Ysgol Y Deri, Penarth

Ysgol Y Deri 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 February 2025 inspection summarises Ysgol Y Deri like this:

"The vision at Ysgol y Deri is securely rooted in the values of ‘potential, opportunity and achievement’. The culture permeates every aspect of the school’s life and work across the school’s extensive and varying range of provisions. Ysgol y Deri is a happy and nurturing community. Staff from across the teaching and therapeutic teams work together exceptionally well to provide high levels of care, support and guidance for pupils, which enables most pupils to make strong progress in all aspects of their learning during their time at the school. Pupils feel safe and valued and build strong and trusting relationships with staff. All pupils at the school have additional learning needs and have either an individual development plan (IDP) or a statement of educational needs. The school has established a clear and well-defined approach to delivering its provision, effectively meeting the needs of each pupil. Leaders and staff have secured a wide range of high-quality specialist provisions and interventions that successfully support all pupils. Ysgol y Deri maintains a wide range of effective partnerships with health professionals and external agencies, which significantly enhance the support available to pupils. Across all settings, staff foster positive relationships with pupils, creating a calm and supportive learning environment. Pupils enjoy learning and participate enthusiastically."

"The behaviour and engagement of pupils throughout the school are exemplary. Well- established routines, such as structured play, transitions, and sensory approaches, effectively support pupils' engagement and regulation. Teaching staff have a clear focus on developing pupils’ skills in important areas related well to their individual needs. For example, most pupils with complex needs develop increasing, life enhancing independence in their mobility in highly effective interventions that they then apply in the classroom and in their wider life. Staff demonstrate strong skills in supporting pupils’ communication as they move through the school. As a result, nearly all pupils develop their communication skills successfully, enabling them to access the curriculum, engage with each other, make choices and express themselves effectively. Further, pupils throughout the school develop independence skills that are appropriate to their developmental needs. Pupils learn to effectively regulate their emotions and make noticeable progress in their readiness to learn over time. For example, with expertly tailored individualised support, those pupils with a history of exclusion and non-attendance, prior to attending the school, are reintegrated into a learning environment and then into formal learning with accredited outcomes that aid their next steps in learning. Robust attendance procedures are in place across the school, which support improvement in attendance for many pupils. These include clear procedures for recording and tracking intervention and support and outcomes for targeted pupils."

"However, overall the attendance of a specific group of pupils with social emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) remains too low. The curriculum offer at Ysgol y Deri is broad, balanced and purposeful and provides a range of beneficial and stimulating experiences in real life contexts. This provision also leads to valuable accreditation where appropriate. Further, pupil voice sessions ensure that pupils influence the planning of their learning to incorporate what motivates, excites and is important to them. The headteacher articulates successfully a clear vision for the school, across the extensive and varying range of provisions. Despite the significant challenges posed by the rapid and recent expansion of the school by the local authority, the headteacher provides calm, sensitive and purposeful leadership. He is very ably supported by both senior and middle leaders. Leaders are effective in their roles and responsibilities, making strategic decisions for improvement based on a purposeful range of quality assurance processes that are well- established. Self-evaluation processes are generally robust and are clearly linked to improvement priorities. Analysis and evaluation of outcome data are less well-developed."

Estyn made 2 recommendations: (1) Continue to improve the attendance of specific groups of pupils at the school; (2) Sharpen development planning, focusing clearly and consistently on the impact of whole-school priorities and initiatives on pupil outcomes.

The nearest other special schools to Ysgol Y Deri are Beechwood College (2.5 miles), Woodlands High School (3.2 miles), Ty Gwyn Special School (3.2 miles) and Riverbank Special School (3.3 miles).

The nearest railway station is Eastbrook Rail Station, about 560 metres away (roughly a 7-minute walk).

4 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is St Davids Crescent (o/s 25), 310 metres away.