Education chiefs expect to see Machynlleth’s all-through school to come out of Estyn’s significant improvement category by December next year, with Llanidloes High School also removed from Estyn review this year.

In a report put before members of Powys County Council’s Learning and Skills scrutiny committee on 16 October, councillors and independent lay members will receive an update on the Education Department’s “Integrated Business Plan” which sets out how the council intends to improve the service over the next five years.

In March it was revealed that Estyn had found that the council’s Education department was “causing significant concern.”

That report highlighted that there have been a number of “poor” inspection reports for secondary and all ages schools in the county and that there are leadership weaknesses at all levels.

Following the inspection, the council had produced a Post Inspection Action Plan (PIAP) to Estyn which was submitted in July explaining how they would try and answer four recommendations given to them by the education watchdog.

The business plan details a broader approach that the council is taking.

The plan sets out a timetable for when results that show improvements in schools being made, are supposed to materialise.

A report put before members says that Machynlleth’s Ysgol Bro Hyddgen all-through primary and secondary school should come out of the significant improvement category by December 2026.

A report in January following an inspection in November 2024 found that “attendance and teaching quality must be improved” at Machynlleth’s all-through school, while the current arrangements for safeguarding pupils are a “cause for concern” and “significant health and safety issues” were found on the school’s secondary site.

Inspectors said the school is “in need of significant improvement.”

While Estyn praised the school for its positive pupil behaviour, the report said that “as a result of shortcomings in leaders’ strategic planning and how teachers plan their lessons and tasks, pupils do not achieve as well as they could.”

The inspection found “the condition of the accommodation, site safety and supervision arrangements in the secondary department are a cause for concern” and that “there are significant health and safety issues relating to the secondary department’s site.”

Powys County Council said at the time that the “report and recommendations, which have been accepted by both the school and the council, will form the basis of a joint and detailed action plan to address key areas requiring improvement.”

“Council officers, the school and its governing body will work together to identify reasons for the inspection outcome and to deliver the improvements that are required,” the council said.

In September it was announced that Ysgol Bro Hyddgen would be one of the schools in Powys to get extra funding as part of a £400,000 fund to drive improvement.

The report put before members adds that “by December through effective support and intervention”, Llanidloes High School “will be removed from Estyn Review.”

Estyn Review is the lowest form of follow-up category that the education watchdog has.