Ysgol y Preseli is a bilingual comprehensive 11-18
school maintained by Pembrokeshire Unitary Authority (UA). The school
is situated in the village of Crymych in the north of the county
and serves a wide catchment area; currently, it admits pupils from
about 30 primary schools. The number on roll (957), including about
170 in the sixth form (Y12 and Y13), has increased by about 40%
since 1997.
The school notes that about three-quarters of the
pupils come from rural areas and the remainder from small towns.
A quarter of the pupils are judged to come from areas that are neither
prosperous nor economically disadvantaged and three-quarters from
economically disadvanged areas. However, the percentage entitled
to receive free school meals (7.5%) is substantially lower than
the national norm.
The school admits pupils across the full range of
ability. Twenty pupils (about 3% of Y7-Y11 pupils) have a statement
of special educational needs (SEN) and 71 pupils (about 10%) are
on the stages of the SEN Code of Practice. In addition, twelve pupils
have been disapplied from the one National Curriculum (NC) subject.
The percentages with a statement and on the different stages of
the Code of Practive are lower than the national norms.
40% of pupils come from homes where Welsh is the main
language; all speak the language either as a first language or to
a comparable standard. Currently, all subjects, with the exception
of mathematics and science, are taught through the medium of Welsh
up to GCSE.
Ysgol Y Preseli is a community school and substantial
use is made of the facilities such as the library, theatre, playing
fields and health centre. The Language Unit provides support to
primary school pupils as they transfer to Y7.
The School Development Plan (SDP) for 2009-2010 notes
a number of priorities that include the following:
- establishing and implementing a whole-school plan for performance
management;
- whole-school and departmental self-evaluation;
- making more systematic use of data to raise standards;
- promoting the use of information and communication technology
(ICT) across the school;
- developing teaching methods that match pupils' learning styles;
- continue to implement the LEA's language policy;
- increasing the Welsh-medium provision in the curriculum;
- implementing strategies to increase the use of Welsh outside
the classroom;
- joining the healthy schools project.
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