Ysgol Bro Hyddgen, Machynlleth

Ysgol Bro Hyddgen is a Welsh-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 446 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 8% have additional learning needs (21% in 2020/21); and 3% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 19 pupils (Year 5) to 51 (Year 10).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £8,090 per pupil, against £6,099 in 2021-22. It carried forward £111k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its November 2024 inspection summarises Ysgol Bro Hyddgen like this:

"Most pupils at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen have very positive attitudes to school life and are proud to be a part of it. Pupils of all ages are extremely polite and respectful towards adults and visitors. They play or socialise together happily during break and lunchtimes and enjoy each other’s company. This is an excellent feature. Staff prioritise pupils’ well-being and convey a supportive and caring ethos. As a result, most pupils feel happy at school and are willing to turn to staff for support if necessary."

"There are robust arrangements to help children in the Reception class settle well at the beginning of their school life and a number of beneficial activities for Year 6 pupils, as well as their peers from other local schools, to prepare them for life in the secondary department. The personal and social education programme includes a good range of learning experiences that support pupils to make healthy decisions in relation to their lifestyle, including how to keep themselves safe online. Continuous attention is given to the importance of attending school regularly with pupils and their families, but attendance levels remain low in comparison with the pre-pandemic period. Across the age range, many pupils make adequate progress in their knowledge and understanding and a few make strong progress over time. However, as a result of shortcomings in leaders’ strategic planning and how teachers plan their lessons and tasks, pupils do not achieve as well as they could. The support given to pupils with additional learning needs is beneficial, including classes in the ‘Y Gelli’ unit, but provision for more able pupils is not effective enough."

"The current management arrangements do not allow leaders to gain a comprehensive overview of the continuum in pupils’ learning experiences as they move through the school or of whole-school provision to develop their literacy, numeracy and digital skills. Recently, leaders have placed an appropriate focus on strengthening arrangements for staff to develop professionally and this has had a positive effect on a few important areas, such as the quality of feedback on pupils’ work. The school improvement plan, along with improvement plans for specific subject areas, include a number of key areas for development. However, line management processes are not robust enough to enable leaders to hold staff to account for their work. The condition of the accommodation, site safety and supervision arrangements in the secondary department are a cause for concern. The inspection team’s specific concerns were passed on to Powys Local Education Authority and to the governors."

Estyn made 6 recommendations: (1) Address the safeguarding issues identified during the inspection; (2) Improve attendance; (3) Improve the quality of teaching; (4) Strengthen strategic leadership and provision for the progressive development of pupils’ literacy, numeracy and digital skills; (5) Establish robust and consistent line management arrangements to ensure that development in an all-age sc hool; (6) Strengthen self-evaluation and improvement planning processes by giving clear attention to the impact of provision on pupils’ outcomes, along with the progress they make in their learning and skills.

The nearest railway station is Machynlleth Rail Station, about 620 metres away (roughly a 8-minute walk).

5 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Ysgol Bro Dyfi (in), 90 metres away.