Ysgol Friars, Gwynedd

Ysgol Friars is a bilingual (Welsh and English) school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

It had 1261 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

12% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 13% have additional learning needs (26% in 2020/21); 6% are learning English as an additional language; and 30% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 112 pupils (Year 13) to 226 (Year 9).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,340 per pupil, against £4,693 in 2021-22. It carried forward £267k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its February 2026 inspection summarises Ysgol Friars like this:

"Following an extremely difficult period, Ysgol Friars has seen significant changes in leadership and governance. Since her appointment in April 2025, the headteacher has focused on strengthening safeguarding and pastoral systems, re-establishing quality assurance processes and placing a strong emphasis on rebuilding trust and fostering an inclusive culture. This well considered programme of change is securing improvements in teaching and middle leaders’ ability to evaluate provision and learning within their areas of responsibility. Leadership is increasingly cohesive and collaborative. Staff and governors are committed and supportive of the headteacher’s vision and the changes implemented by the senior leadership team. In most lessons, teachers establish clear classroom routines. As a result, many pupils behave well, show respectful attitudes towards the teacher and other pupils and apply themselves suitably to their work. Many pupils, including those with additional learning needs (ALN), make sound progress over time."

"A few pupils make exceptionally strong progress due to highly effective teaching. In these cases, teachers have notably high expectations and challenge pupils to think deeply to develop their understanding in new and more complex contexts. In a minority of lessons, weaknesses in planning limit pupils’ progress. In these lessons, teachers do not always plan carefully enough to ensure consistent progress and do not match the pace of learning to the needs of pupils well enough. Overall, the quality and impact of written feedback is variable. Planning for the progressive development of pupils’ skills, including planning opportunities for pupils to develop their Welsh language skills across the curriculum, is at an early stage of development. The school provides a caring environment. The pastoral team works effectively with a wide range of external agencies to support pupils’ well-being."

"Provisions such as the Wellbeing Centre, ‘Hafan’, ‘Hwb Dysgu’ and ‘Harbwr’, offer nurturing spaces and tailored, specialist support for pupils’ emotional and learning needs. Safeguarding arrangements are appropriate and well understood by staff. There is a continuous focus on training for leaders, staff and governors on a range of safeguarding matters. Leaders have taken suitable steps to enable pupils to express their views and undertake leadership roles. Leaders’ strategic oversight and monitoring of attendance is at an early stage and has not secured enough improvement in this important aspect. Rates of attendance have declined over time and remain below that of similar schools."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Strengthen the strategic leadership and coordination of approaches to improve pupils’ attendance; (2) Improve the provision for the progressive development of pupils’ skills across the curriculum; (3) Ensure that teaching consistently challenges pupils to make strong progress; (4) Strengthen the planning for the provision of Welsh, including opportunities for pupils to use the language across the curriculum.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Ysgol Friars are Ysgol Tryfan (0.4 miles), Ysgol David Hughes (1.3 miles), Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen Bethesda (4.4 miles) and Ysgol Brynrefail (4.9 miles).

The nearest railway station is Bangor (Gwynedd) Rail Station, about 0.7 miles away in a straight line.

6 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Pen Coed Mawr (after), 240 metres away.