Ysgol Emrys Ap Iwan, Conwy

Ysgol Emrys Ap Iwan 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 933 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

28% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 13% have additional learning needs (32% in 2020/21); 3% are learning English as an additional language; and 9% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 38 pupils (Year 13) to 175 (Year 8).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,798 per pupil, against £5,375 in 2021-22. It carried forward £192k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its May 2022 inspection summarises Ysgol Emrys Ap Iwan like this:

"Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan offers pupils a wide range of opportunities to experience learning within the school day and beyond, particularly at Key Stage 4 and in the sixth form. The breadth of the extra- curricular offer, ‘engage@emrys’, positively impacts on the cultural development of pupils. Many pupils participate in the after- school sessions, including a high take up by disadvantaged learners. As a consequence of these opportunities, most pupils say they enjoy coming to school and feel that staff are caring and interested in their welfare. Although most pupils say they are engaged with school life, only a very few have the chance to take on leadership roles. The well-being and additional learning needs teams have put in place well-thought through and personalised provision and support."

"This ensures all pupils can access the curriculum, although the use of individual education plans by teachers is variable. The school works effectively with a broad range of outside agencies to support pupils and their families well. The headteacher and senior leaders provide considerate leadership, with high levels of support for the wellbeing of pupils, staff and families, particularly during the time of the pandemic. The school has also begun to robustly tackle long standing financial challenges. Although they work well together, the roles and responsibilities across the senior team are not equitable, and therefore the workload is not balanced well enough. In general, middle leaders carry out their roles appropriately, although the support from their line managers is variable."

"Leaders are beginning to gather information about the school’s work following the pandemic, although evaluation and improvement processes are not sufficiently precise. Professional learning has contributed to strong care, support and guidance, but it has not focused closely enough on developing classroom practice. As a result, although the school has considered and acted on important aspects, such as well-being, the school has not prioritised key areas such as the development of teaching and assessment or the provision for pupils’ skills to support improvement. In general, although the majority of pupils make appropriate progress in lessons, teachers’ feedback does not have enough impact on improving pupils’ work."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Improve the quality of teaching and assessment; (2) Strengthen provision for the progressive development of pupils’ skills, including Welsh; (3) Strengthen leadership at all levels and improve self-evaluation and improvement planning; (4) Address the health and safety issues identified during the inspection.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Ysgol Emrys Ap Iwan are Christ the Word School (4.6 miles) and Rhyl High School (4.9 miles).

The nearest railway station is Abergele & Pensarn Rail Station, about 1080 metres away (roughly a 13-minute walk).

7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan (outside), 90 metres away.