We decide the development priorities each year by looking at what the school does well, and areas where improvements are possible – the school Self Evaluation. Here is a summary of our findings:

Although we will continue to develop the use of everyday Welsh throughout the school, our three main development priorities for this year are: 

Priority 1: Strengthening learners’ digital competence

Priority 2: Improving writing stamina and presentation

Priority 3: Strengthening mathematical progression 

The image below explains why we have decided to work on these priorities:

What does this mean for the pupils? These images illustrate how the priorities translate into changes within the classroom from a child’s perspective, what we hope to achieve and how we will monitor the impact of the changes.

Alongside the School Development Plan, there is also a governors development plan (GDP). The aim of the GDP is to ensure that the governance of the school is transparent, and that appropriate systems are in place to ensure pupils are given the best learning experience. The governing body self-evaluation is undertaken by scoring St Mary’s governing body against the ‘6 enablers for a good governing body’ defined by Salford University. Areas for development are identified from this self-evaluation process and form the basis for the GDP priorities each year. 

In 2026-27 the GDP will focus on ‘improving effective governing body membership by ensuring effective performance monitoring and measurement’.