Schools in Mold
Background
Mold sits within Flintshire County Council’s education area. Schools in the town offer both English-medium and Welsh-medium provision at primary and secondary level. The town’s secondary catchment draws pupils from a wide rural hinterland to the west, and from neighbouring villages including Mynydd Isa and Gwernymynydd.
A note on inspections. Estyn, the schools inspectorate for Wales, changed its inspection framework in late 2024. Reports published before that date carried summative judgements across separate categories: Excellent, Good, Adequate and needs improvement, and Unsatisfactory. Reports published from late 2024 onwards do not. The new framework produces thematic reports describing strengths and recommendations without an overall grade. The inspection findings below reflect this transition.
Estyn typically inspects schools every six years. For the most recent report on any school named below, see Estyn.gov.wales.
Primary schools
Ysgol Bryn Coch
Victoria Road, CH7 1EW. English-medium community primary for pupils aged three to eleven.
Ysgol Bryn Coch is the largest primary in Mold, with around 600 pupils. The school has an additional learning needs resource provision on site, serving pupils with complex and moderate learning difficulties from across Flintshire.
Its most recent Estyn inspection was reported in 2026 under the new framework. The previous full inspection was in January 2019, when Estyn rated Standards as Good.
Ysgol Bryn Gwalia
Clayton Road, CH7 1SU. English-medium community primary.
Ysgol Bryn Gwalia’s most recent Estyn inspection was published in 2023. The report described the school as a nurturing, inclusive environment with strong provision for pupil wellbeing.
Ysgol Glanrafon
Bryn Coch Lane, CH7 1PS. Welsh-medium community primary for pupils aged three to eleven.
Glanrafon was founded in January 1949, opening with eight pupils in the vestry of Bethesda Chapel in Mold. The school now has around 330 pupils on roll, including a Welsh-medium additional learning needs resource class that serves Welsh-medium primaries from across the county.
A £3.9 million Welsh Government investment programme added new classrooms and Welsh-medium childcare provision to the site. The school’s most recent Estyn inspection was published on 23 March 2026.
Glanrafon is the principal Welsh-medium feeder for Ysgol Maes Garmon, the county’s Welsh-medium secondary.
St David’s Catholic Primary School
St David’s Lane, CH7 1LH. English-medium voluntary aided primary in the Diocese of Wrexham.
St David’s most recent Estyn inspection report was published on 30 March 2026 under the new framework. The previous full inspection in 2020 rated the school as Good.
The school is currently the subject of a closure consultation. Flintshire County Council and the Diocese of Wrexham have proposed to close St David’s along with St Anthony’s in Saltney, St Mary’s in Flint and St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, and replace them with a single Catholic 3-18 super-school in Flint at an initial cost of £55.5 million. A first consultation was deferred in March 2026 following a legal challenge brought by St David’s governors. A second consultation was relaunched in June 2026 and closes on 29 July 2026. The school remains open and operational.
Secondary schools
Alun School
Wrexham Road, CH7 1EP. English-medium community secondary with sixth form, for pupils aged eleven to eighteen.
Alun School has 1,545 pupils on roll, including 309 in the sixth form. It houses a local-authority-funded hearing-impaired resources centre serving pupils from across Flintshire. The headteacher is Jane Cooper.
Estyn inspected Alun in February 2024 under the transitional framework. The published report described the school as a caring and inclusive community where leaders prioritise pupils’ emotional wellbeing.
The school shares some facilities with Ysgol Maes Garmon, which sits adjacent on the same site.
Ysgol Maes Garmon
Stryd Conwy, Mold. Welsh-medium community secondary with sixth form, for pupils aged eleven to eighteen.
Maes Garmon is the only Welsh-medium high school in Flintshire. Founded in 1961, it serves six Welsh-medium primaries in the county. The school runs an Immersion programme for Year 7 pupils joining from English-medium primaries, allowing children to enter the Welsh-medium system at the start of secondary education.
Maes Garmon’s last full Estyn inspection was in December 2019. Under the framework then in force, Estyn judged Standards, Teaching and Learning Experiences, and Leadership and Management as Adequate and Needs Improvement, with Wellbeing and Attitudes to Learning, and Care, Support and Guidance rated Good. A follow-up Estyn review was published in December 2021.
The school’s alumni include actor Rhys Ifans, composer Gareth Glyn and athlete Nia Jones.
Welsh-medium provision
Mold has the strongest Welsh-medium school provision of any town in Flintshire. Pupils can follow a Welsh-medium route from Ysgol Glanrafon through to Ysgol Maes Garmon and on through Welsh-medium sixth-form study. Pupils starting Year 7 at Maes Garmon who have not previously been educated through Welsh can join the Immersion programme.
Post-16 and further education
Sixth-form provision in Mold is offered at Alun School and Ysgol Maes Garmon. College-level further education is provided by Coleg Cambria, which operates campuses across north-east Wales. Check the Coleg Cambria website for current Mold and Northop provision.
Schools serving the wider Mold area
Several schools sit outside the Mold postcode but draw catchment from the town and the surrounding villages. They include Argoed High School at Bryn-y-Baal, Castell Alun High School at Hope, Ysgol Mynydd Isa at Mynydd Isa, and primary schools at Cilcain, Gwernaffield, Treuddyn, Rhosesmor and Nercwys. Flintshire County Council publishes catchment information and admissions arrangements on its website.
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