owl.walesAsk The Owl® · Cylfaa™

Croeso i Cylfaa · Welcome to Cylfaa

A village on no map. Every home is a career.

Every home in this Welsh village is a sector of work, with a ready-made schools pack and a challenge for school teams.

I'm an employerWalk into schools properly I'm a teacherBring Cylfaa to your school I'm a student or parentFind your Byd School teamsThe Cylfaa Challenge
Map of Cylfaa. Each home is a sector of Welsh work. Select a home to read about it. Y MÔR · THE SEA un llythyren o Wylfa… TŴR CODI CONSTRUCTION MELIN YNNI GREEN ENERGY GWEITHDY LUNIO MANUFACTURING TŴR FFLACH DIGITAL FFERM ARAD AGRICULTURE & FOOD GLAN ATOM NUCLEAR NEUADD MENTRO ENTERPRISE GARDD LLIW INCLUSION & GREEN SKILLS ? CANOLFAN IECHYD HEALTH, CARE & SAFETY ? Y SALON HAIR, BEAUTY & WELLBEING CAE'R HER THE CYLFAA CHALLENGE

✦ Cliciwch gartref · Choose a home ✦

Sut y dechreuodd · How it began

There is a village in Wales that appears on no map.

CYLFAA

Codi · Ynni · Lunio · Fflach · Arad · Atom

Built by Mentro, guarded by Lliw, and home to six owls whose initials spell CYLFAA. One letter from Wylfa.

Read the story

It reveals itself only to those ready to ask the right questions. Its name is Cylfaa, and it was built by an owl.

Mentro ("to dare") built the village with nothing but a question and the nerve to ask it. She is the Mayor: the enterprise owl, the one who walks in first.

Beside her stands Lliw ("colour"), the Guardian. Lliw's garden touches every path in the village, because inclusion, neurodiversity and green skills aren't add-ons in Cylfaa. They are the ground everyone walks on.

Six owls hold the village doors, one for each of Wales's growing industries. Codi builds, Ynni powers, Lunio makes, Fflach codes, Arad grows, and Atom lives alone at the water's edge, looking across at a name one letter from his own. Their initials spell CYLFAA. One letter from Wylfa.

And the village is growing. New neighbours are moving in: a health centre for care, health and safety, and a salon for hair, beauty and wellbeing. Their owls don't have names yet: students in our pilot schools are choosing them.

Ten homes · ten packs · one village

Every home closes a skills gap.

Each home has a ready-made schools pack, built on current Welsh figures.

The six homes of C·Y·L·F·A·A

CTŵr Codi · Codi's Tower

Construction Adeiladu

Codi · The construction owl

6,200extra construction workers Wales needs by 2030, on top of replacing everyone who leaves
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: Plumbers, heating engineers, technical staff and site managers, plus a retrofit workforce that today could meet only a quarter of demand.

Green
Retrofitting Welsh homes for net zero: insulation, heat pumps, solar.
Digital
Drones, BIM models and digital site surveys.

Source: CITB Construction Workforce Outlook 2026–2030, Wales, June 2026

YMelin Ynni · Ynni's Mill

Green Energy Ynni

Ynni · The green energy owl

7,980jobs a year from wind, solar and tidal power to 2035, up to 1,620 of them in North Wales
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: The ECA says Wales needs at least 700 new electrical apprentices a year, but only 435 started training last year.

Green
Half of Wales's electricity is already renewable. The aim is all of it by 2035.
Digital
Smart grids and remote turbine monitoring.

Source: RenewableUK Cymru, May 2025

LGweithdy Lunio · Lunio's Workshop

Manufacturing Gweithgynhyrchu

Lunio · The manufacturing owl

19,000advanced manufacturing jobs across Flintshire and Wrexham
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: Electrical, mechanical and control engineers. North Wales employers report shortages that won't go away.

Green
Lighter planes, electric vehicles, less waste.
Digital
Robots, automation and AI on the factory floor.

Source: Flintshire & Wrexham Investment Zone skills report, March 2026

FTŵr Fflach · Fflach's Tower

Digital Digidol

Fflach · The digital owl

3,450jobs expected from the North Wales AI Growth Zone
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: AI and data skills. Most North Wales employers expect to need them within three years.

Green
Greener data centres and digital tools that cut carbon.
Digital
Coding, data and AI, and they turn up in every other Byd too.

Source: UK Government, November 2025

AFferm Arad · Arad's Farm

Agriculture & Food Tyfu

Arad · The agriculture & food owl

61is the median age of a Welsh farm decision-maker. Only 3% of farm heads are under 35.
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: New people to farm, grow food and look after the land as the current generation retires.

Green
Every farm in the Sustainable Farming Scheme manages habitat for nature.
Digital
GPS tractors, drones and herd data.

