Carmarthenshire Secondary Teaching and Learning Centre Carmarthen, Carmarthen

Carmarthenshire Secondary Teaching and Learning Centre Carmarthen is a school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

Estyn's report on its February 2026 inspection summarises Carmarthenshire Secondary Teaching and Learning Centre Carmarthen like this:

"Leaders and staff at Carmarthenshire Teaching and Learning Centre are committed to the well-being and development of their pupils. The Centre Manager’s clear purpose to “create a climate of possibility for all” shapes this commitment. This shared approach creates a caring, supportive environment where pupils generally feel safe, respected, and encouraged, helping many to engage more fully with their learning over time. Staff are skilled at spotting early signs of dysregulation and using strategies to calm situations, which helps maintain a positive atmosphere and improves behaviour. Exclusion rates have fallen noticeably, showing the positive effects of therapeutic support and pastoral care. However, a small group of pupils still experience frequent exclusions, showing that challenges remain in supporting those with the most complex needs. The PRU’s environment is stimulating and supportive, with creative and calming spaces that help pupils regulate their emotions and develop autonomy. Effective partnership working with education, health, and social services ensures that pupils receive coordinated, personalised support. Financial leadership is secure and enables equitable access to enrichment activities and holiday provision, supporting pupils’ well-being and confidence throughout the year. Safeguarding arrangements are strong, with clear procedures, consistent staff practice, and robust multi-agency collaboration that help pupils develop important skills to keep themselves safe."

"Despite these strengths, attendance remains a significant concern. Leaders understand the complex barriers pupils face, including vulnerability, additional learning needs, and family circumstances, and work closely with families and external agencies to encourage engagement. While some pupils make significant improvement from their starting points, for too many attendance remains low, which limits the progress they can make. Teaching and learning across the PRU is strengthened by trusting relationships and a flexible, responsive approach to pupils’ needs. Where practice is most effective, lessons are engaging, practical, and designed to build skills, literacy, numeracy, and creativity. In a few lessons, teaching is overly teacher led or expectations are too low, reducing opportunities for pupils to make decisions, extend their thinking, or develop independence. Pupils generally make suitable progress and achieve a range of accreditation that aligns with their abilities and interests. Staff prepare pupils well for progression into post-16 education, training, or employment, which is a strength of the provision. However, the strategic planning for skill development across the PRU remains underdeveloped, limiting the coherence and consistency of learning experiences. Further, the provision for first language Welsh is inequitable."

"Formal structures for pupil voice are limited, which constrains pupils’ ability to influence decision-making and develop confidence in shaping their learning. ALN provision is appropriate and improving, with individual development plans guiding targeted interventions in areas such as self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy. Staff make good use of this information to support learning, but the tracking and evaluation of interventions are underdeveloped, limiting leaders’ ability to measure their impact and ensure consistent progress. While digital systems for monitoring progress are developing collaboratively, they are not yet fully embedded, reducing the precision of overall evaluation. Leadership at the PRU has brought stability and a clearer sense of direction, which has boosted staff morale and strengthened a shared commitment to inclusion. Clear responsibilities and professional development, especially in trauma-informed practice, have helped staff support pupils’ emotional and behavioural needs more consistently. Yet leadership of skill development is underdeveloped, and opportunities for distributed leadership are limited. Self-evaluation processes, though drawing on a suitable range of evidence, remain descriptive, limiting leaders’ ability to demonstrate clearly the impact of improvement actions on teaching quality and pupil progress. Management committee members provide developing oversight, but engagement in evaluation and school improvement is at an early stage."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Strengthen the planning and co-ordination of skills across the curriculum; (2) Improve attendance including reducing the number of pastoral support plans (PSPs); (3) Develop shared leadership to increase the PRU’s collective capacity to lead and deliver agreed priorities; (4) Fully embed systematic self-evaluation processes so that leaders and staff consistently evaluate impact and use findings to drive improvement.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Carmarthenshire Secondary Teaching and Learning Centre Carmarthen are Queen Elizabeth High (0.3 miles) and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin (0.8 miles).

The nearest railway station is Carmarthen Rail Station, about 1 mile away in a straight line.

7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Maridunum School, 130 metres away.