Ogmore School
Ogmore Comprehensive School operated on the Valley site from 1972 to 1989 before moving to Bryncethin. Prior to this Ogmore Grammar School had been there from its formation in 1948 to 1972 when the Grammar School was merged with Nantymoel Secondary School to form the Comprehensive. The old Grammar Motto had been Fel Yr A Ymnertha (As it is Strengthened). School houses in the old Grammar were Tudor (Blue), Llewellyn (Green) and Glyndwr (Red). The Grammar School had been small (circa 350 pupils) with 2 forms per year and an Upper and Lower Sixth. Despite this small size the school regularly fielded a first and second 15 rugby team and was renowned for its netball teams. Prior to the Grammar School it had been Ogmore Secondary School 1919 to 1948 and Ogmore Higher Elementary School 1910 to 1919). Mike Crowell Memories of Ogmore School (unpublished) 2020. Heads of Schools listed below.
| Ogmore Comprehensive School (formed in 1972) | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
Spout Hill , , CF32 9NA | |
| Information | |
| Type | Secondary |
| Motto | Preparing Pupils For Life |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Multi-cultural |
| Established | 1972 (Comprehensive) |
| Local authority | Bridgend County Borough |
| Headteacher | Gwyn Davies (acting) Andrew Warren (Headteacher designate - "Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen") |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age | 11 (Year 7) to 18 (Year 13) |
| Houses | Coch (Red), Glas (Blue), Gwyrdd (Green), Melyn (Yellow) |
| Colour(s) | Navy, Red and Blue |
| Website | www.ogmore.org |
School History
Higher Elementary School
J. Davies Brown M.A. Higher Elementary School, 14th Sep 1910 to 3rd Sep 1919. The new school cost £8,000 and could accommodate 250 pupils. First teachers:
Lillian Armitage B.A., Lilian M. Davies B.A., Thomas Jacob Jones B.A., Thomas Samuel B.Sc., Miss E.M. Williams
Mr T. Samuel Higher Elementary School, 4th Sep 1919 to 8th Sep 1919
Mr Charles Davies B.Sc. Higher Elementary School, 9th Sep 1919 to 18th Sep 1919. Moved over from Fronwen Primary as Senior Master
Thomas Jacob Jones, M.A., M.C. Higher Elementary School, 19th Sep 1919 to 20th Oct 1919 Thomas Jacob Jones temporarily in charge as Senior Master pending appointment of new Head
Thomas Jacob Jones, M.A., M.C. Higher Elementary School 21st Oct 1919 to 01st Jan 1921 Thomas Jacob Jones officially appointed new Head. He is invested with Military Cross at Buckingham Palace on 31 Mar 1920.
Ogmore Secondary School
Thomas Jacob Jones, M.A., M.C. Ogmore Secondary School, 01st Jan 1921 to 30th Apr 1948
Austen M. Lewis, Ogmore Secondary School, 30th Apr 1948 to 01st Sep 1948
Ogmore Grammar School
Austen M. Lewis, Ogmore Grammar School, 01-Sep-48 to 1954. On 08 Jul 1949, War Memorial & Roll of Honour unveiled.
R. Protheroe, Ogmore Grammar School, 1954 to 1954
Ezra Plummer, Ogmore Grammar School, 1954 to 1961
W. J. Price, Ogmore Grammar School, 1961 1972
Ogmore Comprehensive School • 1972 saw the introduction of Comprehensive Education at Secondary level. Ogmore Grammar School became the Upper Comprehensive and Nantymoel Park School the Lower Comprehensive, until the new School was built at Brynmenyn.
W. J. Price, Ogmore Comprehensive (Upper) School,1972 to 1977. On 31st Mar 1977, the new Comprehensive School at Spout Hill, Bryncethin was officially opened and became the Ogmore Comprehensive Upper School.
W. J. Price, Ogmore Comprehensive (Upper) School, 1977 Jul-79 In 1982, all pupils in the Lower Comprehensive moved to the old Grammar School site in Fairy Glen, whilst the Upper Comprehensive moved to the new school in Bryncethin.
P. Manley, Ogmore Comprehensive (Lower) School and (Upper) School, 01-Sep-79 to 01-Feb-92 After 1985 both upper and Lower schools were re-united in the new school site at Bryncethin.
