GRIFFITHSTOWN Junior School has two separate facilities, a mainstream school and a special needs resource base.

The resource base caters for children from throughout Torfaen with modearate learning difficulties, but head teacher Westley Hughes is keen not to make a distinction between the two sets of pupils.

"We want to give everyone an equal opportunity to learn and develop and do well," he says.

"We try to integrate the children from the resource base into mainstream schooling as much as we can.

"We measure our success by the number of children that we successfully integrate, and we are very proud of our success with the resource base.

"We have a buddy system, where pupils from the resource base are supported by mainstream pupils, and that is very successful."

Hidden away at the end of one of Griffithstown's many narrow streets, the school is based on a large, spacious site, with the luxury of a rugby pitch and separate soccer pitch. Mr Hughes says: "We are very lucky to have such a nice school site and we are all very proud of it. We always enter the school in bloom competition. We were given a merit last year, but we are determined to really go for it this year."

In the last few months the school has worked to make the grounds safer and more attractive, with new fences and landscaping.

But it's not only the grounds that make Griffithstown an attractive school; at its core are hard-working and dedicated staff.

Mr Hughes says: "Our teaching staff are very strong. What is unusual is that three staff live within the community, showing the strong ties between the community and the school.

"A number of teachers have been here for a long time and know the community very well. We are lucky to have some newer staff, too, making a good balance of youth and experience."

Griffithstown is a very close-knit community, in which the school plays an active part.

At the moment pupils are sharing the school with the local Baptist church congregation, who are using the school hall for services while the church is without electricity.

It is also shared with other community groups, and pupils themselves use the facilities outside classroom hours with a popular after-school club.

Mr Hughes says: "The after-school club has gone from strength to strength. It takes 16 pupils and is full to capacity."

Complete with a games and relaxation area and trained staff, the club is an ideal place for parents to leave their children. Other extra-curricular activities are popular, and the school has strong soccer, rugby and netball sides.

The netball team won a tournament organised by the St David's Foundation last year, and the rugby team came runners-up in the district league. Recently staff have launched a girls' soccer team, one of the first in the area.

The school's Welsh folk-dancing club is very popular, and they were one of the acts that opened the Newport Eisteddfod last year, something Mr Hughes is very proud of.