STAFF at a primary school in Bow Street are celebrating after getting the thumbs up from inspectors.

Ysgol Rhydypennau is the first school in Ceredigion to have undergone an Estyn inspection under a new framework which grades schools in five key areas.

The school, visited in December, received ‘good’ rankings - the second highest - in all categories in the report released by inspectors last week.

Previously Estyn would judge a school’s overall current performance and prospects for improvement, but since September last year has graded schools in five categories: Standards; Wellbeing and Attitudes to Learning; Teaching and Learning Experiences; Care, Support and Guidance; and Leadership and Management.

When inspectors visited the 188-pupil school they found that “the headteacher’s vision for developing the school is clear and has a positive effect on the quality of provision and on pupils’ standards and wellbeing".

Inspectors reported that “as a result of the effective method used by the foundation phase teachers to feed language to them, pupils acquire good Welsh communication skills at an early stage".

Inspectors also noted that “the school provides a wide and rich range of learning experiences to develop pupils’ skills effectively.”

Headteacher Peter Leggett said: “As a school community, we’re very pleased that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate have acknowledged the hard work and commitment of our staff and pupils, and the effectiveness of our communication with parents."

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