As the Headteacher of Mountain Ash Comprehensive School, I am delighted to welcome all visitors to our new website where you will find informative and helpful information about our school.
Whether you are a current parent/carer, visitor or a prospective parent/carer we hope that our website will help you to find the relevant information that you need as well as giving you a flavour of the opportunities and experiences that learners have at our school. We are committed to providing a wide range of exciting learning opportunities for our learners; academic, sporting, creative, vocational and offering different avenues to develop personal responsibility and leadership skills.
We are proud of the excellent pastoral care and support that we offer at our school. All that we do at the school is guided by the principle that every child is an individual. We pride ourselves on knowing the strengths, interests, needs and aspirations of our pupils, in order to support and develop each and every one of them to reach their potential. This is underpinned by our school motto – “Every Child Will Succeed”.
Thank you for visiting our website and showing and interest in our school. If you are unable to find the information that you are looking for, please contact the school and we will be delighted to help you.
Samantha Evans, Headteacher
The school was originally founded as Mountain Ash County School and was established in 1907. It was later to become Mountain Ash Grammar School until 1966 when it became a comprehensive. From 1966 onwards the school has been known as Mountain Ash Comprehensive School.
Mountain Ash Comprehensive School is situated in the beautiful grounds of Dyffryn House (please see the photograph above), which had belonged to Lord Aberdare. Dyffryn House was sold to the Glamorgan Education Authority in 1926 to provide a new site for the education of children in Mountain Ash and the surrounding villages at the lower end of the Cynon Valley.
Dyffryn House was originally the home of Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare (1815-1895). It was a fine late 19th century creation and was built in mock-Elizabethan style. It was a 2-storey construction with attics, ornate tall chimneys, gable timber finials, fretted eaves boards, a pyramid roofed tower and half-timbering.
From 1926 Dyffryn House was used to deliver lessons at the current school site. However, in 1983 the building was declared unsafe for continued use as a school. This was following a structural investigation by Mid Glamorgan Education Authority. Dyffryn House was eventually demolished, despite being a Grade II listed building that many people locally campaigned to save. The current school and its buildings were developed from 1983 onwards.
Estyn are the Inspectorate service for schools in Wales and they undertake a range of inspections in schools including:-
The school last had a full inspection in November 2018 and were removed from Estyn review in 2021. We contributed to an Estyn thematic review in the Autumn of 2024.
Please click the link below to access our Estyn reports.
