St Cyres School is an 11–18 mixed,

English-medium An English-medium education system is one that uses English as the primary medium of instruction—particularly where English is not the mother tongue of the students. Initially this is associated with the expansion of English from its homeland i ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

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) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

Penarth Penarth (, ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a weal ...

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol C ...

, Wales. It was established in 1958. Until June 2012, the school was split over two sites: the larger site at Penarth, and a smaller lower school (years 7 to 9) in the nearby village of

Dinas Powys Dinas Powys (; also spelt "Dinas Powis" in English) is a small town and community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. Its name means "fort of the provincial place" and refers to the Dinas Powys hillfort, Iron Age hillfort wh ...

. The school has since been unified and moved into a new site, in the Penarth Learning Community.

History

The school has had three names in its short history: St Cyres Secondary Modern School, St Cyres Comprehensive School, and now, St Cyres School. The school was established in 1958 and celebrated its 50th anniversary year during the Autumn term of 2008. Several special events took place marking the anniversary. Between 1958 and 1968 the school roll was bolstered by children from

Radyr Radyr ( cy, Radur) is an outer suburb of Cardiff, about northwest of Cardiff city centre. Radyr is part of Radyr and Morganstown Community, for which the 2011 Census recorded a population of 6,417. Morganstown is north of Radyr, on the othe ...

on the other side of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

as it was quicker and easier for them to travel the nine miles by train to Penarth and attend either St Cyres Secondary Modern or Penarth Grammar School, than it was to walk or drive to nearer Cardiff schools. The arrangement only ceased when the direct rail link was removed by the

Beeching axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

Buildings

The Penarth Site was divided into five parts, each built at different times: the Old Block, the Annexe, the New Block, the Terrapins, and the Science Block. The Penarth Site's 'New Block' (which housed the sciences, mathematics, geography, and the Sixth Form) was considered to be the highest vantage point in Penarth. Planning approval was granted in September 2012 to redevelop St Cyres and amalgamate it with two nearby

special school Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

s (Ysgol Er'w Delyn, Ashgrove) and

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

’s Ysgol Maes Dyfan. Work was expected to be completed by the end of 2014. The proposals were to cost £48 million plan and would see the transformation of the St Cyres site into a brand new learning campus, incorporating St Cyres School on a single site. Completion would see the school reunited on the single Penarth site with the Dinas Powys lower school being closed.

Penarth Learning Community

The Penarth Learning community is a key element to the schools investment program with the funding scheme provided by the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

and

Vale of Glamorgan Council The Vale of Glamorgan Council is the governing body for the Vale of Glamorgan, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. It was run by the Conservative Party after the 2008 United Kingdom local elections, taking over the council from no overall contr ...

under the Government's 21st century program. The site is located on the western edge of Penarth and the new build spreads onto the old St Cyres playing fields. The two schools (St Cyres School, and the SEN school) are accommodated within one building. St Cyres holds a larger section of the building, with 11,851 sqm, and the SEN school a gross internal area of 7,942 sqm.

Fairtrade school

In 2008, St Cyres was granted "Fairtrade status" by Fair Trade Wales and became the first secondary school in Penarth to be so recognised. It was also one of the first Fairtrade schools in the

Principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...

. Penarth has been a "

Fairtrade Town The Fair Trade Towns campaign is the result of a grass-roots citizens movement that started in the UK in 2001 (see below). It allows citizens to get together in order to self-proclaim their town (or other local geographical area) as a region that ...

" since 2006. The school has a long-standing link with the ''Penarth Town Fairtrade Forum'' and its support was recognised when Penarth became the first Fairtrade Town in the area. The school has a teacher and pupil representatives as members. The pupils who run the Fairtrade scheme in the school were recognised in October 2009 by the award of the national Diana Award for Excellence.

Shares4Schools

St Cyres School was the only school in Wales that took part in the Shares4Schools investment competition, using real funds, amongst 84 schools in the rest of the UK. The competition started in October 2007 and ran until June 2008, organised and partially sponsored by The Share Centre. Schools taking part had to initially raise £1,500 as their investment funds.

Cyres Sound

On 19 September 2011, St Cyres school launched its own 24-hour internet radio station, Cyres Sound. The idea was conceived by ex-

Real Radio Wales Heart South Wales is an regional radio station that broadcasts to South and West Wales from studios in Cardiff Bay. The station is owned and operated by Global Radio and forms part of the expanded Heart radio network of stations. Background Rea ...

Richard Hopkin, who is now a music teacher at the school. During school hours, pupils run their own live shows, pre-recorded shows are broadcast in the evening and weekends, including educational programmes produced by teachers. The genre of music is Pop/Rock although specialist shows are also broadcast."Cyres Sound hits the airwaves!"
''Penarth Times'', 27 September 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2016.

Curriculum

Welsh Baccalaureate

St Cyres has been one of the leading pioneer centres for the introduction and development of the

Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification The Welsh Baccalaureate ( cy, Bagloriaeth Cymru), or Welsh Bacc, is an educational qualification delivered in secondary schools and colleges across Wales. The Welsh Government says that it gives broader experiences than traditional learning p ...

and was one of the first schools to offer the course at Advanced Level (

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 ...

) in Wales. St Cyres was also one of the first schools to offer the qualification at Intermediate level (

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 ...

School badge

The school badge consists of a quartered shield depicting: * A Castle Keep (relating to the Dinas Powys castle) * A Celtic Cross (relating to the Welsh national symbol) * A Welsh Harp (relating to Erw'r Delyn – the "Field of the Harp" – the original shape of the land) * A Welsh Dragon (relating to the Welsh symbol)

Notable alumni

* David Davies, swimmer *

Tanni Grey-Thompson Carys Davina Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson, (born 26 July 1969), known as Tanni Grey-Thompson, is a Welsh politician, television presenter and former wheelchair racer. Athletic career Grey-Thompson's Paralympic career started in the 1 ...

, politician, television presenter and former wheelchair racer * Jamie Ringer, rugby union player

Notable staff

Brian Lightman Brian Peter Leon Lightman (born 15 June 1955) is a British trade union leader who is the former General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL, based in Leicester). The ASCL has around 18,000 teachers. Early life He a ...

, former headmaster *

Audrey Evelyn Jones Audrey Evelyn Jones (15 October 1929 – 16 August 2014) was an English teacher and campaigner for women's rights. She joined the staff of the St Cyres School in the Vale of Glamorgan in 1960 and rose to the position of deputy head teacher. Dur ...

, former staff member and deputy headteacher

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Cyres Comprehensive School Fair trade schools Buildings and structures in Penarth Secondary schools in the Vale of Glamorgan Educational institutions established in 1958 1958 establishments in Wales