Rhymney Comprehensive School

School History

Rhymney is an 11-18 co-educational comprehensive school situated in a green field site in Abertysswg. The upper school was opened there in 1983 with the lower school relocated there in 1990. At the time, four temporary classrooms were provided but 18 more have been added to cope with increasing numbers of pupils. The school serves a group of villages and hamlets in the northern reaches of the Rhymney

Valley: Abertysswg, Butetown, Fochriw, Pontlottyn, Princetown, Rhymney, Tirphil and New Tredegar. Almost all pupils speak English as their first language and in the school’s catchment area fewer than 7 per cent of the community speak Welsh.

There are few opportunities for full-time employment locally but the community is the centre of a range of regeneration and renewal strategies, co-ordinated by the Rhymney Communities First Partnership Board, the community increases, companies such as the Community Furniture Enterprise and organisations such as The Prince’s Trust are setting up in the town of Rhymney.

The school aims to provide pupils with a challenging education, which promotes learning, raises standards and ensures they are properly prepared for adult life. The development plan outlines a number of objectives the school proposes to achieve over a two-three year period. The development plan includes specific targets relating to the development of key skills, pupil support, attendance and the development of vocational courses. Additionally the school is focusing particular attention on raising standards of achievement. Because of its reputation locally, the school is currently oversubscribed in all year groups.