The school was situated on the north side of the town of Tonyrefail, on the B4278 near Bryngolau, around three miles south of Tonypandy and about four miles west of Pontypridd.

[1] It took its pupils from a cluster of six primary schools, Abercerdin, Cwmlai, Hendreforgan, Tonyrefail, Tref-y-Rhyg, and Williamstown, and worked with other schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf to offer a range of post-16 courses at its Sixth Form Centre.

[citation needed] Tonyrefail School was also awarded the Investors in Families Award Careers Wales Mark[citation needed] and was working towards the completion of Phase 5 of the Healthy Schools Quality Award.

The school was closed as a result of the Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council 21st Century Schools Reorganisation, which aimed to take a radically different approach to education in the area, by sharing both primary and secondary sector resources.

At the end of the summer term, 2018, Tonyrefail School and Tonyrefail Primary School were both planned to close, and in September 2018 a new Tonyrefail Community School, for local children aged from three to nineteen, would open in new buildings which had been built at a cost of some £44 million on the school‘s site, including a Sixth Form Centre of Excellence.