Demo over schools axe threat
Banner-waving supporters of village primary schools facing the threat of closure in Powys gathered in Llandrindod Wells today to lobby councillors as they arrived for a vital meeting at county hall. Banner-waving supporters of village primary schools facing the threat of closure in Powys gathered in Llandrindod Wells today to lobby councillors as they arrived for a vital meeting at county hall. Members of Powys County Council's board were expected to debate a report that could set the wheels turning on formal consultations in the review of education in the county. Six schools with fewer than 30 pupils are deemed "unviable". They are Llanfihangel Church in Wales School, Ysgol Efyrnwy at Llanwddyn, Ysgol Gynradd at Carno, Llangurig School, Howey Church in Wales School and Ysgol Thomas Stephens in Pontneathvaughan. Picture: Protesting over school closures at Llandrindod Wells Council Office are Teresa Morgan-Jones, Heather Jerman and one-year-old son Llewelyn. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
Six schools with fewer than 30 pupils are deemed "unviable". They are Llanfihangel Church in Wales School, Ysgol Efyrnwy at Llanwddyn, Ysgol Gynradd at Carno, Llangurig School, Howey Church in Wales School and Ysgol Thomas Stephens in Pontneathvaughan.
Parents, governors and members of those local communities gathered in front of county hall with posters and banners, trying to get their message across: "Save Our Schools".
Protesters from Carno produced a display of life-sized self portraits done by each pupil at the school, on to which they had superimposed photographs of the children's faces.
Pictures of the children were also laid on the ground at the entrance to the building with slogans that read: "Don't walk all over our children".
Theresa Morgan-Jones, a parent governor at Carno, said: "Take the heart away and you lose the community - no disrespect to the elderly, but it then becomes a retirement village.
"We've got hardly any employment, so the school might be the highest employer in the village, which is ridiculous in itself."
Emyr Jones, vice-chairman of governors at Llanfihangel, said; "It's terrible they're closing the school. They don't take account of the rurality. The nearest school is five miles away and the road network is abysmal.
"The school is the hub of the village.
"You can't look at everything through funding. There are some circumstances which have to be different."
Mrs Viv Winkley, from Ysgol Thomas Stevens, Pontneathvaughan, said although their school provided an excellent education, Powys was intending to send their children out of county to a school that other pupils were leaving and which that local council was considering closing in the future.
Picture: Protesting over school closures at Llandrindod Wells Council Office are Teresa Morgan-Jones, Heather Jerman and one-year-old son Llewelyn.
By Mike Sivier
