Awel Y Môr Primary School, Port Talbot

Awel Y Môr Primary School is an English-medium school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

It had 340 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

57% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 28% have additional learning needs; 3% are learning English as an additional language; and 11% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 29 pupils (Reception) to 46 (Year 6).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,674 per pupil, against £4,778 in 2021-22. It carried forward £235k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its July 2024 inspection summarises Awel Y Môr Primary School like this:

"The headteacher at Awel Y Mor provides strong, considerate leadership and knows the school well. He is ably supported by dedicated staff, who together form an effective team. The school, including the Pupil Inclusion Centre (PIC), is an inclusive, welcoming, and happy learning community, which promotes well-being effectively. The headteacher works diligently with staff and governors to plan school improvement. However, monitoring and evaluation processes do not always focus well enough on the most important areas for improvement such as the quality of teaching. Leaders and staff know pupils well and use this information to ensure that all pupils are well cared for."

"Pupils are secure in their relationships with staff and, as a result, their behaviour is good. Pupils and their families have a strong sense of pride in their school and nearly all pupils feel safe and enjoy coming to school. Leaders and staff keep in close contact with the wider school community and build positive relationships with parents. The school’s curriculum takes account of pupils’ interests. Staff offer pupils a variety of learning experiences, which help keep pupils engaged in their learning. As a result, most pupils including those with additional learning needs (ALN) and those in the PIC, engage well with their learning, make strong progress and achieve well."

"Teachers support pupils to build on their learning suitably. They ask appropriate questions in class to check pupils’ understanding and to move learning forward. However, teachers sometimes over-direct learning and this hinders pupils’ independence, including knowing how to improve their own work. Teachers plan purposeful opportunities to develop literacy, numeracy, and digital skills. However, pupils’ Welsh language skills are less well developed. Provision for outdoor learning experiences is effective and focuses on improving pupils’ skills through a range of stimulating learning activities."

Estyn made 3 recommendations: (1) Strengthen leadership and focus self-evaluation, monitoring and improvement planning on the areas most in need of improvement; (2) Address the inconsistencies in teaching; (3) Strengthen the provision for pupils to develop their Welsh language skills.

The nearest other state primary schools to Awel Y Môr Primary School are St Therese's Catholic Primary School (0.2 miles), YGG Rhos-Afan (0.4 miles), Tywyn Primary School (0.5 miles) and Sandfields Primary School (0.6 miles).

The nearest railway station is Baglan Rail Station, about 1.2 miles away in a straight line.

23 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Dalton House (nr 37), 90 metres away.