Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

Secondary
PUPILS
852
AGES
11 - 16
GENDER
Mixed
TYPE
Secondary (ages 11-16)
SCHOOL GUIDE RATING
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Can I Get My Child Into This School?

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This pupil heat map shows where pupils currently attending the school live.
The concentration of pupils shows likelihood of admission based on distance criteria

Source: All attending pupils Pupil Level Annual School Census
01639 763580, 01639 763730

This School Guide heat map has been plotted using official pupil data taken from the Pupil Level Annual School Census collected by the Welsh Government. The data tells us where pupils lived at the time of the last Pupil Census.

Our heat maps use groups of postcodes, not individual postcodes, and have naturally soft edges. All pupils are included in the mapping (i.e. children with siblings already at the school, high priority pupils and selective and/or religious admissions) but we may have removed statistical ‘outliers’ with more remote postcodes that do not reflect majority admissions.

For some schools, the heat map may be a useful indicator of the catchment area but our heat maps are not the same as catchment area maps. Catchment area maps, published by the school or local authority, are based on geographical admissions criteria and show actual cut-off distances and pre-defined catchment areas for a single admission year.

This information is provided as a guide only. The areas from which pupils are admitted to a school can change from year to year to reflect the number of siblings and pupils admitted under high priority admissions criteria.

3 steps to help parents gather catchment information for a school:

  1. Look at our school catchment area guide for more information on heat maps. They give a useful indicator of the general areas that admit pupils to the school. This visualisation is based on all attending pupils present at the time of the annual School Census.
  2. Use the link to the Local Authority Contact (above) to find catchment area information based on a single admission year. This is very important if you are considering applying to a school.
  3. On each school page, use the link to visit the school website and find information on individual school admissions criteria. Geographical criteria are only applied after pupils have been admitted on higher priority criteria such as Looked After Children, SEN, siblings, etc.

How Does The School Perform?

Full Report
NATIONAL AVG. 2.18
Estyn Report
(01/03/2023)
Full Report - All Reports
314.9
GCSE average points
score (capped 9)
NATIONAL AVERAGE 358.1



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How School Guide Rates Secondary Schools

For secondary schools in Wales, schools are rated on key performance indicators for pupils up to the age of 16 (GCSE only) due to the fact the government did not publish A level data for the last academic year.
Afan Valley Road
Cimla
Neath
SA11 3TA
01639 791300

School Description

Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School is a caring school where staff know pupils well and make them feel valued and safe. Pupils are welcoming and friendly, and many behave well. They benefit from the wide range of extra-curricular opportunities on offer and the pupils involved in the various Senedd groups value the opportunities they have to contribute to the life of the school. However, pupils’ attendance is notably low, particularly that of those eligible for free school meals or with additional learning needs (ALN) and the approach to improving attendance is not sufficiently strategic. Strong working relationships between staff and pupils are a feature of most lessons. In the majority of lessons, teaching enables pupils to make sound progress. In these lessons, teachers plan helpful, suitably challenging activities and monitor pupils’ progress well, providing useful verbal feedback. In a minority of cases, teaching is not effective enough, often due to teachers’ low expectations. In these cases, pupils do not make enough progress and a minority complete very little work. Although feedback is helpful in a minority of instances, overall feedback and assessment does not provide pupils with sufficient guidance. Leaders have developed an ambitious strategy for the development of the Curriculum for Wales, though this has not been sufficiently underpinned by a consistent enough focus on improving the effectiveness of teaching. In general, pupils have an appropriately broad curriculum in Years 7 and 8 and a suitable range of options in Key Stage 4. However, provision to develop pupils’ Welsh language skills is underdeveloped and a few more able pupils in Year 11 do not have suitable provision for English from January onwards. While there is valuable personal and social education (PSE) provision for younger pupils, this is more limited for older pupils. The Secondary Education Nurture Centre (SENC) is a Local Authority provision for pupils from across Neath and Port Talbot, which is managed by the school. It provides a safe, constructive environment for pupils with significant social, emotional and mental health needs. These pupils develop useful skills and positive attitudes to learning at the centre, and they generally attend well. Staff in the centre provide a bespoke curriculum for each pupil and work effectively with external agencies to support them. The school’s caring ethos, where every child matters, is promoted successfully by leaders. There is a sound culture of safeguarding and valuable provision for pupils with ALN, such as the Year 7 nurture class. In light of the pandemic, leaders recognised the need to develop their own range of provisions to meet the changing needs of pupils. As a result, there is a broad range of provision to meet the wellbeing needs of pupils, particularly those who are vulnerable. The headteacher and other leaders display a heartfelt commitment to the school and its community and have been successful in promoting the well-being and safeguarding of pupils. Despite this, leadership has not had enough impact on other important aspects of the school’s work. These include attendance, the quality of teaching and assessment, the provision to develop pupils’ skills and access for all pupils to a suitably broad curriculum. Overall, leaders do not evaluate the impact of 2 A report on Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School March 2023 their work rigorously enough or focus consistently enough on core aspects of their work. As a result, their actions to effect improvement are not sufficiently precise or effective. In addition, there is too much variation in how robustly senior leaders hold middle leaders to account or support them to develop their leadership skills.

Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School Parent Reviews



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