The former National School at Penparau closed in 1952, and a new primary school – Ysgol Llwyn yr Eos – was built to replace it. Whilst the old school could only accommodate 139 pupils, the new school ‘could cope with over 280 pupils.’ It appears that this primary school was initially divided into a building for infants and a building for juniors. Indeed, modern ordnance survey maps still record two separate schools on the same site, one labelled ‘Ysgol Llwyn yr Eos’ and the other ‘Penparcau Infants School/Llwyn yr Eos Infants School.’

The number of pupils at Llwyn yr Eos increased throughout the twentieth century – ‘The Penparcau Junior School increased its numbers from 126 to 198 between 1966 and 1974 while its Infant School increased its population from 127 to 160 over the same period.’ According to Ceredigion Archives, the infant and junior schools were combined to form Ysgol Llwyn yr Eos in 1989.

Llwyn yr Eos was an early pioneer in teaching Welsh as a second language. According to David Gwilym Williams: ‘Another interesting experiment was conducted by the Faculty of Education at Penparcau Infants’ School Aberystwyth early in 1967, when a project was launched to explore the possibility of introducing Welsh as a second language early in the life of a child at school. The methods employed in doing so and the success achieved by the end of a six-month period is fully described in a chapter by Eurwen Price, one of the research officers of the Faculty, on *Early Bilingualism in Towards Bilingualism, which was Volume I in a series on Welsh Studies in Education by the Aberystwyth Faculty of Education. While the experiment was in progress and after its completion, the Faculty organised courses for teachers to explain the nature of the investigation, the methods employed by the research officers, and the results that had been achieved at the end of the period. This successful experiment proved influential in Cardiganshire, for the new language policy formulated by the Authority in the late sixties clearly declared that Welsh as a second language should be introduced as early as possible at the infant stage’

In 2019, there were 257 pupils enrolled at Llwyn yr Eos, including 39 part-time nursery age pupils. They were taught in ‘thirteen classes, four of which are special education needs resource base classes.’

Sources: modern and historic Ordnance Survey maps; David Gwilym Williams, 'Bilingual Education in Cardiganshire, 1904-1974'; Ceredigion Archives; Estyn Report, published February 2019

M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 7th November 2022