Coed -y- Garn Primary School, Blaenua

Coed -y- Garn 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 167 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

30% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 11% have additional learning needs (21% in 2020/21); and 13% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 11 pupils (Year 1) to 22 (Year 2).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £9,079 per pupil, against £5,416 in 2021-22. It carried forward £15k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its October 2022 inspection summarises Coed -y- Garn Primary School like this:

"Coed-y-Garn Primary is a warm and inclusive school, which promotes a positive atmosphere and ethos. Pupils enjoy learning and they are enthusiastic during lessons and in activities. This is due to the very strong working relationships that they have with their teachers and other staff. The learning resource base, and its pupils, play a very important part in the school’s daily life. Learning is particularly successful where the teaching and feedback to pupils are purposeful and challenge pupils to perform at their best. This helps many pupils to make strong progress in developing their listening, speaking, reading and number skills. However, the quality of teaching and feedback is not consistently challenging across the school."

"Overall, teachers do not give pupils enough opportunities to use and develop their independent learning skills, especially when writing extended pieces of work. All staff promote a very positive ethos of support and care for pupils in all areas of the school. This encourages pupils to take responsibility for their own well-being and behaviour extremely well. This contributes to their positive attitudes to learning and their resilience to persevere with tasks. The school helps pupils to build confidence in themselves as individuals, while also developing a strong respect for the feelings of others. Overall, the school environment promotes beneficial learning opportunities, which includes a stimulating woodland area. Leaders evaluate the school's work to plan for improvements thoroughly."

"The headteacher provides strong and effective leadership. She has a determination to succeed for the benefit of pupils and the community. The senior leadership team, the staff and the governors share her purposeful vision. They work together well to ensure that the school is inclusive and that it promotes good learning opportunities. The headteacher shares responsibilities effectively among staff and provides beneficial opportunities for professional learning. This contributes to a positive whole- school ethos, where staff and pupils feel valued for their contributions to school life."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Address the issues related to the school site, identified at the time of the inspection; (2) Challenge all pupils through consistent and effective teaching; (3) Ensure that teachers provide opportunities for extended independent writing; (4) Ensure that teachers’ feedback moves individual pupils on to the next stage in their learning effectively.

The nearest other state primary schools to Coed -y- Garn Primary School are Ystruth Primary (0.8 miles), ST Illtyd's (0.9 miles), Blaen-Y-Cwm C.P. School (1.3 miles) and St Mary's Roman Catholic - Brynmawr (1.4 miles).

The nearest railway station is Ebbw Vale Town Rail Station, about 1.7 miles away in a straight line.

10 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Blaina Inn (near), 80 metres away.