Brian Davies Ogmore Comprehensive School, 16-Oct-91 to 31-Aug-92
Mrs Sandra F. Davies, M.B.E. Ogmore Comprehensive School 01-Sep-92 to 31-Aug-03
Nicholas Oaten, Ogmore Comprehensive School, 01-Sep-03 to 19-Apr-09 Left to join King Henry VIII Comprehensive School in Abergavenny due to uncertainty in regard to potential merger with Ynysawdre School
Sue Halliwell, Ogmore Comprehensive School 20-Apr-09 to 01-Nov-09 Acting Head - Sue left at half term to take up a post at Estyn
Gwyn P. Davies Ogmore Comprehensive School, 02-Nov-09 to Jul-11 Acting Head
Andrew Warren Valleys Gateway School (as named by BCBC until new build complete). Apr-10 Sep-11 Head Designate
Andrew Warren Coleg Cymunedol y Dderwen in Sep-11 became its first head
Many thanks to Ogmore Valley Local History Society who were the source for the Head Teachers listed above
Ogmore Comprehensive was a co-educational secondary school last situated approximately 1.2 miles from the M4 Junction 36, Bridgend, Wales on its Bryncethin base. It had a population of approximately 710 pupils aged 11–18 in its last year of full service, which made it the smallest secondary state school in Bridgend. The school was mainly recognised throughout South Wales for its commitments to the environment. In 2011, the school ceased to be after merging with local neighbouring school Ynysawdre Comprehensive School after over 100 years of service to the local catchment areas in its many evolving guises.
Ogmore School's Eco Committee
Ogmore School boasted an excellent Eco-Schools Team which was led by various teachers of the school. The Group had many committed members, whose activities ranged from making greenhouses from bottles to the addition of Photovoltaic Cells on the roof of the school. The Pupils who took part in the Eco-Schools committee ranged from all years within the school.
Ogmore was awarded The Green Flag after months of work by pupils and teachers, becoming the first secondary school in Bridgend County to do so. In 2007, after this success, and years of hard work, the school was named the most environmentally friendly secondary school in Wales, after being the first secondary school to receive a 1st place Eco-Schools award. The school received 2nd place in 2008's Eco-Schools awards, and again managed to reach 1st place in 2009.
Ogmore School was also officially named a Fair Trade School, all produce sold in the School (such as fruit, vegetables and tea) were all Fair Trade. The School also had the privilege of hosting the Fair Trade convention in 2007.
Again in November 2009, Ogmore Comprehensive earned another Green Flag, proving to be a great accomplishment for Green Schools in Wales.
The School's students also had the privilege of linking up to Great Fammis school [1] in Ghana, where pupils had the once in a lifetime chance of speaking to children halfway around the world, exploring each other's cultures and lifestyles. The Ogmore pupils also had the chance to find out how Fair Trade directly affected their lives in Ghana and gave them the insight of how their crusade for Fair Trade status had been worthwhile. Both pupils and teachers enjoyed the experience. The video link was filmed for ITV Wales news, and was broadcast later that week. Ogmore Comprehensive school continued to make regular contact with Great Fammis, and had even hosted other schools, spreading the knowledge of fairtrade across Wales.
Sixth form partnership
For many years, Ogmore School operated as a partnership with Ynysawdre in order for the two schools to offer a wider choice of subjects and opportunities to those pupils who chose to return for the sixth form. As a result, many pupils went back and for between the two schools due to some subjects only being available at their respective school.
Merge with "Ynysawdre" 2011
As part of a new multi-million project, the school merged with local neighbouring school Ynysawdre Comprehensive School to become a brand new "state of the art" school, known as "Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen" opening in September 2011. Both schools continued to see the number of pupils enrolling every year continue to drop, prompting firstly, the council to consider closing one of the 2 schools. However, in 2010, Bridgend County Borough Council, passed a vote and decided to merge the two schools coming into effect in September 2011. "Ogmore Comprehenisve School" officially had its last day of service on 21 July 2011, with the school itself, pupils and staff, past and present, holding an open day on the 19th.
Uniform
School Uniform
| Keystage | Jumper | Polo Shirt | Trousers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keystages 3 & 4 (Years 7-11) | Navy | White | Black |
| Keystage 5 (Sixth Form) | Black | White | Black |
Catchment area
Ogmore School served the area of Ogmore Vale, Nantymoel, Bryncethin, Sarn, Blackmill, Lewistown, Pricetown and Wyndham. Whereas the old Grammar School saw its catchment area cover Litchard and Coity (for girls) and Pencoed and Heol Y Cyw for boys and girls. The new school will continue to serve these catchment areas along with picking up Ynysawdre Comprehensive School's areas such as Tondu and the Blaengarw valley along with others. Housing developments within these catchment areas is also expected to keep increasing the number of pupils enrolling in the school year after year, this being one of the major reasons for the new school.
Notable pupils
Business
Andy Jones – Challenge Director: Medicines Manufacturing ISCF
After leaving Ogmore Comprehensive Andy did a degree and PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of Wales Institute of Science & Technology and then joined the pharmaceutical industry following a period of research at the University of Colorado.
