Ceredigion County Council website

The report was published on 2 September 2024 following a comprehensive inspection of the Council’s Education Service procedures and arrangements, including analysis of questionnaire responses, preliminary interviews with relevant partners, analysis of various data such as learner outcomes and school performance, the quality and standard of support and support being provided to schools and close scrutiny of self-evaluation processes,  strategic plans and arrangement for the safeguarding of learners.

In the report, the inspectors state that the Local Authority places a clear emphasis on ensuring stable, high-quality educational provision for learners in Ceredigion over an extended period and that this is largely due to strong leadership; clear and intended strategies and ambitions; and close collaboration among authority officials, elected members, schools and other partners. It also notes that the authority has a strong track record of maintaining and improving their provision and delivering good outcomes for Ceredigion's children and young people.

The report contains a number of strengths. Here are some of the highlights:

• Ceredigion County Council has a robust vision for its school improvement service. Officers work effectively to try to realise the vision of ensuring the best possible experiences for all children and young people in Ceredigion and there is a strong focus on developing learning, teaching and pupils’ standards of well-being.
• The authority places a clear priority on developing leadership capacity within schools and the service to respond to national recruitment challenges. The strategy includes the professional learning programme, secondments and the activities of the school improvement team.
• The authority’s arrangements in terms of developing the Welsh language are a significant strength, where several aspects of excellence can be seen among its provision and practices. There is a successful co-operation between officers from the culture department and the teams in the education department to support the Welsh language and Welshness.
• The Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) is ambitious and clear in terms of the authority’s objectives to develop the Welsh language, and officers across the schools service and other departments of the authority are committed to realising the plan’s objectives and targets.
• The authority supports its schools and settings to improve teaching and leadership effectively. The authority’s improvement advisers have a strong knowledge of their schools and data is used shrewdly to challenge and support schools. This is an extremely robust and purposeful feature. Over time, the outcomes of school inspections in Ceredigion are strong.
• The local authority’s education services promote positive behaviour and good attendance in its schools and put valuable provision in place to encourage pupils to continue to engage with their education
• There is a robust vision and provision to meet the needs of pupils with additional learning needs. Being inclusive and providing a resource within pupils’ local communities is a commendable aspect of the authority’s mindset. There is a range of beneficial specialist services to support schools to meet pupils’ learning needs. Additional learning provision is provided fully bilingually and this is a notable strength. The ALN team ensures that pupils’ individual needs are a priority in their work and robust co-operation across services ensures a cohesive and person-centred approach. The service succeeds in supporting the needs of nearly all pupils and only a very few pupils receive specialist out-of-county provision.

Elen James, Ceredigion’s Chief Education Officer, said: “It is a pleasure to share the excellent results of our recent inspection. This report from Estyn is extremely positive and I am grateful to the inspectors for their thorough work.”

"I am delighted that Estyn has recognised that Ceredigion officers have a supportive, productive and positive working relationship with the authority's schools, along with relevant organisations and partners. 

“Authority staff work closely with schools to offer proactive and purposeful support where necessary, to support their pupils and promote positive behaviour effectively, as to offer a range of beneficial specialist services to support schools to meet pupils' learning needs, demonstrating our inclusive approach to education.”

“There are a number of cameos/snapshots within the report that specifically highlight the innovative work being done across the Services e.g. how data is used to identify strengths and areas for development in pupils' performance as to inform analytical discussions, how the specialties of Welsh Language Support Team members and the culture department are used to support schools changing the medium of language, and how senior officials and elected members take pride in, and encourage the contribution of Ceredigion children and young people as they plan on the authority's strategic direction in specific aspects, such as post-16 education and the Welsh language strategic plan in education.”

Councillor Wyn Thomas, Ceredigion’s Cabinet Member responsible for Schools, Lifelong Learning and Skills added: “The County’s Corporate Strategy sets out the Council's Corporate Wellbeing Objectives, one of these aims is ‘Providing the Best Start in Life and Enabling Learning at All Ages’. This report is testament that the Education Service in Ceredigion, is on track to reach our priorities.”

"I would like to extend my sincere thanks and congratulate all staff who contribute to the education of our learners, for their commitment, total dedication and untiring work to ensure Ceredigion learners achieve very high standards. This report is a testament to the perseverance, support and effective collaboration between everyone involved in the educational journey of every child and young person in Ceredigion."

The Council will act on the two areas of improvement identified by Estyn, namely to continue to improve attendance within the authority's schools and develop self-evaluation and planning for improvement processes further so that they focus on the impact that services have on outcomes.

To read the report online, visit: Inspection report Ceredigion County Council 2024 (gov.wales)