Radyr Comprehensive School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Leaders in Radyr Comprehensive School place improving teaching at the centre of all of their work.

This, along with the high priority they place on pupils' well-being and developing their sense of belonging, means that most pupils enjoy being at school, engage effectively during lessons and feel safe and valued as part of the school community. The impact of professional learning on the quality of teaching is a notable strength of the school. Leaders have focused closely on developing teaching as the core element of their approach to implementing Curriculum for Wales.

This work has had a positive impact, for example on improving the quality of questioning in lessons. Staff foster positive relationships with their pupils tha...t help them to feel safe and ready to learn. In many instances, strong teaching helps pupils make good progress in their learning.

In a minority of lessons, inspirational teaching supports pupils to make particularly rapid progress. The school has taken a measured approach to developing the provision for pupils' skills. This has ensured a well-understood whole-school approach where opportunities for pupils to apply their reading, writing and speaking skills are plentiful and their ability to read and understand a broad range of complex texts is a strength.

The opportunities for pupils to helpfully apply their numeracy and digital skills are planned carefully. The headteacher and his senior team have developed a clear vision for the school which is rooted in providing high-quality learning experiences and developing a coherent approach to their Curriculum for Wales. They have secured a generally broad and balanced curriculum, although this narrows in Year 9 when pupils begin their option choices.

Leaders carry out an extensive range of evaluation activities and know their school well. However, their evaluation of learning, including the progress that pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) make, is not always rigorous enough. This means that improvement planning is sometimes not sufficiently precise.

Leaders have established a positive safeguarding culture where staff understand their roles and most pupils know where to turn to when they require support. Most pupils feel free from bullying and that staff deal with any issues or poor behaviour effectively. Most pupils behave well in lessons and around the school and show respect for staff visitors and their peers.

Pupils embrace the extensive range of leadership opportunities and have successfully supported the school to celebrate diversity and create a culture where most pupils feel included as part of the whole school community. Recommendations R1 Refine self-evaluation activities so that they focus precisely on pupils' learning and skills, including those of pupils with additional learning needs R2 Ensure that pupils have access to the full range of learning experiences until the end of Year 9 What happens next The school will draw up an action plan to address the recommendations from the inspection. Estyn will invite the school to prepare a case study on its work in relation to the impact of professional learning on improving the quality of teaching.