Ysgol Bro Hyddgen in Machynlleth which was “in need of significant improvement” over safeguarding, attendance and teacher quality following an inspection in 2024 has finally been given the green light by education watchdogs after addressing concerns.

In June, Estyn wrote to the school to say it had made sufficient progress against a slew of recommendations from a damning report in January last year.

That report, following an inspection in November 2024 found that “attendance and teaching quality must be improved” at Machynlleth’s all-through school, while the current arrangements for safeguarding pupils are a “cause for concern” and “significant health and safety issues” were found on the school’s secondary site.

Inspectors said the school is “in need of significant improvement.”

While Estyn praised the school for its positive pupil behaviour, the report said that “as a result of shortcomings in leaders’ strategic planning and how teachers plan their lessons and tasks, pupils do not achieve as well as they could.”

The inspection found “the condition of the accommodation, site safety and supervision arrangements in the secondary department are a cause for concern” and that “there are significant health and safety issues relating to the secondary department’s site.”

Powys County Council said at the time that the “report and recommendations, which have been accepted by both the school and the council, will form the basis of a joint and detailed action plan to address key areas requiring improvement.”

“Council officers, the school and its governing body will work together to identify reasons for the inspection outcome and to deliver the improvements that are required,” the council said.

In September 2025 it was announced that Ysgol Bro Hyddgen would be one of the schools in Powys to get extra funding as part of a £400,000 fund to drive improvement.

Now Estyn has seen enough improvement at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen for to have been “judged to have made sufficient progress in relation to the recommendations following the most recent core inspection”, and has been “removed from the list of schools that are in need of significant improvement.”

Estyn said that following new practices and new suitable security fences around the whole secondary and primary site, “safeguarding arrangements are now satisfactory and are not a cause for concern” at the school.

While Estyn said that the rate of attendance improvement “remains too slow”, the school has “strengthened procedures”, with the “whole-school attendance improved compared to the time of the core inspection.”

Estyn said that “new strategies have been introduced, in addition to taking advantage of existing good practice” to improve teaching quality at the school.

“This has led to better consistency and improvements in teaching compared with the time of the inspection,” Estyn said.

Estyn found the school had also made sufficient progress in “strengthening strategic leadership and provision for the progressive development of pupils’ literacy, numeracy and digital skills”; “establishing robust and consistent line management arrangements to ensure that leaders hold staff to account”; and “strengthening self-evaluation and improvement planning processes.”