He spent more than 30 years’ working in development and manufacturing in the Pharmaceutical industry holding senior positions in Science and Technology leadership, developing the manufacturing processes for new medicines for breast cancer, lung cancer as well as neurological and heart disease.
Andy joined the UK government as part of UK Research and Innovation in 2018 leading the Industrial Strategy challenge fund in Medicines Manufacturing with the aim of making the UK one of the best places in the world to manufacture medicines, creating high value jobs, driving exports and delivering better medicines to patients faster. During the recent pandemic he has been responsible for creating manufacturing capacity for the vaccines in development to ensure doses are available for patients as quickly as possible.
David Prosser
Chief Executive of Legal and General
Netball
Hilary Floyd Wales netball international and former PE teacher at Ogmore Comprehensive School
Rugby
Keith Bradshaw was a Wales international rugby union player. He was capped nine times for Wales, and at club level played for Bridgend. He also appeared for the Barbarians. From the reliable memory of Jon(Jock) Allen himself a sterling member of Ogmore Grammar First XV from 1971 to 1974 and captain from 1973 to 1974.
Grahame Hodgson was born in Ogmore Vale and educated at what was then Ogmore Grammar School, and played club rugby for Aberavon RFC, Bridgend RFC, Exeter RFC, Exeter Saracens RFC, Teignmouth RFC, Torquay RFC and Neath RFC. He played 15 tests for Wales between 1962 and 1967. His position was full back.
Gavin Thomas is a former Welsh international rugby union flanker, who was capped 24 times for Wales (2001 to 2010). He played his club rugby for Tondu, Bridgend, Bath, the Ospreys, the Scarlets and the Newport Gwent Dragons.
Gareth Thomas rugby player)nicknamed "Alfie", is a Welsh former professional rugby player, who represented Wales in both rugby union and rugby league. With 100 test match appearances he was the most capped Welsh rugby union player until he was overtaken by Stephen Jones in September 2011.
Nathan Thomas is a Welsh former international rugby union footballer who played in the back row. Thomas has played for various clubs during his career, including Bridgend, Bath, Cardiff Blues, Leeds Tykes, the Scarlets and Neath. He started for Bath in the victorious 1998 Heineken Cup Final as they defeated Brive. He played 9 times for Wales between 1996 and 1998,his last being against South Africa.
Athletics
Mick Crowell, former Welsh and British Road Race International, 4 times Welsh Marathon Champion and twice runner up. Club Bridgend AC.
Lynn Davies(Olympic Gold Medallist)Lynn Davies CBE is a Welsh former track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He was the 1964 Olympic champion in the event. He was born in Nantymoel near Bridgend and was a member of the Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club
Ian Hamer, is a British former long-distance runner. He competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics. He was the bronze medallist in the 5000 metres at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Club Swansea Harriers.
TV/Film/Drama
Windsor Davies (Actor)was born in Canning Town, Essex, to Welsh parents, who returned to their native village of Nantymoel in 1940.Davies studied at Ogmore Grammar School and Bangor Teacher Training College[1] after which he taught English and Maths for four years in the 1950s at Leek in Staffordshire; he was known as a joker and made his pupils laugh.He also worked as a coal miner and performed his National Service in Libya and Egypt with the East Surrey Regiment, between 1950 and 1952, before deciding to become an actor. In 1957, he married Eluned Lynne Evans; she died in September 2018. The couple had five children. Davies' best known role was as Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the British sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981).
Micky Bowyer attended Ogmore School (2004-2009) and went on to be cast in supporting roles in 'Everybody's talking about Jamie', 'Generation Z', 'The Trial of Christine Keeler' and 'World on Fire'. Bowyer lives and works as a teacher and DJ in Liverpool.
William Ingram, widely known as Bill Ingram except on stage and on the page famous actor and dramatist, was born in Resolven, Glamorgan, Wales, in 1930, but six years later the family moved to Ogmore Vale, where he attended Ogmore Grammar School.
Judiciary
Neil Bidder retired Deputy High Court Judge and QC
Music
Bullet for My Valentine (BFMV) members Michael Thomas, Jason James, Matthew Tuck and Michael Thomas. BFMV The band has sold nearly 2 million albums in the United States and over 3 million albums worldwide and are the most-successful act in the Kerrang! Awards category of "Best British Band" with three wins.
Academia
Professor Peter John, Vice Chancellor of the University of West London and awarded CBE in 2019
Politics
Kitty Bishop Mayor of Ogmore & Garw UDC in 1977/78 and 1984/85
References
- "Domain suspended". www.papapaalive.org.