| Motto | 'Tua'r Goleuni' (Towards the Light) |
|---|---|
| Established | 1981 |
| Type | State School |
| Headteacher | Mr Owain ap Dafydd |
| Location | Blackwood Caerphilly NP12 3JQ Wales |
| Local authority | Caerphilly County Borough Council |
| Students | 2000+ |
| Gender | Both |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | 5 |
| Colours | Red, Grey and Black |
| Publication | Clecs |
| Website | www.cwmrhymni.com |
Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni (English: Rhymney Valley Comprehensive School) is a Welsh-medium school situated in the village of Fleur-de-Lys in the Rhymney Valley. Cwm Rhymni was founded in 1981 with little more than 100 pupils and as of 2007 this number has grown to over 1,000.
The school's motto is 'Tua'r Goleuni' (Towards the Light) and its badge is a dragon on its hind-legs. The school is traditionally represented by the colours red and black.
Cwm Rhymni was originally situated on two sites, a Lower school for years 7 and 8 and an Upper school for years 9 to 13, situated in Aberbargoed and Bargoed respectively. By the late 1990s these buildings were in very poor condition, and after a long struggle the school was finally granted permission to build a new state of the art one-site building in Fleur-de-lys, which opened in 2002. The new building was funded through PFI. The original Headmaster of Cwm Rhymni was Mr Huw Thomas, who was succeeded by Mr Hefin Mathias in 1995. Mr Mathias was in turn succeeded upon his retirement in 2008 by Mr Owain ap Dafydd.
Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni has a strong reputation in relation to sports, especially in rugby and athletics. The school has also faired very well down the years in the Urdd Eisteddfod.
Cwm Rhymni has a very large catchment area stretching from Rhymney near the top of the valley to Caerphilly. The breadth of the catchment area is reflected by the names of the three main corridors in the school; Ebwy, Sirhywi and Rhymni; three adjoining South Wales Valleys that all feed some pupils into Cwm Rhymni. Prior to the establishment of Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw in 1988, Cwm Rhymni's catchment area also included the whole of the county of Gwent and pupils attended the school from as far afield as Newport and Chepstow.
The school's four houses are named after Welsh saints: Mabon (house colour: yellow), Cadog (green), Tudful (purple) and Sannan (blue). Tudful was a later addition to the original three houses as the school's numbers grew in the early 1990s. In 2009, a new house, Ilan, was also created in addition to the previous four houses because of the growing number of students. Currently, only the new year 7 students are in this house, but it's expected that it will expand to include the rest of the student body in the new school year. Also, because of the growing number of pupils staying on for Sixth Form, a new house, Sannan-Tudful, was created to deal with the increase.
The school also has recently received excellent ratings from the May 2010 Estyn Report, grading mostly the highest level (Level 1) to the main subjects inspected, and above all straight Level 1's in the "Key Question" section. Estyn Report May 2010 Head teacher Owain ap Dafydd responded to the news by saying: “We are absolutely determined to maintain and build further upon these excellent standards while planning for the future of this school.” Caerphilly Observer The school's councillor Phil Bevan, chair of Governors, remarked similarly to the results, stating that the inspection clarified what he had always held to be true about the quality of Cwm Rhymni, in a national context : “I am absolutely delighted with this outstanding report. I have always believed that Cwm Rhymni is one of the best schools in Wales and this report proves it. To get these grades I think you need to have something special and credit needs to be given to the whole school community for this fantastic achievement.” Caerphilly Observer [2]
Cwm Rhymni currently has a partnership with Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw, Pontypool. With this parrtnership more courses are made available in both schools. This type of programme has been tried in many schools before but the main difference with partneriaeth 6 is that the teachers travel between the schools or teach via conference link. Currently the school is trying to expand this partnership to include Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun