A WELSH-medium primary school has been praised by inspectors for creating a “caring community” for pupils.

Estyn inspectors visited Ysgol Llangadog in March this year.

“The school is a caring, supportive and happy community that places a clear emphasis on safeguarding pupils and promotes their well-being effectively,” read the Estyn report.

“Due attention is given to respecting diversity within the school community.

"This is reflected in the caring and welcoming way in which pupils and staff value everyone’s contributions to the school’s work and the way in which they welcome new pupils.

“This ensures that pupils who join the school settle quickly and become a complete part of its community.

“As a result, nearly all pupils are happy and feel safe at the school. They know that they can share any concerns with staff and that they will receive a caring and prompt response.”

Inspectors said that most children at the primary school were making “appropriate progress” with their literacy, maths and ICT skills, and that children with additional learning needs were making “at least good progress”.

The school’s arts provision was also highlighted in the report, in particular when teaching children to play musical instruments – including the flute and drums.

Children also had the chance to develop these skills through entering local and national competitions.

The report stated that most pupils at the school were “polite and willing to help each other”.

“Many persevere diligently when they face difficulties in their work and value the varied opportunities they are given to contribute to the content of their tasks and to have a general influence on other elements of the school’s work,” it continued.

“The teaching team presents the main principles of the Curriculum for Wales increasingly successfully.

“Staff are beginning to consider different ways of planning to ensure that pupils acquire and apply their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills consistently across the curriculum.

“However, they are not yet established enough to have a positive effect on standards and progress.”

The report did say that the school was making good use of its new facilities – for example the younger children studying live chickens in the school’s outdoor area and learning in the garden area.

The inspectors did suggest that some of the teaching staff could set their expectations for the pupils’ abilities higher, however it was also said that lessons were “usually interesting and appropriate”.

“Where teaching is at its best, activities provide rich experiences that nurture pupils’ independence successfully and encourage them to make at least good progress,” the report continued.

The Estyn report stated that the school had been through “a period of instability”, but that the headteacher – who was appointed just over a year ago – had begun introducing new procedures in order to ensure the quality of provision.

“However, as these are new, it is not yet possible to measure their true effect,” the inspectors said.

It was added that the relationship between the headteacher and parents is a positive one.

The inspectors recommended that the school continues to work to stabilise its leadership and implementing the new procedures to continue raising standards for the children.

Estyn also recommended that the school ensures that teaching is consistently high across the school to help all pupils achieve to the best of their ability, and continues to provide regular opportunities for pupils to apply their literacy, maths and ICT skills across the curriculum.