Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan, Conwy

Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan is a Welsh-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 15 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

Year groups range from 1 pupils (Year 1) to 4 (Year 4).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £16,160 per pupil, against £14,142 in 2021-22. It carried forward £47k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its November 2024 inspection summarises Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan like this:

"A friendly and warm ethos is a strong feature of Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan, where pupils, staff and parents take pride in the school’s homely environment. Pupils’ respect for each other and visitors is obvious. They play happily with each other and staff encourage them to be polite and friendly. As a result, nearly all pupils behave very well. Leaders identify some of the school’s strengths and are aware of the improvement priorities. However, they are not successful enough in addressing fundamental weaknesses in the quality of provision and pupils’ outcomes."

"For example, the quality of teaching is not robust enough at the school and leaders do not address these weaknesses effectively enough. In general, staff know the pupils and their families well and ensure that nearly all pupils feel that they belong to the school. However, teachers do not plan strategically enough to build adequately on pupils’ knowledge and understanding and do not provide learning activities that are challenging enough for them across all areas of learning. As a result, most pupils make limited progress in their skills from their starting points, particularly their basic skills. The governing body supports the school and knows its community well. Members are beginning to identify strengths and areas for improvement, but there are obvious gaps in their knowledge regarding the quality of teaching and learning."

"They do not challenge leaders effectively enough and hold them to account as a critical friend. In addition, the safeguarding policy and training arrangements are not robust enough. The headteacher has created a clear vision to promote a caring community that prioritises respect, Welshness and local pride. The school has a strong relationship with parents and includes them in events and shares information effectively. Strong links with the local community promote pupils’ pride in their heritage."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Address the safeguarding issue raised during the inspection; (2) Ensure that teachers plan purposefully to develop pupils’ skills in full; (3) Improve teaching and give particular attention to raising teachers’ expectations of what pupils are able to achieve and increasing the level of challenge for pupils of all abilities; (4) Strengthen the school’s strategic leadership and improve self-evaluation and planning for improvement procedures to raise standards and strengthen provision.

Estyn follow-up status: Special Measures.

The nearest other state primary schools to Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan are Ysgol Pentrefoelas (3 miles), Ysgol Penmachno (3.1 miles) and Ysgol Capel Garmon (4.7 miles).

There is no railway, tram or Underground station within about three miles of Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan.