Flintshire high school celebrates highly positive Estyn inspection report

After a highly positive Estyn inspection, John Weir, headteacher together with staff and students are celebrating the significant achievements across several key areas of the school that have been highlighted in the subsequent report, which has just been released. 

The inspection report emphasises the school’s dedication to excellence, its particularly strong leadership, exceptional pastoral care, high-quality teaching, commitment to inclusivity, and robust community engagement.

It states that “leadership has had a positive impact on several important aspects of the school’s work, including the quality of teaching, the effectiveness of improvement processes and increasing pupil attendance,” and commends the headteacher’s “thoughtful leadership,” saying that he “provides passionate and committed leadership and is a strong role model who has high expectations of himself and others.” 

It also says that he (Mr Weir) is “supported well by the senior leadership team, whose roles and responsibilities are well defined and understood, and that together they provide “a clear strategic direction for the school and have high expectations of themselves, staff, and pupils.” 

This strong leadership has been instrumental in driving significant improvements across the school, despite financial challenges​.

John Weir, headteacher

Within the care, support and wellbeing category, the school’s commitment to wellbeing is highlighted: “Ysgol Treffynnon prioritises wellbeing and promotes its ethos of inspiring self-belief, perseverance, respect, integrity, and trust (SPIRIT) amongst its pupils.”  

The tailored pastoral support and effective collaboration with external agencies underscores the school’s dedication to providing a “safe, inclusive and nurturing environment where pupils are encouraged to develop and mature with confidence.”

Under teaching and its impact on engagement and learning, the report finds that many teachers provide “engaging learning experiences” and “foster good working relationships with pupils based on mutual respect.” With effective classroom management and constructive feedback, teaching is “effective in ensuring that all groups of pupils engage well with work and make sound progress.” 

In addition, the report notes the school’s effective coordination of support for students with additional learning needs (ALN), stating that “the ALN team have a secure understanding of pupils’ learning needs and purposefully co-ordinates the interventions available to pupils with ALN.” This approach ensures all students, especially those with additional needs, are supported to make secure progress.

Successful initiatives to enhance attendance and wellbeing reflect the school’s commitment to working closely with families and external partners​, and this proactive engagement work has led to “improvements in the attendance of all groups of pupils.” 

The school’s curriculum “offers appropriate breadth and balance to pupils,” and there is “a broad range of extra-curricular opportunities available to pupils. These include many lunchtime and after-school clubs for sports, performing arts, crafts and IT as well as provision for homework support and revision. In addition, teachers plan for a wide variety of educational visits and enrichment activities which complement the curriculum.”

Mr Weir expressed his pride in the school’s accomplishments: “The achievements recognised through this inspection report are a testament to what can be achieved when everyone works together to ensure our students receive the high standards they deserve.”

“The significant progress the school has continued to make is proof of the effective partnership working between the school, the Local Education Authority, and GwE.  It highlights what can be achieved when everyone is prepared to work hard, persevere, and maintain an unwavering commitment to excellence and continuous improvement.

“A huge ‘thank you’ must go to all our students.  They are our inspiration and the reason we do what we do.”

Norma Collin,Chair of Governors, said: “Ysgol Treffynnon received a positive assessment that acknowledged numerous strengths within the school community. The report highlighted the staff’s unwavering commitment to ensuring the well-being of every student, emphasising that this value is central to the school’s work. This recognition reflects the school’s dedication to creating a supportive and nurturing environment for all students.”