is a Welsh-medium

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

located in

Trevethin Trevethin ( cy, Trefddyn) is a suburb of Pontypool and a community in Torfaen, Wales. It includes two electoral wards (Trevethin and St Cadocs and Penygarn) for Torfaen County Borough Council. It is in the historic county of Monmouthshire. His ...

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...

Torfaen Torfaen (; cy, Torfaen ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south ...

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 ...

and named for

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Gwynllyw Gwynllyw Filwr or Gwynllyw Farfog (), known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded ( la, Gundleus, Gundleius or Gwenleue; 450 – 500 AD) was a Welsh king and religious figure. He was King of Gwynllwg in South ...

. The school had 926 pupils on roll in 2017.

History

The school was founded in 1988 as the first Welsh-medium school in the former Gwent LEA area and is housed in accommodation previously used for Trevethin Comprehensive School. For its first three years Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw was housed in the old

Abercarn Abercarn is a small town and community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales. It is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. History An estate at ...

Infant School An infant school is a term used primarily in England and Wales, for the education of children between the ages of four and seven years. It is usually a small school serving a particular area. It is sometimes a department in a larger primary school ...

house but soon outgrew the building. As one of the fastest growing schools in Wales, bigger premises were needed and the old Trevethin upper school was suggested by the education authority. Pupils at the school are taught completely in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and come from a range of Welsh-language feeder schools. The aim is to immerse pupils in Welsh and to enable them to be educated entirely in it as their native language. As of 2016, the number of new pupils each year has been falling due to the opening of a new Welsh comprehensive school in Newport. An inspection report by

Estyn Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Its name comes from the Welsh language verb ''estyn'' meaning "to reach (out), stretch or extend". Its function is to provide an independent inspection and advice service on quality ...

in 2008 stated 94.5% of the pupils came from homes where English is the main language; 5.3% came from Welsh-speaking homes. The same report also says that all pupils speak Welsh as a first language or to an equivalent standard.2008 Estyn report i
Welsh
an
English
/ref> In 2009 the school was given a grant to make improvements and replace the old static cabins with a new and improved complex building. Construction was completed in 2012. In 2018 the school was given £3 million to develop a primary school, and in 2020 the work began on construction, beginning with the demolition of the three remaining static cabins on the site of the future primary school.

Notable former pupils

;Politics *

Steffan Lewis Steffan Lewis (30 May 1984 – 11 January 2019) was a Welsh politician, who was elected to the National Assembly for Wales in the 2016 election. He represented the electoral region of South Wales East, as a member of Plaid Cymru. In December 2 ...

MS - Member of the Senedd for South Wales East Actress *

Aimee-Ffion Edwards Aimee-Ffion Edwards (born 21 November 1987) is a Welsh actress and singer. She is known for playing Sketch in '' Skins'', Esme Shelby in ''Peaky Blinders'', Sophie in '' Detectorists'' and Abi in '' Loaded''. She also had a starring voice role ...

- starred in ‘Peaky Blinders’ and other popular TV shows. Business * Philip Thomas - founded South Wales’ first bilingual Welsh & English language brewery

Beer in Wales Beer in Wales can be traced to the 6th century. Since the 2000s, there has been a growing microbrewery industry in Wales. History At least as early as the 6th century, the Druidic legendary person Ceridwen is associated with cauldrons and into ...

Sport * Cerys Hale - Wales Women rugby international *

Aneurin Owen Aneurin Owen may refer to: * Aneurin Owen (antiquarian) * Aneurin Owen (rugby union) {{hndis, Owen, Aneurin ...

- rugby player for The Dragons

References

External links

* Secondary schools in Torfaen Educational institutions established in 1988 1988 establishments in Wales Welsh-language schools Pontypool {{Wales-school-stub