Ysgol Y Castell, Carmarthenshire

Ysgol Y Castell 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 199 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

24% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 11% have additional learning needs (29% in 2020/21); 7% are learning English as an additional language; and 13% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 11 pupils (Year 1) to 37 (Year 6).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,009 per pupil, against £3,948 in 2021-22. It ended 2024-25 with a deficit of £44k.

Estyn's report on its October 2025 inspection summarises Ysgol Y Castell like this:

"Ysgol Y Castell provides a safe, nurturing, and inclusive environment where pupils feel valued and supported. Staff prioritise pupil well-being and work effectively as a team to foster a caring ethos. As a result, pupils behave well and feel confident that their views are respected. The school offers a broad and balanced curriculum, with pupils contributing meaningfully to its development. Most pupils, including those with additional learning needs, make good progress in developing their oracy, reading, and writing skills."

"They also build secure mathematical understanding and apply their numeracy and digital skills appropriately across the curriculum. However, in a few lessons, pupils are too passive due to over- direction from teachers, and the level of challenge is not consistently high. Teachers do not always have high enough expectations for pupils’ progress or plan learning experiences that build well enough on prior learning, in a few lessons. Where teaching is strongest, lessons are engaging and purposeful, with practical activities that promote skill development. Teachers use questioning effectively and provide helpful verbal feedback to support learning."

"However, teachers’ written feedback to pupils does not lead to improvements in the quality of work often enough. Leaders use a range of self-evaluation processes to identify strengths and areas for improvement. This has led to successful developments, such as enhancing provision for the Welsh language. Leaders do not always evaluate the effectiveness of teaching sharply enough."

Estyn made 2 recommendations: (1) Strengthen self-evaluation and improvement processes to identify and address shortcomings in teaching; (2) Improve the use of assessment and feedback to support pupils’ progress.

The nearest other state primary schools to Ysgol Y Castell are Ysgol Gwenllian (0.4 miles), Ysgol G. Mynyddygarreg (1.4 miles), Trimsaran Community School (3 miles) and Carway C.P. School (3.1 miles).

The nearest railway station is Kidwelly Rail Station (SE Entrance), about 1010 metres away (roughly a 13-minute walk).

12 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Ger-y-Castell, 40 metres away.