Tonyrefail School opened as a new mixed comprehensive in September 1973, replacing a school on the site known as Tonyrefail Grammar School, a school built in 1931 which eventually closed in July 1973. 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. In the event, the new school was delayed and the outgoing schools did not close until the spring term of 2019. ==Notable former students==