Welcome to Ysgol Tan y Gaer
Belong. Learn. GrowMore Becomes Possible
Ysgol Tan y Gaer is a small independent specialist school where education is built around the individual young person.
We support learners who may have experienced significant barriers to education and who need a different approach in order to belong, engage and succeed.
Our purpose is captured in one question:
What becomes more possible in the life of this learner because this education happened?
We combine strong relationships, high-quality teaching, therapeutic understanding, real-world experiences and carefully planned support so that young people can make meaningful progress towards greater independence and a positive future.
Belong
Young people learn best when they feel safe, known and valued.
We build trusting relationships, predictable routines, communication and readiness so that learners can increasingly engage with education.
Learn
We provide purposeful, explicit and personalised teaching that develops knowledge, literacy, numeracy, communication and curiosity.
Different learners may require different routes through learning, but entitlement and ambition remain high.
Grow
Learning should become increasingly usable and increasingly owned by the learner.
We develop independence, qualifications, life skills, confidence, community participation and preparation for adulthood.
At Tan y Gaer, learning is not expected to follow one straight line.
Young people may revisit learning, require more support in one area than another, or move around the model differently depending on the task.
What matters is that support is purposeful and that, wherever possible, adults gradually step back as the learner becomes more capable.
Different journeys. One Roundabout. Individual pathways to meaningful destinations.
Estyn
Our most recent Estyn follow-up inspection recognised the caring and supportive environment at Ysgol Tan y Gaer, alongside personalised learning, positive relationships and opportunities beyond the classroom.
Inspectors found no evidence that the school failed to meet the regulatory requirements considered during the inspection.
Ysgol Tan y Gaer currently requires no follow-up activity from Estyn.
A warm welcome to Ysgol Tan y Gaer
About us
Pastoral
Enrichment
Contact
Gavin Cass
Head of education
A welcome from the Head
Our school is built around the belief that a young person’s previous experiences of education should not determine their future.
For many of our learners, successful education begins with rebuilding trust, belonging and readiness to learn. But belonging is the starting point, not the destination.
Our responsibility is also to teach well, create opportunities, develop independence, support meaningful achievement and prepare young people for what comes next.
That is why our curriculum reaches beyond lessons alone. Knowledge and qualifications sit alongside communication, emotional regulation, practical application, community experiences, independence and preparation for adulthood.
We call this framework More Becomes Possible.
It asks us to continually consider what becomes possible for a young person because of the education they experience here.
We are intentionally small, highly personalised and ambitious for every learner.
