SCHOOL OF THE MONTH: Dinas Powys Primary School

The headteacher, Julie Thompson, took up her post in January 2015 having led the infant school since 1990.

The school is located on two sites, on Cardiff Road and on Fairoaks, approximately one kilometre apart.

Mrs Thompson travels between both sites daily.

She said: "A highlight of my week is a Friday morning taking the infant site merit assembly at 9.15am and then jumping in the car to do the junior site's assembly at 10am.

"Twenty seven years have just flown by. Every day is different and it is a privilege to have such an exciting and rewarding job.

"Not only have I stayed this long - most of my staff have also been here many years.

"Their experience and expertise ensures the best of the best for all our lovely children.

"We all love coming to school every day and all my staff work tirelessly to ensure the children have the best learning opportunities possible."

The school currently has a green rating from the Welsh Government traffic light categorisation system, which means it is an highly effective school.

All amalgamated schools have an inspection in the first eighteen months.

The previous infant and junior schools were inspected in 2013 and 2014 and the school was subsequently inspected in May 2016 as the amalgamated primary school.

The school also received a good rating for current performance from Estyn in its latest inspection report, with an excellent rating for prospects for improvement.

Mrs Thompson's clear vision was singled out for praise and she said the report was a reflection of all the hard work of "Team Dinas," who had achieved so much in such a short space of time and they are all now truly part of one school, one vision.

"The school continues to excel in all areas as we move forward," she said.

Mrs Thompson recently attended the first Estyn award ceremony which was entitled "recognising excellence in education and training".

The inspection noted the highly stimulating learning environment on both sites.

The infant site was re-modelled and extended almost 30 years ago with a large award winning addition extension.

It is surrounded by a large playground, a school field with benches, a "forest school", a wildlife area, a wooden play trail, willow structures, an outdoor classroom, a storytelling circle, a vegetable plot, the centenary garden and a recently donated pirate ship.

The junior site was built in the 1960s and is set in five acres of land with two large playgrounds, a woodland and wildlife area, a pond and vegetable beds.

The has eight large classrooms along with a number of specialist rooms, including a recently refurbished ICT suite, library, art/design rooms, music rooms and a learning room.

An outdoor learning support assistant undertakes forest school with the children along with maintaining the wonderful flower beds and growing vegetables in the plots.

The children have recently tasted home-grown lettuce sandwiches and garlic bread and the strawberries are particularly popular.

Mrs Thompson added: "We ensure an individual approach to all pupils' learning.

"I know every child and their family in the school community.

"This insures the school has a recognised ethos of warmth, care and love.

"All children feel secure and nurture and make the best academic and social progress throughout their school life."

The school is supported by an active Parents' Association and a dedicated governing body who fully supports its aims and vision.

Pupil Voice is at the heart of the school with active councils on both sites.

The foundation phase eco committee recently won the Welsh Government Enterprise Troopers Award and four children attended an even at Margam Orangery.

The junior school council attends transition meetings with St Cyres and other primary schools in the cluster.

They delivered a presentation on growth mindset which has been a major focus of the school this year, developing positive attitudes to learning, perseverance and resilience enabling children to become lifelong learners.

The school also recently completed the amalgamated healthy schools phase and fully promotes a healthy lifestyle.

The junior children are currently enthusiastically undertaking the daily mile.

They bring fruit to school daily and every child has a water bottle provided.

National Sports Week was celebrated in June that culminated in a charity fundraising event for Macmillan Cancer Research with a "Dress up and Dance" day.

The school has major links with The Big Learning company having recently undertaken a Lego Project with year five pupils.

The school has invested heavily in Lego and iPads and has received a grant from Dow Corning to facilitate training for staff and children in animation as the school continues to insure that ICT is at the forefront of children's learning.

The school has developed an amazing collection of books over the years, said Mrs Thompson.

Every book is bar-coded and children excitedly take a library book home weekly by scanning the book out using their own bar code.

"We are always grateful to our parents who support our termly book fairs and we often receive more than £1000 worth of books in commission," said the headteacher.

The school has recently worked with the local bookshop Griffin Books in Penarth which sets up a pop-up bookshop every World Book Day enabling the children to spend their £1 World Book Day vouchers.

Mel Griffin from the bookshop has arranged for several award winning authors to visit the school and year four are visiting the Penarth Literature Festival on Friday to meet Jonathan Meres of The World of Norm fame.

The school was recently the winner of the Booktrust Cymru "Pori Drwy Stori" Boomerang Book Bag prize draw.

As a prize, the reception children received a large selection of picture, chapter and activity books.

The school is also renowned for and recognised for its extra-curricular activities.

These include football, rugby, netball, dance, a gardening club, book clubs and a foundation phase computer coding club.

Meanwhile, the school has strong links with outside agencies including CAVMS music tuition and JAFFA club

Forty children recently performed in a music masterclass day at the nearby St Cyres comprehensive which culminated in an evening concert for parents.

This year, children have performed at The Sherman theatre, Barry Memorial Hall, St David's Hall and the recent summer choir production of Shakespeare Rocks.

Fact file

School motto: A world is no world without knowledge

Chairwoman of governors: Jill Davies

Head teacher: Julie Thompson

Number of pupils: 485

Age of pupils: 3 to 11

Last inspection: May 2016, current performance good, prospects for improvement excellent