West Monmouth School Ysgol Gorllewin Mynwy | |
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![]() Front of main building | |
Address | |
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Blaendare Road Pontypool , Torfaen , NP4 5YG | |
Coordinates | 51°41′47″N3°02′15″W / 51.6965°N 3.0376°W |
Information | |
Type | Comprehensive |
Mottoes | Believe, Achieve, Succeed Serve & Obey |
Established | 1898 |
Founder | Worshipful Company of Haberdashers |
Local authority | Torfaen |
Headteacher | Emma Jordan |
Gender | Co-educational |
Age | 11to 16 |
Enrolment | 1035 |
Colour(s) | Navy blue, red and green |
Website | www |
West Monmouth School (Welsh: Ysgol Gorllewin Mynwy; colloquially: West Mon) is a state-funded and non-selective secondary school in Pontypool, Torfaen, south Wales.
Pupils who attend the school generally live in the Torfaen area. The school offers education for 11-year-olds to 16-year-olds, and 1035 pupils are currently enrolled there as of September 2020. [1]
The school owes its existence to the charitable donations of William Jones, who died in 1615. [2] He bequeathed money to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers for the foundation of a grammar school in Monmouth. An accumulation of funds by the end of the nineteenth century encouraged Monmouth School to build a sister school to serve western Monmouthshire.
After much discussion and debate the town of Pontypool was chosen after land of six acres (24,000 m2) was donated by local landowner John Capel Hanbury. In 1896 the foundation stone of what was then known as Jones' West Monmouth School was laid by Louisa Eager, wife of John Hanbury. The school was officially opened by Godfrey Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar in 1898, to accommodate 70 boarders and 30 day boys. The total cost of erecting the school was estimated at £30,000.
The original school buildings were designed by Henry Stock, the Haberdashers’ in-house architect, who also designed structures at Monmouth School for Boys and the main block at Monmouth School for Girls. [3] Stock constructed the West Monmouth school of red brick, with stone dressings and roofs of Welsh slate. It is a Grade II listed building. [4] The school became a county grammar school (under the auspices of the then Monmouthshire County Council) in 1954, and the last boarders left in 1958.
In 1982 the school lost its grammar school status to become a comprehensive school when amalgamated with the three local secondary modern schools at Twmpath, Trevethin and the Wern. A new block (known simply as 'N Block') was constructed and now houses the mathematics, technology and some humanities classrooms. A new music and performing arts centre was built on the site of the old swimming pool in 2001 which gave the school some of the best facilities in Torfaen.[ citation needed ]
The school's original building with its tall spires and grand entrance became too small for the school numbers. By 1934 a new 'Science Block' building had been added at a cost of £20,000 and contained extra classrooms and modern laboratories.
The school recently went through a six million pound overhaul that has seen numerous changes. The school now has performing arts facilities including an auditorium housed in the Haberdashers' Building. The special educational needs department has been expanded and there is a new cafeteria.
West Mon has an AstroTurf football pitch which has floodlights. As of November 2019, the AstroTurf was closed due to it being upgraded to a 4G pitch which will come with new flood lights and fence, construction was due to finish in early April 2020. There is also a performing arts centre and two gymnasia. There are six IT suites and a comprehensive technology centre. The school also has a running track, tennis courts and the Albion rugby fields nearby. The school has been extended once again; the old dining hall has been converted into classrooms and a new cafeteria built on the west side of the site. This was due to the amalgamation of Trevethin Community School which closed in 2007.
The school has been known by a variety of names over the last 100 years. Originally conceived as Jones' West Monmouth School it has also been known as Haberdashers' West Monmouth School, West Monmouth Boys' School and in later years West Monmouth Grammar School. Today the school is often referred to (incorrectly) as West Monmouth Comprehensive School. Internally the school use the shorthand names West Mon or WMS. There is at least one plaque in the school that refers to it as Jones' West Monmouthshire School. The official name, however, is West Monmouth School.
Abersychan is a town and community north of Pontypool in Torfaen, Wales, and lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent.
Cwmbran is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales.
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-west and north-west. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire, and between 1974 and 1996 was a district of Gwent, until it was reconstituted as a principal area in 1996.
Pontypool is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. As of 2021, it has a population of 29,062.
Monmouth School for Boys is a public school for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a bequest from William Jones, a successful merchant and trader. The School is run as a trust, the William Jones's Schools Foundation, by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the livery companies, and has close links to its sister school, Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls. In 2018, the Haberdashers renamed their group of schools in the town, the Monmouth Schools, and made corresponding changes to the names of the boys' and girls' schools.
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Trevethin Community School was a non-selective state secondary school in the Pontypool suburb of Penygarn, Wales.
Abersychan School is a state-funded and non-selective comprehensive school in the Pontypool suburb of Abersychan, Wales.
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Pontypool Park is a 150-acre (0.61 km2) park in Pontypool, Torfaen, Wales. The park was formerly the grounds of Pontypool House and was laid out in the closing years of the 17th century for John Hanbury, an ironmaster, who is closely associated with Japanware. The grounds were purchased by the local authority in 1920, while the estate house was leased, and later sold, to the Sisters of the Holy Ghost to become St. Alban's RC High School. The former stables now house the Torfaen Museum. The grounds contain a number of structures including a double ice house, the Folly Tower and the Shell Grotto. The park is entered through the Pontymoile Gates. The gates, the grotto and the stables are all Grade II* listed structures, while the former hall and the ice house are listed Grade II. The park itself is designated at Grade II* on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Noël Debroy Jones was an Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Sodor and Man in the Church of England.
Pontymoile is a suburb of Pontypool in Torfaen, South Wales. It is all but merged with the nearby suburbs of Cwmynyscoy and Upper Race.
Talywain is situated in Garndiffaith, Abersychan and Pentwyn in Torfaen in south east Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.
Monmouth Comprehensive School is a comprehensive secondary school for pupils aged 11–18, situated in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales.
Pontypool Town Hall is a municipal structure in Hanbury Road, Pontypool, Wales. The town hall, which forms the original part of a civic centre that now serves as the headquarters of Torfaen County Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.