History
Prior to 1968 the majority of children from Radyr travelled nine miles to Penarth County Grammar School and St Cyres Secondary Modern School in Penarth by steam train daily, a quicker and easier option than road journeys to closer Cardiff secondary schools. The arrangement ceased when the direct rail route was closed by the Beeching Axe. The new Radyr Comprehensive School opened in 1973. In 2004, a new state-of-the-art sports hall was built for the school, that includes a fitness suite.
In June 2007, the school site was said to be worth £25m, and it was reported by the South Wales Echo that Cardiff Council are considering plans to close the school as part of a reorganisation.
The school was criticised, in February 2008, after pupils aged just 13, were instructed by a teacher to write imaginary suicide notes in an English lesson, in order to "get into the mind of a troubled teenager". This was part of a study of the non curriculum novels Noughts and Crosses, by Malorie Blackman. However, the school is just a few miles from Bridgend where there have been multiple teenage suicides. The headmaster of the school stated that "the task was a 'spontaneous piece of writing' where children were asked not to turn over the page to find out what the letter said - but to write their own version of the suicide note." and "the teacher setting the text did not associate the task with news stories but rather considered it part of the textual study of a serious book dealing with serious issues in a serious way". Several relatives of the recently deceased Bridgend teenagers expressed their sorrow and regret that the unsuitable subject featured in a school project for such young children.
Read more about this topic: Radyr Comprehensive School
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