Pembrokeshire County Council says it is committed to ensuring improvements are made at Milford Haven School, after education inspectors Estyn declared that ‘special measures’ are required in relation to the facility.

A report from Estyn [His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales] released this month, following an inspection in November of last year, said that the school's arrangements for safeguarding pupils gave ‘cause for concern’ - whilst a site management concern was raised during the inspection at the Comprehensive School, located on Steynton Road.

The Estyn report stated: “There are important shortcomings in a significant minority of lessons. In these cases, pupils do not make enough progress in their understanding or their literacy and numeracy skills.

“Although leaders have offered some worthwhile professional learning opportunities for staff on developing pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills, there are insufficient. opportunities for pupils to develop these skills across the curriculum.

“Generally, teachers do not offer pupils enough opportunities to develop their speaking skills and their advanced reading skills. The majority of pupils make frequent basic errors in their work and these errors are not addressed regularly enough.

A statement from the Local Authority responded: “Pembrokeshire County Council acknowledges the outcome of the recent Estyn inspection of Milford Haven School, accepts the report and is committed to ensuring improvements are made at the school.

“The Council is fully committed to addressing the recommendations and driving improvement at pace. We have welcomed visits from Estyn to work on the draft action plan and this work is well underway. Our teams are working with the school to make sure that necessary support is provided.

“The Council is confident that the necessary improvements can be made at pace, effectively, and look forward to demonstrating this progress to Estyn during their monitoring visits.

“This work will involve both supporting with appropriate challenge the school’s leadership team and governing body to ensure they have the right capacity and support in place. It will also maintain a clear focus on securing sustained improvement in outcomes for pupils.”

PCC’s Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language, Cllr Guy Woodham, said: “Our priority is ensuring that all learners at the school have access to high quality teaching and learning and maintaining the wellbeing of every learner.”

Despite the challenges identified, Estyn recognised several important strengths at Milford Haven School including:

· The caring and inclusive community it provides

· The broad and balanced curriculum that is offered by the school

· The range of digital and wider skills opportunities offered across the curriculum

· The promotion of positive behaviour provided by leaders at the school.

“These strengths provide a basis for future improvement and demonstrate the commitment of the school and the council to ensure the future success of learners,” continued a spokesperson for Pembrokeshire Council.

“The school will continue to keep parents, carers, and the wider community informed through regular updates and engagement events.

“Further details of the post inspection action plan will be published on the Milford Haven School website once it has been approved by Estyn.”