Ysgol John Bright is a
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
on Maesdu Road,
Llandudno
Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...
in
Conwy County Borough,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It was founded with money and support from the social reformer
John Bright, whose son died in Llandudno in 1864. Until 1969 the school was a selective grammar school known as John Bright Grammar School (JBGS). It reopened in September 1969 as a comprehensive and with a new name – Ysgol John Bright. ("Ysgol" is Welsh for "school") The school serves the state secondary education sector in the Llandudno area and has around 1200 pupils. The current headteacher is Hywel Parry.
The first John Bright school first opened in February 1896 in temporary premises – now the Risboro Hotel. It was bought for £567 and had 62 pupils. By 1905, there were nearly 80 pupils and 5 teachers. It had five classrooms and specialist rooms for cookery, music, art and woodwork, physics and science.
The headmaster was J.M. Archer-Thomson, a leading Welsh mountaineer.
The school moved to a new site on Oxford Road in 1907 and remained on that site until 2004.
The Oxford Road buildings were demolished in 2004 and the site was redeveloped as an
Asda store. It has not been revealed how much Asda paid for the site. New school buildings on Maesdu Road were opened in September 2004. They were built as part of a
PFI project and a facilities management company handles caretaking, cleaning and catering. The cost was £20,000,000.
As the new site had previously been a landfill and gasworks, the move was the subject of some controversy.
Examinations
The school offers education for
KS3,
KS4 and Post-16 students. It offers
GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
, Entry Level examinations for KS4 and
AS-level and
A-level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
for Post-16 education. The school is well known for its exceptional sports facilities. The school performs a different musical production each year.
Notable former pupils
*
Sheila Collins
Sheila Margaret Collins OBE FRCN (28 August 1921 – 13 March 2009) was a British nurse, writer and educationist. She was chair of the Royal College of Nursing's council.
Life
Collins was born in 1921 in Conwy. She went to school at the John B ...
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, British nurse and educationist.
*
Joey Jones, Footballer, Liverpool Defender.
*
Keith Mason, Astronomer, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2011.
*
Sir Gareth Gwyn Roberts, 1958 Penmaenmawr. Physics. President of Wolfson College, Oxford University, UK.
*
Neville Southall. Football. Everton Goalkeeper.
*
Roger Roberts, Baron Roberts of Llandudno - former President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Methodist Minister
*
Gordon Borrie, Baron Borrie
Gordon Johnson Borrie, Baron Borrie, (13 March 1931 – 30 September 2016) was an English lawyer and Labour Party life peer.
Born in Croydon, he was educated at John Bright Grammar School, Llandudno, North Wales. A lawyer by training, he prac ...
- Lawyer. Evacuated to Llandudno during World War II.
*
Catfish and the Bottlemen - Rock band.
References
External links
Ysgol John Bright website
Secondary schools in Conwy County Borough
Educational institutions established in 1896
Llandudno
1896 establishments in Wales
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