Ysgol Uwchradd Glan Clwyd, Sir Ddinbych

Ysgol Uwchradd Glan Clwyd 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 1020 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

10% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 4% have additional learning needs (21% in 2020/21); and 4% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 53 pupils (Year 12) to 204 (Year 7).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,638 per pupil, against £5,749 in 2021-22. It carried forward £752k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its May 2022 inspection summarises Ysgol Uwchradd Glan Clwyd like this:

"Ysgol Uwchradd Glan Clwyd is a caring and inclusive community where pupils’ wellbeing is a key priority. Staff meet pupils’ emotional, health and social needs and provide them with clear guidance throughout their journey at the school. Staff from the ‘Tîm Cynnal’ (‘Support Team’) and the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) te am through the Elwy Centre have comprehensive knowledge of individual pupils’ needs and work together closely to support pupils’ emotional, social and behavioural needs. Overall, many pupils have positive attitudes to school life and most feel safe. Pupils behave well in many lessons and show enthusiasm and a desire to learn. However, in a minority of lessons, pupils do not listen attentively enough and disrupt their teachers and peers at times. Members of the sixth form have very positive attitudes towards the school. They behave very maturely and contribute extensively to the school’s life and work. The pupil’s voice has a prominent place in the community of Ysgol Uwchradd Glan Clwyd."

"The school council and various committees make very valuable contributions to the school’s work. The ‘Panel Parch a Charedigrwydd’ (‘Respect and Kindness Panel’), which is led by the sixth form, is a live example of the importance that is placed on equal rights. Pupils also have opportunities to mentor and support their peers. Pupils are therefore given valuable opportunities to develop their leadership skills and develop as ethical and principled citizens who contribute fully to school life. Overall, pupils develop their literacy and numeracy skills soundly, although opportunities to expand on this across the curriculum are limited. Most pupils have benefitted greatly from opportunities to develop their digital skills and take advantage of beneficial opportunities to extend and develop their talents further. While there are strengths in the quality of teaching across the school, there are common shortcomings in the expectations of a minority of teachers. Overall, activities in their lessons do not provide enough challenge for pupils. The expectations of a minority of teachers are also not high enough in terms of behaviour or pupils’ use of the Welsh language."

"In key stage 4 and the sixth form, there is a wide range of interesting courses from which pupils can choose, including some that correspond to local industries. There is a very wide range of valuable extra-curricular experiences available for pupils to enrich their learning experiences further. The immersion course that supports pupils who transfer from English-medium education at a very late stage to develop their Welsh language skills is highly effective. These pupils receive valuable support and encouragement to ensure that they benefit fully from the school’s life and curriculum. The headteacher provides passionate and supportive leadership for the school’s future and places significant weight on fostering a caring and supportive ethos. Leaders demonstrate clear commitment to the school community and have succeeded in developing a caring ethos and a robust safeguarding culture. They have not prioritised carefully enough to ensure that their improvement work targets the aspects that are most in need of attention. Although management systems are suitable, they do not interweave effectively enough to support the school’s improvement journey."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Raise the expectations of pupils and teachers in terms of behaviour and the Welsh language; (2) Improve aspects of teaching in a minority of lessons to increase the level of challenge; (3) Ensure more cohesive provision across the school to develop pupils’ skills, particularly their literacy and numeracy skills; (4) Strengthen the school’s improvement planning procedure by prioritising better and ensuring that management systems support improvement work.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Ysgol Uwchradd Glan Clwyd are St Brigid's School (4 miles), Christ the Word School (4.4 miles), Rhyl High School (4.7 miles) and Denbigh High School (5 miles).

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

9 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Ysgol Glan Clwyd (in), 120 metres away.