NEW SCHOOLS: Green light for Porthcawl’s Welsh-medium seedling school and all-new Kenfig Hill primary

Two new schools are on the way in Bridgend County after planners approved multi-million pound projects in Porthcawl and Kenfig Hill.

The council’s development control committee has granted permission for a Welsh-medium seedling school in Porthcawl and an all-new home for Mynydd Cynffig Primary School.

The seedling school will be built on land alongside the existing Porthcawl Primary School, with 60 places for nursery and reception-age children and childcare for children aged up to two.

Pupils will attend before moving into year one at Ysgol Y Ferch o’r Sger, the Welsh-medium school in North Cornelly.

The project also includes outdoor play areas, a staff and visitor car park, and two new all-weather sports pitches that Porthcawl Primary will share.

The building is designed to net zero standards with air-source heat pumps and solar roof panels, alongside native planting, wildflower areas, and bat and bird boxes.

Traffic calming and pedestrian safety improvements are planned along Pant Morfa and Meadow Lane, with arrangements for dropping off and picking up pupils still being developed.

In Kenfig Hill, the new-build Mynydd Cynffig Primary will take up to 420 pupils and add a 75-place nursery.

The new premises will take pupils out of temporary classrooms for good, and end the school’s split-site arrangement.

The approval follows updated plans submitted last September after the tender process began in May 2025.

The project also hands the Pwllygath Allotments Association an all-new 26-plot site, with better soil, security fencing, parking and a replacement pigeon loft. Each plot comes with a shed, a water butt and timber fencing with gated access.

The allotments have a history: the council took legal action in 2024 against plot holders who refused to leave the old site, which was earmarked for the school.

Cllr Martyn Jones, the council’s cabinet member for education and young people, said the schools formed part of its commitment to the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme.

“Both the new Porthcawl Welsh-medium seedling school and the replacement premises for Mynydd Cynffig Primary School represent a multi-million pound investment into local education,” he said.

“In years to come, they are going to be of huge benefit for generations of pupils, and I am looking forward to seeing the new schools take shape.”

The Kenfig Hill scheme also brings two all-weather pitches, new play areas and open space, highway upgrades, raised crossings and active travel improvements.