn inspection.
Of these, 11 were given a clean bill of health with no follow up work needed.
Eight were placed in “Estyn review” follow up.
Tthe Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) which has site in both Brecon and Newtown requires “significant improvement.”
Estyn also conducted several monitoring visits which saw Brecon High School stay in “special measures,” although Mrs Orrells said that Estyn had seen: “early signs of progress.”
Gwernyfed High School were seen to have made the required progress and were taken out of special measures.
Forden primary school was moved out of “Estyn review.”
Ysgol Robert Owen special school in Newtown (formerly Ysgol Cedewain) was moved out of “special measures.”
From September to December 2024 inspection outcomes in Powys saw:
Llangors primary school was put into “special measures.”
Archdeacon Griffiths Church in Wales primary school in Boughrood near Brecon needs “significant improvement.”
Ysgol Calon y Dderwen primary school in Newtown and Ysgol Pennant primary school in Penybont Fawr were both given a clean bill of health with no follow up needed.
Radnor Valley primary school was judged to have made “sufficient improvement” to be brought out of the “Estyn review” category.
A monitoring visit of Ysgol Calon Cymru secondary school which has campuses in both Llandrindod Wells and Builth Wells saw the school falling from “Estyn review” to the in need of “significant improvement” category.
