Abertillery Comprehensive School is a comprehensive school

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 in Abertillery

Abertillery

Abertillery is a town in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent in South Wales, north-west of Newport, originally on the Great Western Railway. Its population rose steeply during the period of mining development in South Wales, being 10,846 in the 1891 census and 21,945 ten years later...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

.

About the School

Abertillery Comprehensive is a mixed 11 - 16 school and was opened in September 1986 on the site of Pen-y-Bont Pit and Gray Pit. All subjects are taught in the English language, with Welsh taught as a second language at present, although there is a bilingual option available.

Technology

The school has invested heavily in technology and is considered a technology pioneer within the borough being the only school to have the Becta

Becta

Becta was a non-departmental public body ] funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, in the UK It was a charity and a company limited by guarantee. In the post-election spending review in May 2010, it was announced that Becta was to be abolished...

 ICT Mark. The school now has an integral wifi network reaching all areas of the school and has recently upgraded its Internet connection to be the largest in the county. From September 2011 all Year 7 pupils will be given netbooks for use inside and outside school free of charge. The hope is that this will promote inclusion of those children who do not currently have access to such facilities.

The school has also pioneered the use of the Moodle

Moodle

Moodle is a free source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment...

 VLE (Virtual Learning Environment

Virtual learning environment

Defined largely by usage, the term virtual learning environment has most, if not all, of the following salient properties:* It is Web-based* It uses Web 2.0 tools for rich 2-way interaction* It includes a content management system...

) in the county and provides internal and external access to the system.