School slips backwards after latest inspection

AN ALL-THROUGH school has been told it is need of “significant” improvement after a disappointing inspection.

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Abertillery Learning Community, a mixed comprehensive in Blaenau Gwent, was criticised for a range of failings in the report by education watchdog Estyn.

In 2022, a good report had led to Abertillery Learning Community being removed from Estyn's list of schools requiring significant improvement.

But the school has slipped back into that category after its latest inspection, which highlighted issues including that only “a few” primary-aged pupils make strong progress in reading and writing.

The English-medium school, which has 1,666 pupils, “provides too few opportunities for pupils of all ages to develop their literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum", wrote the inspector.