Dyffryn School

Last updated

Dyffryn School
Port Talbot Secondary School, later Dyffryn School.jpg
Address
Dyffryn School
3 Talcennau Road

, ,
SA13 1EP

Information
TypeComprehensive
Established1912
Closed2018
Local authority Neath Port Talbot
Gender Co-educational
Age11 (Year 7)to 16 (Year 11)
Closed to Facilitate Ysgol Cwm Brombil

Dyffryn Comprehensive was a split-site 11 to 16 years comprehensive school based in Port Talbot, South Wales. [1]

Contents

Description and history

It was situated on two sites. Year 7 and 8 pupils were taught in the lower school on Talcennau Road in the centre of Port Talbot, whilst Years 9, 10 and 11 were taught at the site on Bertha Road in Margam. The school first opened in 1900, initially taking around 200 students as the Port Talbot Secondary School and became known informally as "The Sec". It was academically selective, being one of the two grammar schools [lower-alpha 1] in Port Talbot. The name Port Talbot Secondary Grammar School was also used. [2] In 1953, the school was renamed to Dyffryn Grammar School but 12 years later with the introduction of comprehensive education the school was re-named to Dyffryn Comprehensive School. The lower school was built of red brick with a small tarmacked playing area. The upper school was demolished in 2017-2019 to make room for playing fields of a new school, Ysgol Cwm Brombil. [3]

In 2009, Dyffryn became the first in the county borough to offer a savings facility for its pupils. [4] It had the only "Interact Club" in the area, where pupils think up ways to donate to charity and choose charities to donate to.

Dyffryn was one of the only schools in the country borough to run a School Interact Club. Interact Club is the youth version of the Rotary Club and has raised thousands of pounds for local and international charities, which the pupils themselves decided to support.

Between 2011 and 2012, the school was in band one of the school rankings in Wales.

In 2015, Sally Burton made a donation to the school of her late husband's French dictionary [5] (Harrap's New Shorter French and English Dictionary 1977 edition). [6]

Dyffryn Comprehensive was well-known for its strict uniform policy, where the students would commonly wear a black uniform with a green and black striped tie. The uniform policy had changed many times in Dyffryn's history. However, the most notable change was the introduction of black blazers in the year 2016.

Dyffryn School closed in 2018 when it was replaced by a school (Ysgol Cwm Brombil) built on Bertha Road at the location of the former Upper School, following its closure and demolition.

The final headmaster was Martin Grimes, [7] who was the last headmaster of Dyffryn School before its closure on the 31 August 2018.

Notable former pupils

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Talbot</span> Town and community in Wales

Port Talbot is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately eight miles from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south east of the town. It is one of the biggest steelworks in the world, but has been under threat of closure since the 1980s. The population was 31,550 in 2021, comprising about a fifth of the 141,931 population of Neath Port Talbot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neath</span> Human settlement in Wales

Neath is a market town and community situated in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,258 in 2011. Historically in Glamorgan, the town is located on the River Neath, seven miles east-northeast of Swansea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontardawe</span> Human settlement in Wales

Pontardawe is a town and a community in the lower Swansea Valley. it had a population of approximately 7,172 in the 2021 Census for Pontardawe Parish, and forms part of the county borough of Neath Port Talbot.

Neath Port Talbot College (NPTC) was a further education institution established as two campuses in Port Talbot and Neath in Wales, United Kingdom.

Sandfields is a mainly residential district of Port Talbot, Wales. The area is located in South Wales on a narrow coastal plain between Mynydd Dinas and the sea. The M4 motorway, A48 trunk road and South Wales Main Line run nearby. The area includes a council estate, industrial areas and a seaside resort at Aberavon Beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryncoch</span> Village in Wales

Bryncoch is a village near Neath in Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The name derives from the Welsh 'red hill', originally the name of a nearby farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen</span> Village and community in Neath Port Talbot, Wales

Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen is a village and community in Neath Port Talbot, South West Wales. Historically a part of Glamorgan, Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen is a parish made up of the electoral wards of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen and Lower Brynamman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cwmgors</span> Human settlement in Wales

Cwmgors is a village in the county of Glamorgan, and administered as part of the unitary authority borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It is part of the community of Gwaun-cae-Gurwen and lies within the ceremonial county of West Glamorgan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penygroes, Gwynedd</span> Human settlement in Wales

