New £19m Welsh school officially opened
YSGOL Gymraeg Bro Dur, the new £19 million Welsh-medium secondary school in Sandfields, Port Talbot, has been officially opened.
The new school, built over 68 weeks by contractors Bouygues UK, forms the southern campus of Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera Bro Dur and secures the future of Welsh medium education in the county borough.
The project was jointly funded by Neath Port Talbot Council’s Strategic School Improvement Programme and the Welsh Government, as part of its 21st Century Schools initiative.
The school will eventually accommodate up to 650 pupils aged 11 to 16.
The new facility has been built on the site of the former Sandfields Comprehensive and Traethmelyn Primary schools.
It boasts digital age teaching and support resources with sports facilities and pitches which can benefit the wider community, together with features including underfloor heating and biometric (fingerprint) technology.
Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council Rob Jones said at the official opening on Tuesday: “This new school represents our commitment to ensuring our children have the best and most modern education they can possibly have and it also represents our commitment to the Welsh language.”
Councillor Peter Rees, Neath Port Talbot Council’s cabinet member for education, skills and culture added: “Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Dur underlines another key landmark in Neath Port Talbot Council’s ambitious plan for creating the best environment for teaching and learning.
“This new Welshmedium campus together with the completed redevelopment of the existing Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera site in the north will form a key part of the Council’s plans to strengthen the provision of Welsh medium education across the county borough”.
Aled Davies, a former pupil of YGG Tyle’r Ynn (Briton Ferry) and Year 7 pupil of the new Welsh medium campus came up with the new school name during a competition. Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Dur roughly translates as ‘steel community’ school.