St Gwladys Bargoed School, Bargoed

St Gwladys Bargoed 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 416 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

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

Of its pupils, 3% have additional learning needs (15% in 2020/21); and 6% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 43 pupils (Reception) to 57 (Year 1).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £4,499 per pupil, against £3,512 in 2021-22. It carried forward £119k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its June 2023 inspection summarises St Gwladys Bargoed School like this:

"St Gwladys is an inclusive and nurturing school where pupils feel valued and cared for. There is an established culture of mutual respect. This is a strong feature that enables nearly all pupils to thrive, show resilience and embrace challenge within a positive working environment. The headteacher leads a team of dedicated staff who work collaboratively to develop pupil well-being and support them to be caring and successful learners. Leaders and staff support the headteacher effectively and there is a strong sense of teamwork across the school. The school provides a well-developed curriculum that gives meaningful opportunities for nearly all pupils to develop resilience and experience challenge. Teachers ensure that lessons are well planned and build on pupils previous learning."

"They provide opportunities for nearly all pupils to work both independently and collaboratively. Very good use is made of the limited outdoor space, enabling all pupils to experience a wide range of high quality learning activities that promote the development of skills across the curriculum. This is a very strong feature in the early years. The school provides effective support for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN). The governing body is supportive of the school and values the role the school plays in the local community. However, its role in challenging the school is not fully developed. Pupils are proud of their school."

"They enjoy learning and speak with enthusiasm about their experiences and the roles they play as part of the school community. Parents appreciate the support and guidance they receive from the school. They attend a range of activities that enable them to support pupils in their learning and well-being. The headteacher has been successful in developing a wide range of partnerships with other schools and organisations to improve curriculum delivery and professional development opportunities for all school staff. There is a suitably strong culture of safeguarding throughout the school. However, during the inspection the team brought a few matters to the attention of school leaders, for example in relation to traffic management."

Estyn made 2 recommendations: (1) Address the safeguarding issues identified by the team during the time of the inspection; (2) Further develop the evaluation of pupils’ learning, improvement work and grant spending.

The nearest other state primary schools to St Gwladys Bargoed School are Aberbargoed Primary School (0.3 miles), Park Primary School Bargoed (0.4 miles), Ysgol Bro Sannan (0.6 miles) and Ysgol Gymraeg Gilfach Fargoed (0.9 miles).

The nearest railway station is Bargoed Rail Station, about 170 metres away (roughly a 2-minute walk).

14 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Murray's, 160 metres away.