St. Michael's C.I.W. School, Powys

St. Michael's C.I.W. School is an English-medium school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

It had 94 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

Of its pupils, 9% have additional learning needs (18% in 2020/21).

Year groups range from 11 pupils (Year 3) to 18 (Year 6).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £5,176 per pupil, against £4,926 in 2021-22. It carried forward £17k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its June 2022 inspection summarises St. Michael's C.I.W. School like this:

"Nearly all pupils enjoy school, have positive attitudes to learning and behave very well. They show high levels of care and respect for others and develop positive relationships with friends and adults. Most pupils have a high level of influence over how and what they learn and use these opportunities well. Overall, they develop a good range of skills and knowledge during their time at the school but do not always have the challenge or support to apply these as well as they might. Pupils’ Welsh language skills regressed during the recent pandemic and have been slow to recover. Teaching and learning experiences engage pupils’ interests well and promote an enthusiasm for learning."

"Teachers’ use of pupils’ strengths as a starting point for learning is a positive feature of the school’s approach to developing confident and independent learners. They draw on a variety of interesting contexts for learning and pupils respond well. Teaching supports pupils to make good progress overall but sometimes opportunities to challenge pupils to improve their work further are missed. Arrangements to provide care, support and guidance for pupils are effective. They ensure that pupils receive timely support when needed, and they feel safe in school. Leaders provide clear strategic direction to the school’s work."

"They promote teamwork and innovation successfully and use resources well. Overall, leaders show the capacity to implement change successfully. They work proactively to address national priorities such as curriculum and additional learning needs (ALN) reform. They also address school-based priorities, such as the improvement of pupils’ reading skills successfully. However, leaders do not always evaluate the difference that teaching and learning experiences make to pupils’ progress well enough. Monitoring activity is generally too broad and does not focus sharply enough on specific elements of the school’s work."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Improve pupils’ Welsh language skills; (2) Ensure that teaching and feedback support and challenge pupils effectively; (3) Ensure that pupils have opportunities to develop and apply a full range of skills progressively across the curriculum; (4) Improve monitoring and evaluation processes.

The nearest other state primary schools to St. Michael's C.I.W. School are Ysgol Dafydd Llwyd (2.6 miles), Ysgol Calon y Dderwen (2.6 miles), Penygloddfa C.P. School (2.7 miles) and St Mary's R.C. (A) School (2.9 miles).

The nearest railway station is Newtown (Powys) Rail Station, about 2.3 miles away in a straight line.

3 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Herbert Arms (opposite), 120 metres away.