Ty Dysgu, Merthyr Tudful

Ty Dysgu is a school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

Estyn's report on its September 2022 inspection summarises Ty Dysgu like this:

"Pupils at Ty Dysgu PRU have a wide range of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Many pupils arrive at the PRU with a history of poor attendance and have frequently missed a considerable amount of education prior to starting at the PRU. As a result, they have gaps in their learning, and may present as having little confidence in their own ability as learners. In addition, managing their own behaviour acts as an additional barrier to their learning. During their time at the PRU, only a minority of pupils who attend regularly make suitable progress from their i ndividual starting points i n line with their needs and ability. Overall, most p upils respond appropriately i n lessons. Pupils’ literacy development is l imited and too slow due to the lack of o pportunities for them to use these skills across the curriculum. A minority of pupils develop their numeracy skills suitably. Across all ages there are limited opportunities for pupils t o develop their IC T skills progressively over t ime. During their time at the PRU, most pupils develop strong working relationships with staff, and this helps them to feel safe and secure."

"A few pupils with challenging behaviour which include mental health issues are on part-time bespoke timetables and only attend the PRU briefly during the week. Plans for these pupils to transition back to the PRU on a full-time basis are in place. However, a very few have begun this transition process and as a result, this l imits their progress. Around half of t he pupils wit h a poor record of attendance from their previous school make limited progress during their time at the PRU. Overall, t he PRU does not provide a sufficiently broad and balanced curriculum to meet t he wide and diverse needs of the pupils. The PRU is i n the early stages of preparing for Curriculum for Wales. The range of learning experiences for all pupils i s too narrow across the PRU. Staff collect a suitable range of pupil assessment information. These assessments focus on pupils literacy, numeracy and well-being skills. However, this is not well established, and staff do not use these assessments effectively enough to track and monitor pupil progress."

"These assessments do not inform future planning well enough to deliver appropriate interventions to meet the needs of i ndividual pupils. The PRU does not currently have robust processes in place to track and monitor pupils’ progress and well-being, including attendance and behaviour, as they move through the PRU. As a consequence, they do not reliably identify and respond to relevant issues and challenges early enough. Leaders do not have a strategic and clear enough vision that is shared with the remainder of t he staff for developing the PRU and raising standards. Self -evaluation process are i neffective and underdeveloped by l eaders. Most staff are unclear what the priorities for improvement planning are at the PRU. Processes f or assuring the quality of provision for pupils’ progress are ineffective. The safeguarding policy is detailed and provides useful referral information. However, the implementation of the policy is i nconsistent across the PRU. L eaders have failed to i dentify and address many safeguarding concerns at t he PRU."

Estyn made 5 recommendations: (1) Strengthen the management of safeguarding and address the shortcomings identified during the inspection; (2) Strengthen the quality of strategic leadership to ensure that the PRU’s self- evaluation systems identify priorities for improvement that are aligned to raising standards of learning and well-being; (3) Develop effective processes to track, monitor and evaluate pupil progress; (4) Strengthen the curriculum offer for all pupils; (5) Improve pupil attendance.

The nearest railway station is Merthyr Tydfil Rail Station, about 1110 metres away (roughly a 14-minute walk).

19 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Penydarren Club (outside), 30 metres away.