Ysgol Nantgwyn, Tonypandy

Ysgol Nantgwyn 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 982 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

27% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 5% have additional learning needs (15% in 2020/21); and 5% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 30 pupils (Reception) to 143 (Year 9).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £5,803 per pupil, against £4,829 in 2021-22. It carried forward £411k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its April 2023 inspection summarises Ysgol Nantgwyn like this:

"Ysgol Nantgwyn provides strong care, support and guidance where pupils and families are supported to reduce any barriers to their learning. Most pupils feel cared for and valued, and this contributes notably to their confidence and positive attitudes to school. The newly reformed behaviour system ensures that pupils are rewarded for their good behaviour and that any issues around behaviour are addressed in a timely manner. As a result, the behaviour of nearly all pupils of primary age is consistently good and many secondary aged pupils behave well. Staff work tirelessly to improve the attendance of pupils ensuring they engage with all aspects of school life. While attendance has improved slightly from last year, attendance levels, especially those of specific groups of pupils remain too low. The school supports pupils with additional learning needs (ALN), well with a range of purposeful provision that ensure they make progress from their starting points at the school. Teachers and support staff throughout the school create and maintain positive working relationships with pupils."

"This is a notable feature of the school’s provision. Teaching is effective in many instances across the school. As a result, many pupils make at least suitable progress in developing their knowledge and understanding as they move through the school with a minority making strong progress. However, overall, the impact of teachers’ feedback is variable. In a minority of cases, teachers’ feedback does not provide useful enough advice about developing pupils’ learning further and these pupils continue to make the same errors. The school provides a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum that meets the needs of nearly all pupils. Overall, teachers provide suitable opportunities for pupils to apply their literacy skills in work across the curriculum but opportunities to develop numeracy are less developed in subjects other than mathematics. The headteacher and leaders set a positive tone for the school’s work."

"They nurture a team ethos and promote collaboration across the school effectively. They place the well-being of pupils, staff, and the community at the heart of the school’s work. They work diligently to improve key aspects of the school’s provision. Generally, evaluation work ensures that leaders at all levels have an accurate overall picture of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. However, this work does not always focus sharply enough on issues relating to pupils’ progress in learning. Leaders are developing a culture of professional reflection and of continuous improvement. This is supporting a sense of teamwork and a shared sense of purpose."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Ensure that teachers’ assessment and feedback are consistently effective and lead to improvements in the quality of pupils’ work; (2) Improve attendance, especially that of specific groups of pupils; (3) Sharpen evaluation and improvement processes so that they focus on the impact of the school’s provision on pupils’ learning; (4) Continue to strengthen opportunities for pupils to develop their numeracy skills in relevant areas across the curriculum.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Ysgol Nantgwyn are Porth Community School (1.6 miles), Ysgol Gyfun Cymer Rhondda (1.9 miles), Tonyrefail Community School (2.4 miles) and Ferndale Community School (3.8 miles).

The nearest railway station is Tonypandy Rail Station, about 650 metres away (roughly a 8-minute walk).

3 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Tonypandy Comprehensive School (in), 270 metres away.