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What's happening, who came before, and how to reach us.
2026 · The story we're proudest of
Britain's independent schools are living through the hardest era in their history. Hundreds have concluded they had no alternative but to close, in the space of barely two years - among them schools that had stood since before Magna Carta, schools that survived civil wars, two world wars and every recession in between. Several were in Wales; some went within weeks of our own story reaching the news. In 2026 those pressures brought us to a cliff-edge, and to a single question: could we open in September, or must we close?
What happened next never made the headlines, because it was over before the news broke. The funds came from insiders - people already part of the College family, who stepped in personally and needed no persuading. Our staff - unasked - volunteered to take pay cuts, precisely so that parents would not have to be asked to contribute. And parents gave anyway - not money, but their summer: working parties tidying the grounds, trades and talents freely lent, every kind of help that doesn't come with an invoice. The College has reshaped itself to stand on a sound financial footing for the years ahead.
We tell this story prominently because it is the best evidence this website contains. Schools do not survive this era on sentiment - and they do not survive it by concealment either. Ours is here because the people closest to it - the ones who know it best - refused to let it fail, with their own money and their own sacrifice. And because we believe a school that asks for your trust owes you the truth, we have told you ours: the hard part and the ending.
Every independent school in Britain is living through the same weather. When you visit schools this year, ask each one the question we asked ourselves - and notice who answers plainly.
They say it is always darkest before the dawn. Consider this website our "good morning".
Hundreds of schools have closed in near silence. The mere prospect of losing Llandovery made national news. That is how much this college means - and the ending the headlines missed is the best part: our own people would not let it fail.
“It is not the buildings that make this place, but the people.”
Catrin · Head Girl · Speech Day 2026
“So many, at every level of this place, asked and answered the question: what can I do to help?”
The Chair of Governors · Speech Day 2026 · an address about leadership
That is what we mean when we say leadership lives here. It is the ethos we form in our children - and in 2026, the whole College showed them how it's done.
Open. Secure. Certain of what we're for.
Latest news
Every grade a pass, 83% at A*-C, and - measured pupil by pupil against individual CAT predictions - 89% of all grades at or above prediction, from a school that sets no entrance exam.
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Top grades up by more than half in a year - A*-A from 20% to 32.8% - with a 97.8% pass rate, 70% A grades at EPQ, and pupils on Academic Action Plans improving by two grades on average.
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A Llandeilo family who joined in 2013 on dyslexia support, children who have never not wanted to go to school, and a community that came together when it mattered.
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A family fifteen minutes away on open days, small classes, older pupils looking after younger ones - and why they say the College is not an exam factory.
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A Brecon family on no Saturday school, boarding one night a week for rugby training, and what CCF and DofE have given their children.
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Twelve years from Nursery at ten months old to Year 8 - on dyslexia and dyspraxia support, and second place at the Urdd National Eisteddfod.
Read moreFrom the College year
The Boys' 1st XV beat Christ College Brecon 45-19 in the 128th playing of "Wales's Own Varsity Match" - the College's 89th win in the series, and the Brecon Monkey stays home for another year.
S4C's Iaith ar Daith filmed at the College with Old Llandoverian Alun Wyn Jones - the world's most-capped rugby player, back where it started.
A full house for every night of the Academy's production of Frozen - with sets, lighting and stage crew all pupil-run.
In our 175th year the College hosted the Urdd National Eisteddfod - Europe's largest youth festival - welcoming some 90,000 visitors to our grounds.
Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and CCF exercises head into the mountains at our backs - the wilderness on our doorstep doing what it has always done for Llandovery children.
Daily life, as it happens: Facebook · Instagram · X · YouTube
The Old Llandoverian Society
The Old Llandoverian Society keeps more than 175 years of leavers connected - through reunions, local groups, the Golf Society and sports societies, and a warm welcome back whenever you're passing through the Tywi valley.
The Society's Heritage Appeal funds the preservation of the College archives - the match programmes, photographs and records that make pages like Our Story possible - and legacy giving helps the next child walk their own path here.
To join, reconnect, or support the Appeal, contact the Society chair, David Hywel Griffiths (OL 1964-71, Thomas Phillips Scholar), at griffidh@gmail.com - or download the membership form (PDF).
Venue for hire
During school holidays, the College opens its doors: the oil-painted, oak-panelled Great Hall for weddings of 20 to 200 guests; the Chapel for ceremonies and concerts; the Theatre, Sports Hall, all-weather pitch and lecture rooms for festivals, conferences, training camps and productions - all framed by forty-five acres beneath the Brecon Beacons.
Contact us
Llandovery College, Queensway, Llandovery, Carmarthenshire SA20 0EE
Reception: 8.30am-5.00pm, Monday to Friday · Telephone 01550 723000
General enquiries: mail@llandoverycollege.com - Reception will see your message reaches the right person
Admissions: admissions@llandoverycollege.com
