Ysgol Tryfan is a small bilingual, 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 Bangor, Gwynedd

Bangor, Gwynedd

Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

 with around 430 pupils. The school was formed in 1978 by demerging the Welsh language

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 medium from Ysgol Friars

Friars School, Bangor

Ysgol Friars is a comprehensive school in Bangor, Gwynedd, and one of the oldest schools in Wales.-1557 Establishment:The school was founded by Geoffrey Glyn, Doctor of Laws, who had been brought up in Anglesey and had followed a career in law in London....

.

According to the latest inspection report by Estyn

Estyn

Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Its name comes from the Welsh language verb meaning "to extend". Its mission is to achieve excellence for all in learning in Wales by providing an independent, high quality inspection and advice service to the Welsh Assembly Government and...

 the school has a GCSE pass rate (based on 5 GCSEs, grades A-C) of 74%, which means it is in equal 15th place (or within the top 10%) in 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...

 with Llanfyllin High School in Powys

Powys

Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...

. It is the second best performing secondary school in Gwynedd

Gwynedd

Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

, just behind Ysgol y Gader in Dolgellau

Dolgellau

Dolgellau is a market town in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the county town of the former county of Merionethshire .-History and economy:...

. Ysgol Tryfan is ranked 111th out of 220 of all of Wales' secondary schools.

Pupils come from further afield than Bangor to Ysgol Tryfan due to its high performance, with pupils from the surrounding villages and towns of Llanfairfechan

Llanfairfechan

Llanfairfechan is a town and community in the Conwy County Borough, Wales. It lies on the coast of north Wales on the route of the A55 road, between Penmaenmawr and Bangor. It previously was in Gwynedd and prior to that was in Caernarfonshire. For ceremonial and electoral boundary purposes it was...

, Bethesda

Bethesda

Bethesda , originally referring to the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem , may also refer to:-United States:*Bethesda, Davidson County, North Carolina...

, Y Felinheli

Y Felinheli

Y Felinheli is a village lying beside the Menai Strait between Bangor and Caernarfon in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The population is about 2,200.-Etymology:...

 and Menai Bridge

Menai Bridge

Menai Bridge is a small town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in north Wales. It overlooks the Menai Strait and lies by the Menai Suspension Bridge, built in 1826 by Thomas Telford...

 attending the school.

Band Jazz Ysgol Tryfan

The school has an accomplished resident Jazz Band, formed in 2005 and growing in success during the following years. The band have had great success in the Urdd National Eistedddfod, winning the Band/Orchestra under 25 category for three years running (2008–2010), including playing at the Wales Millennium Centre

Wales Millennium Centre

Wales Millennium Centre is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert...

 in 2009. The band were also finalists in the School Jazz Band category at the Music for Youth Festival in 2009, followed by a tour of Paris in the same year, playing at the Luxembourg Gardens, Champs de Mars and Disneyland Paris.

Notable former pupils

• Gwenllian Lansdown
  Gwenllian Lansdown
  Gwenllian Lansdown-Davies is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician, a former County Councillor for Riverside, and Chief Executive of Plaid Cymru between 2007 and 2011.-Background:...
  
   - Chief Executive of Plaid Cymru
  Plaid Cymru
  ' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
  
  

• Robin McBryde
  Robin McBryde
  Robin Currie McBryde , is a former rugby union player who gained 37 rugby union caps for Wales as a hooker between 1994 and 2005....
  
   - rugby international and Wales forwards coach

• Owain Tudur Jones
  Owain Tudur Jones
  Owain Tudur Jones is a Welsh international footballer who plays for Inverness Caledonian Thistle as a midfielder.-Club career:...
  
   - footballer

• Jonathan Nefydd - Actor

• Betsan Powys
  Betsan Powys
  Betsan Powys , is a Welsh journalist, currently the political editor for BBC Wales.A native Welsh speaker, Powys joined BBC Wales as a News Trainee in 1989, before joining the newsroom in Cardiff as a bilingual, bi-media reporter...
  
  - BBC journalist