Source: FUW, July 2025

AGlan Atom · Atom's Shore

Nuclear Niwclear

Atom · The nuclear owl

3,000jobs on site at the peak of the Wylfa build (estimate), plus about 5,000 in the UK supply chain
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: High-integrity welders, engineers and technicians. Today's apprenticeships don't yet match the new jobs.

Green
Low-carbon power, day and night, whatever the weather.
Digital
Control systems, robotics and digital twins.

Source: GOV.UK, June 2026

The Mayor and the Guardian

Neuadd Mentro · Mentro's Hall

Enterprise Menter

Mentro · Mayor of Cylfaa · she built the village

178,300people in Wales work for themselves. Only about 1 in 3 of them are women.
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: Turning ideas into real businesses, in every Byd.

Green
Green start-ups and the circular economy.
Digital
Your phone is your shop window.

Source: ONS Annual Population Survey, April 2025 to March 2026

Gardd Lliw · Lliw's Garden

Inclusion & Green Skills Cynhwysiant

Lliw · Guardian of Cylfaa · every path crosses the garden

41,300jobs in Wales's net zero economy, paying about 11% above the Welsh average
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: Green skills in every sector, and a way in for every young person. 15.1% of North Wales 16 to 24 year olds are not in education, work or training.

Green
Lliw looks after the green thread in every pack.
Digital
Accessible by design: pairs, no cold-calling, clear visuals.

Source: Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, May 2026

New neighbours · owls being named by pilot students

Canolfan Iechyd · The Health Centre

Health, Care & Safety Iechyd a Gofal

New neighbour · owl being named by pilot students

6,103vacancies in Welsh social care in 2025. About half were in home care.
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: Care workers, nurses and health and safety skills. Betsi Cadwaladr had the most nurse vacancies in Wales.

Green
Greener hospitals and care closer to home.
Digital
Digital health records, telecare and health tech.

Source: Social Care Wales, July 2026

Y Salon · The Salon

Hair, Beauty & Wellbeing Gwallt a Harddwch

New neighbour · owl being named by pilot students

55%of Wales's hair and beauty workers are self-employed
The gap, green & digital

The gap it closes: Qualified stylists and therapists, and the business and money skills to run your own chair.

Green
Sustainable salons: less water, energy and waste.
Digital
Online booking and your phone as your portfolio.

Source: ONS Annual Population Survey, April 2025 to March 2026

Through every Byd

Green and digital skills run through every home.

Every pack shows how green and digital skills are changing that sector.

Lliw's green path

Read more

The green job in every Byd: retrofit for builders, habitat for farmers, low-carbon power for Atom, sustainable salons for stylists. Wales's net zero target is 2050. Year 7 students today will be in their thirties when it lands.

Fflach's spark

Read more

The digital tool in every Byd: drones on building sites, smart grids, robots on the factory floor, herd data on the farm, digital health records, online booking in the salon. Fflach turns up in every home.

Cae'r Her · The Challenge Field · Her Sgiliau Cymru

The Cylfaa Challenge. Where the rules live.

Young people solve Wales's skills gaps themselves. The winning idea gets funded and built for real.

How it works · 4 steps
  1. Find your owl

    Every student takes the Which Owl Are You? quiz.

  2. Form the village

    A team of owls, one for each Byd, with a Mentro who leads and a Lliw who makes sure every voice is heard.

  3. Petition the panel

    Your idea to close a real Welsh skills gap: a game, a session, a tool or a way in.

  4. The winner gets built

    Funded by local businesses and delivered back to the school with its name on it.

Any year group, primary or secondaryA day, a term or a year: whatever fitsBilingualFree to schools, funded by local businesses

Register your school team

Gemau Cylfaa · The Cylfaa Games

Play the Cylfaa games.

Which Owl Are You?Eight questions. Find your Byd. Job ExplorerFlip the cards and discover the jobs in all ten homes. Codi's card sort and quizSort Codi's construction jobs and test what you know.
All the Cylfaa games

Door 1 · Business

Got asked to go into a school?

What you get
  • Pick up your sector's pack: slides, speaker notes, activities and printables, ready to walk in with.
  • Fund, mentor or judge a school team in the Cylfaa Challenge.
  • Every session becomes verified social value evidence through Owl Impact®.
See the Owl Build pack →How social value adds up →

Door 2 · Schools

Employers who arrive ready.

What you get
  • From September 2026, careers and work-related experiences are a legal requirement under Curriculum for Wales.
  • Every pack is mapped to the Four Purposes and Gatsby Benchmarks, with Explorer, Investigator and Strategist activities for Years 7 to 12.
  • Neurodiverse-friendly by design: pairs, no cold-calling, clear visuals.
Bring the Cylfaa Challenge to your school →

Door 3 · Students and parents

Which Byd are you?

What you get
  • Explore real Welsh jobs, what they pay and how to get in.
  • Start with Codi's world: construction careers, pay, quizzes and the card sort.
  • Join your school's team for the Cylfaa Challenge.
Explore your future →Enter Codi's world →