Aberdare High School (Welsh: ''Ysgol Uwchradd Aberdâr'') was a comprehensive school in Aberdare,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The school was situated between the villages of

Trecynon Trecynon is a village near Aberdare situated in the Cynon Valley, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It dates from the early nineteenth century and developed as a result of the opening of the Aberdare Ironworks at Llwydcoed in 1800. Etymology The s ...

and Cwmdare and sited opposite the Coleg y Cymoedd site (formerly called

Coleg Morgannwg Coleg Morgannwg (English: ''Glamorgan College'') is a former further education college located at four main campuses across Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. In 2013, Coleg Morgannwg merged with Ystrad Mynach College to become Coleg y Cymoedd. The col ...

). Over 600 pupils attended the school, which had a separate sports facility, two annexes, an upper school and a lower school. The school was a member of the Cynon Valley 16+ Consortium, which combined the resources of several local schools for sixth form tuition. The school's 'Dare Valley Sports Hall' was used by the public (after school hours) and the pupils of the school. Prior to September 2009, the school's name was ''Aberdare Boys' Comprehensive School''.

Aberdare Boys' Grammar School

Aberdare Boys' Grammar School was located in Aberdare,

. Situated in

, it was called the Aberdare Intermediate School when it opened in 1896. It was also a mixed school at that time. There were 80 such schools in Wales in 1896, rising to 101 by 1920. The change of name to "Grammar School" followed the 1944 Education Act. In 1964, the school relocated to Cwmdare Road. It ceased to be a grammar school in 1978, when the buildings were used to house the new Aberdare Boys' Comprehensive School.

Aberdare Community School

It was announced in 2012 that Aberdare High School, Aberdare Girls' School and Blaengwawr Comprehensive School would merge to form a new 'super-school' which became Aberdare Community School. The construction of the new £50m campus began on the Michael Sobell Sports Centre site in 2013 with the intentions of creating a unified education, leisure and community hub. After several delays, the intended September 2014 opening date of the new 1,600 pupil building was pushed back to April 2015 with the formation of Aberdare Community School still set for September 2014. Blaengwawr Comprehensive, Aberdare High and Aberdare Girls' schools were closed at the end of the Summer Term 2014. It was announced that due to delays of the new campus, the four buildings previously occupied by the three schools would temporarily house various school years until a gradual move is possible once the new building was completed in 2015.

Notable former pupils

Lyn Evans Lyn Evans CBE (born Lyndon Rees Evans in 1945), is a Welsh scientist who served as the project leader of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Based at CERN, in 2012 he became the director of the Linear Collider Collaboration, an internat ...

, physicist, project leader of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland * Martyn Gough, Anglican priest and Royal Navy chaplain *

Gwyn Morgan OBE John Gwynfryn Morgan OBE (16 February 1934 – 21 April 2010) was a British Labour Party official and EU civil servant. Morgan was born in Cwmdare, Wales, the son of a coal miner. He attended Aberdare Boys Grammar School before going on to the ...

, NUS President, Labour Party official, EU civil servant and diplomat *

Darren Morris Darren Morris (born 24 September 1974) is a former Wales international rugby union player who also represented the British & Irish Lions. He moved to Texas in 2015 as Director of Rugby for Griffins Rugby in Dallas, Texas, USA. Club career Mo ...

Wales rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played thei ...

* Simon Thomas, former

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Dai Young David "Dai" Young (born 26 July 1967) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former rugby union and rugby league footballer. He was recently Director of Rugby at Premiership Rugby club Wasps but departed the club after initially stepping down from f ...

, (former Wales rugby player and Cardiff Blues coach)

References

External links

School Website
{{Rhondda Cynon Taf Defunct schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf Aberdare