Ferndale Infants School is a local authority maintained school situated in the ex-mining community of Ferndale in the upper part of the Rhondda Fach. The present building replaced the former school in 1983. The school is well supported by its families and many children have the support of their extended families. The area is considered to be economically disadvantaged, but most of the pupils are said to come from backgrounds that are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged. Children join the nursery immediately after their third birthday and move to the reception class in the September following their fourth birthday. There are currently 70 pupils in the school, including 16 full-time nursery children. The school is organised into three classes, two of which have mixed-year groups. Just under 24% of pupils are entitled to free school meals. This is below the average for the Rhondda Cynon Taf authority area (25.6%) but above the Welsh figure of 19.9%. There are no pupils with statements of special educational need, but 17%, are on the school’s additional learning needs register. Fewer than 2% of pupils have English as an additional language and no pupils are from homes where Welsh is the first language. The school has a breakfast club. It has gained three Eco Schools green flags, three leaves in the healthy schools scheme and Fairtrade schools status for the second time. The school has also recently achieved the information and communication technology quality mark and the Basic Skills Quality Standard. The individual school budget per pupil for Ferndale Infants School in 2011-2012 means that the budget is £3,732 per pupil. The maximum per pupil in the primary schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf is £6,499 and the minimum is £2,788. Ferndale Infants School is 36th out of the 114 primary schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf in terms of its school budget per pupil.