Willows High School

Willows High School (Welsh: Ysgol Uwchradd Willows) is a secondary school located in the Tremorfa area of Cardiff, Wales. It caters for pupils aged 11 to 16 and is English-medium. As of September 2015, the headteacher is Chris Norman. He succeeded Joy Ballard, under whom the proportion of pupils attaining five A*-C grades rose from 14% to 50%.[6][7] In recent years, Willows has been oversubscribed for pupils.[8]

Willows High School
Ysgol Uwchradd Willows
Address
Willows Avenue

Tremorfa

Cardiff
,
CF24 2YE

United Kingdom
Coordinates51°29′3″N 3°8′13″W
Information
TypeState Secondary
MottoPerthyn, Credu, Llwyddo [1]
(Belong, Believe, Achieve)
Opened1967 [2]
Educational authorityCardiff Council
Head teacherChris Norman [3]
Years offered7-11
Enrolment586 [4]
LanguageEnglish
HousesHarlech (blue) Caernarfon (green) Denbigh (yellow) Raglan (red) [5]
Websitehttps://www.willowshigh.co.uk/

History

The school site is extensive and dates from the late 1960s, and was built on the site of the World War II airfield RAF Pengam Moors. The school is named after the air balloon pioneer Ernest Willows who had his airfield on the site.[2]

Many of the buildings have since been modernised.[1] There are plans to continue this modernisation in the future, including with a PFI agreement as part of plans by Cardiff Council.[9] A completely new building is planned,[10][11] which could be located in nearby Tremorfa Park.[12] The site proposed originally included St. Alban's Primary School, which was slated to close.[13] However, in 2019 the closure was successfully petitioned, and stopped in 2020.[14]

The school featured in the 2015 Channel 4 documentary Educating Cardiff.[15] This detailed every aspect of school life, and also highlighted many of the improvements the school has made in recent years.[16][17]

Starting in 2015, Willows participated in the South Wales Challenge (SWC) Initiative, sharing best-practice in education with Tonyrefail School, Rhondda Cynon Taf.[18] This aimed to help the school to improve academic standards further.

Estyn Inspections

In 2012, Estyn rated the school as "unsatisfactory",[19] reporting that it needed "significant improvement". The inspectors reported that, although pupils often had unsatisfactory English grammar and literacy skills, leadership was "adequate" and there were real prospects of improvement.[20][21] The school substantially improved after this, and by 2014 no longer requires significant improvement.[22][23] However, the more recent 2018 has found there are still many aspects of school life that could be improved, particularly in the methods of teaching and leadership.[4] Despite this, the school had improved enough that in 2019 it was removed from monitoring by Estyn.[24]

There were 586 pupils at the school during the 2018 Estyn inspection, a significant drop since the 2012 inspection. The proportion of pupils receiving free school meals is 44%, which is much higher than the national average of 17.4%. Almost two-thirds of the pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas in Wales. Around 8% of pupils have English as an additional language. Twenty-nine per cent of the pupils come from minority ethnic backgrounds.[20]

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References
  1. "Report: Willows High School Inspection: 9 October 2006" (PDF). Estyn. 11 December 2006.
  2. "Willows High School". Wikitree. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  3. "About Willows". Willows High School. 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  4. "A report on Willows High School" (PDF). Estyn. April 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  5. "Educating Cardiff - Episode 2 (Documentary) | Yearbook". YouTube. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  6. "By the time Educating Cardiff hits our screens, head teacher Joy Ballard will have left Willows High School". Wales Online. 18 August 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  7. Wightwick, Abbie (22 August 2019). "GCSE results 2019: How every school in Cardiff and the Vale did". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  8. Wightwick, Abbie (24 May 2017). "Inner city school's campaign to change its reputation is working". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  9. Seabrook, Alex (13 July 2020). "Two Cardiff schools could get new buildings funded by private investors". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  10. Discombe, Matt (1 August 2018). "Willows High School hopes to move into new building 'within three years'". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  11. Wightwick, Abbie (18 December 2018). "The latest plans to rebuild Cardiff secondary schools". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  12. Wightwick, Abbie (17 May 2019). "Cardiff park to be built on in plans for new school". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  13. Discombe, Matt (29 July 2019). "Fear over future of Catholic education in Cardiff if primary school closes". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  14. Wightwick, Abbie (27 December 2019). "Victory for parents as Catholic primary school is saved from closure". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  15. "Cardiff school filmed for TV series". BBC News. 9 December 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  16. Evans, Gareth (14 June 2015). "Hope that Educating Cardiff will change perceptions of Cardiff school". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  17. Wightman, Catriona (25 August 2015). "Educating Cardiff: Why Willows High is different". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  18. Evans, Gareth (19 January 2015). "How two South Wales schools are working together to raise standards". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  19. "That'll teach 'em". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  20. "Inspection report: Willows High School 2012 (English only)". Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  21. "Cardiff secondary Willows High School needs 'significant improvement'". WalesOnline. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  22. "Report of visit Level of follow-up: significant improvement Willows High School" (PDF). Estyn. January 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  23. Evans, Gareth (4 February 2014). "Willows High School in Cardiff is on the mend as results improve". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  24. Wightwick, Abbie (11 December 2019). "Good news for Cardiff's 'troubled' Willows High as it comes out of monitoring". walesonline. Retrieved 30 July 2020.

2006 Estyn Inspection Report

2012 Estyn Inspection Report

2014 Estyn Monitoring Report

2018 Estyn Inspection Report

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