A SCHOOL on the Shropshire/Wales border is celebrating success after receiving a positive report from inspectors.

St Mary's Church in Wales (CIW) School in Overton-on-Dee was visited by Estyn inspectors in March and the report, released this week, highlighted the many positive aspects of life in the school for its pupils.

The school was praised for creating an environment that contributed to effective learning.

Acting headteacher, Darren Morris thanked staff, pupils, parents and governors for the positive feedback from Estyn.

OTHER NEWS

He said: "We are all incredibly proud and feel the inspection team has written a report that perfectly sums up life at St Mary’s.

"It highlights the high-quality and creative learning experiences provided by all our committed and hard-working staff, rightfully acknowledging the whole team effort at the school.

"The report is a wonderfully positive reflection of everyone involved in our school and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff, pupils, governors, parents and members of the wider school community that help make St Mary’s such a special place."

The report praised the school for providing a positive and creative environment.

It added: "Pupils enjoy their time at St Mary’s very much. This is because their teachers plan interesting activities for them, which makes learning exciting and fun. 

"They listen carefully to what pupils want to learn and weave their ideas into well-planned sequences of lessons that build systematically on pupils’ knowledge and understanding. 

"This ensures that most pupils display high levels of interest and engagement in their work.

"Pupils receive purposeful opportunities to practise their literacy, numeracy, and digital skills well."

The report recommended the school strengthen provision for the development of pupils’ Welsh language skills and provide opportunities for pupils to make decisions about how they organise and present their work, and to decide for themselves how they respond to learning tasks.

It also called for the pupils to ensure that the quality of teachers feedback is focused on the next steps in pupils learning effectively.

Want to stay up to date with all the latest stories from Whitchurch and the surrounding area? Click here to sign up for our morning and daily email newsletters and click on the + for the 'Morning Briefing' and the 'Daily Catch-Up'.

The report praised the staff for identifying aspects which need to be improved.

It said: "The acting headteacher and governors provide efficient and supportive leadership.

"Staff work well together and as a team they share responsibilities.

"The school is good at identifying the areas of its work that are most effective and those aspects that need to be improved.

"This enables leaders to set clear ambitions for the direction of the school."