Dyffryn Comprehensive was a split-site 11–16 years comprehensive school based in

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

, Wales. It was situated on two sites. Year 7 and 8 pupils were taught in the lower school on Talcennau Road in the centre of Port Talbot, whilst Years 9, 10 and 11 were taught at the site on Bertha Road in

Margam Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into ...

. The school opened in 1912, initially taking around 200 pupils as the Port Talbot Secondary School and became known informally as "The Sec". It was academically selective, being one of the two grammar schools in Port Talbot. The name Port Talbot Secondary Grammar School was also used. In 1953, the school was renamed to Dyffryn Grammar School. In 1965, with the introduction of

comprehensive education Comprehensive may refer to: * Comprehensive layout, the page layout of a proposed design as initially presented by the designer to a client. *Comprehensive school, a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement ...

in Port Talbot, the school became Dyffryn Comprehensive School. The lower school was built of red brick with a small tarmacked playing area. The upper school was demolished in 2017-2019 to make room for playing fields of a new school, Ysgol Cwm Brombil. In 2009, Dyffryn became the first in the county borough to offer a savings facility for its pupils. It had the only "Interact Club" in the area, where pupils think up ways to donate to charity and choose charities to donate to. Dyffryn was one of the only schools in the country borough to run a School Interact Club. Interact Club is the youth version of the Rotary Club and has raised thousands of pounds for local and international charities, which the pupils themselves decide to support. Between 2011 and 2012, the school was in band one of the school rankings in

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 ...

. In 2015,

Sally Burton Sally Hay Burton (born Sally Anne Hay; 21 January 1948) is a British author and theatre producer. She was the fourth wife and widow of actor Richard Burton. Personal life Burton was born Sally Anne Hay in Braintree, Essex, the daughter of jou ...

made a donation to the school of her late husband's French dictionary (Harrap's New Shorter French and English Dictionary 1977 edition). Dyffryn Comprehensive was well-known for its strict uniform policy, where the students would wear mainly black colors with a green and black striped tie. The uniform policy had changed many times in Dyffryn's history. However, the most notable change was the introduction of black blazers in the year 2016. Dyffryn School closed in 2018 when it was replaced by a new school (Ysgol Cwm Brombil) built in Bertha Road at the location of the former Upper School, following its closure and demolition. The final headmaster was Martin Grimes, who was the last headmaster of Dyffryn School before its closure in 2018.

Notable former pupils

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

, actor * Dennis Burgess, actor * Brinley Jenkins, actor

References

Notes

{{authority control Secondary schools in Neath Port Talbot