I feel it is a great privilege and challenge to continue to build on the previous achievements of the school and look forward to working with pupils and parents.

I believe that working together we can ensure every pupil has the opportunity at Birchgrove to achieve their best and benefit from a nurturing atmosphere that builds confident, young adults able to succeed in the twenty first century.

It is my intention to ensure Birchgrove Comprehensive plays a full and active part in the local community, engaging with all potential opportunities to improve the quality of education we offer our pupils.

Mr Andrew Owen, Headteacher

We are a true comprehensive school and consider ourselves to be fully inclusive, providing a rich and varied range of opportunities that improve and extend the knowledge and skills of all our pupils. Birchgrove Comprehensive School is a popular school taking in numerous preferred placements from out of catchment area schools every year. Parental questionnaires attributed this to three main reasons:

• The overall high standards of educational provision and opportunity
• High levels of academic achievement irrespective of ability
• Very good discipline based on mutual respect and a positive learning ethos

We are fortunate to accommodate a designated Inclusion Zone or IZ for pupils with moderate to severe learning difficulties on site. We also have significant resources for pupils with physical disabilities including wheelchairs.

In addition the school has received national recognition and a range of awards for a wide range of its educational developments. We are also represented locally in many inter-school competitions and are fortunate to have achieved a high level of success in a range of genres.

Our main strength however, is in the high quality teaching and learning experiences we offer our pupils. In Birchgrove, the knowledge and understanding, experience and professionalism of our teaching and associate staff ensures total commitment to the development of our pupils

Our Vision 

• To maximise every pupil’s academic potential in a safe, caring and supportive learning environment.
• To provide high quality teaching and learning experiences that will transfer into the skills and qualifications required for lifelong learning and employment.
• To ensure that high standards of achievement, literacy and numeracy are at the heart of the school learning community.
• To ensure that our pupils are aware that they are educated in a school in Wales.
• To ensure that the health and wellbeing of our pupils is central to our school philosophy.
• To develop pupils’ social skills to raise their understanding through the provision of wide-ranging extra-curricular experiences.
• To be recognised as an inclusive learning community, with high expectations for all our pupils and ensuring that they are prepared for their future development as young adults.