Council proposes four primary school closures
A council has revealed plans to close four primary school.
Powys County Council said its cabinet would consider the plans, which would trigger consultation on all the affected schools, at its cabinet meeting next week.
The four schools earmarked for potential closure are Churchstoke County Primary School, Castle Caereinon Church in Wales School, Llanbedr Church in Wales School, and Llanfihangel Rhydithon County Primary School.
The council said that is looking to reconfigure and rationalise the primary school provision in the county as part of its Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys 2020-2030.
The cabinet will meet on Tuesday where members will be asked to start the statutory process to close all four schools.
If the cabinet members approve the recommendation to start the statutory process, consultation on the proposals would start later this month.
If the proposals are approved the schools could close at the end of August 2022, with pupils transferring to their nearest alternative school.
Councillor Phyl Davies, Powys County Council's Cabinet Member for Education and Property, said the proposals "had not been reached lightly".
He said: "We are committed to transforming the learner experience and entitlement for our learners and we will achieve this by delivering our Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys 2020-2030.
“Our strategy is ambitious, exciting and we believe it will give our learners the best possible start they deserve.
"However, as we start to implement it, we will be faced with significant decisions as we look to address some of the challenges facing education in Powys which include the high proportion of small schools in the county, decreasing pupil numbers and the high number of surplus places.
“These proposals have not been reached lightly but we have ensured that the best interest of the learners at these four schools were at the forefront of our discussions and decision-making.
“If these schools were to close, then the learners would be attending schools that would be better equipped to meet the requirements of the new national curriculum and that could provide a wider range of educational and extra-curricular opportunities.
“I am recommending to cabinet that we start formal consultation to close this schools.
“Staff at all our schools have been working in extraordinary circumstances due to the Covid-19 pandemic and I want to pay tribute to their hard work and commitment during this extremely difficult period.
“However, we need to ensure that we can give our learners the best possible start they deserve so it is important that we continue with our transformation plans for education and deliver our strategy."
