Ysgol Treffynnon, Flintshire

Ysgol Treffynnon 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 545 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

32% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 19% have additional learning needs; 3% are learning English as an additional language; and 9% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 105 pupils (Year 9) to 117 (Year 7).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,726 per pupil, against £5,785 in 2021-22. It ended 2024-25 with a deficit of £1,173k.

Estyn's report on its January 2024 inspection summarises Ysgol Treffynnon like this:

"At Ysgol Treffynnon, staff are committed to ensuring the well-being of each individual pupil and this is at the heart of the school’s work . The school’s ethos is based on SPIRIT – inspiring pupils’ self-belief, perseverance, respect, integrity and trust. S taff know pupils well and strive to ensure that they attend school regularly and are ready to learn. During the current academic year, the school’s work with the community has resulted in substantial unverified improvements in the attendance of all groups of pupils, although attendance overall remains slightly below pre-pandemic levels. Most teachers have positive working relationships with their pupils and many teachers provide engaging learning experiences. In many instances, teachers have effective classroom management and, as a result, behaviour in lessons is generally good. However, over time, there have been incidents of poor behaviour, which have led to the school’s rates of exclusions being high. The headteacher provides thoughtful leadership and is ably supported by the rest of the senior leadership team."

"They provide a clear strategic direction for the school and have high expectations of themselves, staff and pupils. Although there is variation in the quality of middle leadership, leaders at all levels know the school well. Many have a suitable understanding of the quality of provision in their areas of responsibility. They plan for improvement effectively, considering carefully what professional learning is required. This has led to marked improvements in many important areas of the school’s work, including attendance, the provision to develop pupils’ reading skills and the quality of teaching. The school is in a difficult financial situation and currently has a substantial financial deficit. In many instances, teaching is effective. In these instances, teachers plan their lessons carefully to ensure that pupils are challenged to think deeply."

"They monitor pupils’ progress closely and provide useful feedback that helps pupils know how to improve their work. As a result, in these lessons pupils, including those who have additional learning needs, make sound progress in developing their knowledge, understanding and skills. In a minority of instances, there are shortcomings in teaching, which leads to pupils not making as much progress as they should. In these lessons, pupils do not engage well enough with the work and do not develop their independent learning skills. The school has provided beneficial training for staff on effective strategies to develop pupils’ literacy and digital skills. However, the provision to develop pupils’ numeracy and Welsh language skills is underdeveloped."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Reduce the rate of fixed term exclusions; (2) Work with the local authority to eliminate the deficit budget; (3) Improve the provision for the progressive development of pupils’ numeracy and Welsh language skills; (4) Improve teaching in a minority of instances so that pupils engage fully with the work and develop their independent learning skills.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Ysgol Treffynnon are Flint High School (4.3 miles); St Richard Gwyn Roman Catholic High School (4.5 miles); and Pensby High School (6.3 miles, Attainment 8 45.9).

There is no railway, tram or Underground station within about three miles of Ysgol Treffynnon.

7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Wat`s Dyke Avenue (nr 5), 90 metres away.