Penygroes is a village in Gwynedd, Wales. The village is located to the south of Caernarfon, and north of Porthmadog, by the A487 road. Penygroes' population stands at 1,793 at the 2011 census, of which 88% are Welsh-speaking, making it one of the most predominantly Welsh-speaking areas of the country. The population of Llanllyfni community, which includes Penygroes and Llanllyfni village, which practically adjoins Penygroes, plus Talysarn, is 4,135 according to the 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School</span> Comprehensive school in Neath, West Glamorgan, Wales

Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School is a comprehensive school in the Cwrt Herbert community of the town of Neath in South Wales, Wales. The school badge shows a watermill and mill stream in reference to the school name, in English 'water of the mill' or 'mill stream'. The badge also uses the acronym DCS to represent Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glan Afan Comprehensive School</span> Comprehensive school in Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot, Wales

Glan Afan Comprehensive School was a mixed comprehensive school which served the town of Port Talbot, Wales, and its surrounding areas for 120 years. It was opened in 1896 as Port Talbot Intermediate School under the provisions of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889. The school closed in July 2016 to facilitate the merger of Glan Afan itself, Cwrt Sart Comprehensive, Sandfields Comprehensive and Traethmelyn Primary School into the ultra-modern £40millon 'super-school', Ysgol Bae Baglan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain Ash Comprehensive School</span> Comprehensive school in Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Mountain Ash Comprehensive School, known as MACS, is a comprehensive school near the town of Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is a mixed-sex school with approximately 950 pupils, including about 90 in the sixth form. The school was formerly known as Mountain Ash Grammar School and is located near the former Dyffryn Colliery.

Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen is a bilingual secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 19 years. It is situated in Bethesda in the Ogwen valley in Gwynedd, Wales. As of 2022, there were 454 pupils on roll at the school. Some of the buildings date from 1895 when a County School was established here, but the present comprehensive school dates from 1951. An extension to the school was opened by Professor Sir Idris Foster. The motto of the school is "Bydded goleuni"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ysgol Dyffryn Aman</span> Comprehensive school in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales

Ysgol Dyffryn Aman is a bilingual comprehensive school and VI form. On average, it has about 2000 pupils. It is located on Margaret Street, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire in Wales.

Cwrt Sart Community Comprehensive was a school located in Briton Ferry, Neath, Wales. It was one of the secondary schools in Neath Port Talbot, taking pupils aged 11 to 16. It opened as a council school in 1920.

Ysgol Dyffryn Teifi was a bilingual comprehensive school in Llandysul, Ceredigion. It stood on the site of the previous Llandysul Grammar School. The school was established in 1984 following the re-organisation of education in the Teifi Valley. It was formerly a county school and grammar school dating back to the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera Bro Dur</span> Community school in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Wales

Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera Bro Dur is a Welsh-medium comprehensive school in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The school provides education to three to eighteen-year-old pupils in Neath Port Talbot and south Powys from three campuses in Ystalyfera and Port Talbot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cymer Afan Comprehensive School</span> Comprehensive school in Cymmer, Port Talbot, Wales

Cymer Afan Comprehensive School was a comprehensive school, located in Cymmer, Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It offered mixed-sex education to around 200 pupils aged 11–16. In November 2017, plans were announced to close the school. Following two failed court appeals, the school closed in July 2019.

John Davies is a Welsh poet whose first collection, The Strangers, was published in 1974. He was awarded the Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize in 1985.

References

  1. Dyffryn School, Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot
  2. War Memorials Register. "Port Talbot Secondary Grammar". www.iwm.org.uk.
  3. "Redevelopment of The Former Dyffryn Lower School site". Kew Planning. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  4. WalesOnline – News – South Wales Valleys – Neath – Dyffryn Comprehensive pupils get all clued up about saving their money
  5. BBC News. "Richard Burton's French dictionary given to school". www.bbc.co.uk.
  6. The Free Library. "Burton's dictionary is given to his old school". www.thefreelibrary.com.
  7. "Dyffryn School, Port Talbot". dyffryn.npted.org. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  8. "Brinley Jenkins". www.imdb.com.

Notes

  1. Port Talbot County School and Port Talbot Secondary School