Prior to 1968, the majority of children from Radyr travelled nine miles to Penarth County Grammar School and St Cyres Secondary Modern School in Penarth by steam train daily, a quicker and easier option than road journeys to closer Cardiff secondary schools.
The school was criticised, in February 2008, after pupils aged just 13, were instructed by a teacher to write imaginary suicide notes in an English lesson, in order to "get into the mind of a troubled teenager".