Best schools in Merthyr Tydfil: how they compare

Why there is no league table in Wales

Wales stopped publishing school performance tables, and since September 2022 Estyn, the schools inspectorate, no longer sums a school up in one word like "Excellent" or "Good". Each report describes what pupils learn, how well they are taught and what the school should do next. So a ranking of the best schools in Merthyr Tydfil would rest on someone's opinion, not published data. What you can compare is set out below: whether Estyn has asked a school to improve, what its latest report says, the language your child would be taught in, and the kind of intake each school has.

What the numbers say about schools in Merthyr Tydfil

At the typical school in Merthyr Tydfil, 20.3% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals over the last three years, 1.7 points above the Welsh figure. Every primary pupil in Wales now gets a free lunch, so this measures eligibility, the usual guide to how disadvantaged an intake is. 9.1% of pupils at the typical school have additional learning needs (1.0 points above the Welsh figure). Schools here receive about £6,086 per pupil, £285 above the Welsh figure. Pupil numbers have fallen by 1.2% since 2020/21. The largest school is Blessed Carlo Acutis Catholic School, with 974 pupils.

None of these figures tells you whether a school is good. A school with a more disadvantaged intake can be doing outstanding work, and a small rural school with a high budget per pupil is often simply small. Use them to understand the setting, then read what Estyn wrote.

Choosing and applying for a school in Merthyr Tydfil

Start with Estyn. Its report on each school is short, plain and recent, and the recommendations at the end tell you what the inspectors want to see improve. A school in special measures or in need of significant improvement is being revisited, and some turn round quickly, so check the date and read what has changed. Then visit: an hour in a school tells you more about how it feels than any figure.

Decide early whether you want Welsh-medium education. Every school in Wales teaches Welsh to 16, but a Welsh-medium school teaches most lessons through Welsh, and children from English-speaking homes join from nursery and reception every year. Moving between the two later is harder, so the choice usually matters most at the start of primary school.

Applications for community schools go to Merthyr Tydfil council, not the school; voluntary aided church schools can run their own admissions, so check each one. Welsh councils set their own closing dates and most give priority to children living in a school's catchment area, so check which catchment your address falls in before you rank your choices. If you are applying for a secondary place, look at the feeder primaries too: many Merthyr Tydfil secondaries take most of their pupils from a named group of primary schools.