Cowbridge Comprehensive School 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) ...

in the town of

Cowbridge Cowbridge ( cy, Y Bont-faen) is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for e ...

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 ...

, near

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 ...

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 ...

. The school has approximately 1,500 pupils, 1,200 of whom are in the secondary years and 300 in the sixth-form years studying for

Welsh Baccalaureate 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 pr ...

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 ...

s 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 ...

Location

The present school buildings are located on

Aberthin Aberthin is a small village, just outside Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, on the north side of a shallow valley, less than a mile northeast of Cowbridge across the A48 road. Cowbridge Comprehensive School lies just to the southw ...

road, on the north-eastern outskirts of Cowbridge, in a semi-rural location.

History

When the comprehensive school opened in 1974, replacing the former grammar school, the

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 ...

(Year 12-13) was based in the former Girls' High School building and the Middle School close by in Aberthin Road, whilst the Lower School (Years 7 and 8) were housed in the south-west of the town, nearer to the town centre. On 4 December 2008, a fire started in one of the temporary buildings at the lower school at about 08:26 am. About 400 11- to 13-year-olds were evacuated to Cowbridge Leisure Centre, and smoke was visible around

as firefighters extinguished the fire. The lower school was temporarily closed whilst the building was made safe. No one was in the classroom at the time of the fire. However, after the redevelopment of the school buildings, all departments were moved onto the main site, which caters for all ages, including years 7 to 13 and ATG. The buildings at the middle school site, which was under redevelopment from early 2009, were demolished and replaced with housing. The new school buildings are on a single site in Aberthin Road; the development is estimated to have cost £21.5 million. The redevelopment of the main site included the complete construction of a new main building (A-Block) and the refurbishment of several existing buildings. In addition to this, a multitude of sports facilities were constructed. Several of these new facilities can be used by the public outside school hours. The new site opened to pupils for the first time in September 2010. The subsequent restriction on parents entering the school to drop off children, introduced in early 2015, resulted in criticism of the school's car park design and reports of near-accidents. In the same year, the

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 ...

decided to amend the design of the reception area and extend sixth-form provision, the number of pupils having risen from 312 in 2013 to an estimated 406. In 2013, the Vale of Glamorgan Council passed the trusteeship of the Cowbridge Comprehensive School Trust to the Sir Thomas Mansel Franklen Trust, an arrangement that was inherited from the original Cowbridge Grammar School (whose main buildings were sold and redeveloped as apartments).

References

External links

* {{authority control Buildings and structures in Cowbridge Secondary schools in the Vale of Glamorgan Educational institutions established in 1974 1974 establishments in Wales