Packed meeting over future of Llanidloes school

Dozens of people packed into a public meeting in a bid to save a Mid Wales high school. Parents in Llanidloes fear pupils will have to travel to Newtown and miss out on activities if the town's school closes.

Powys County Council is currently carrying out a secondary school modernisation review, which is looking at the future of schools in the county.

The programme could potentially see the closure of several secondary schools in the region.

Last night's meeting was organised by the Llanidloes Education Action Group and was attended by parents and councillors from the town.

Joe Purches, group chairman and parent, said the school was too good to close.

He said: "It's a response to the questionnaire the council has sent out to stakeholders and is a chance to discuss the modernisation report.

"Parents do not want Llanidloes to close - it is a good school and pupils will have to travel up to one hour to go to Newtown if it does.

"This travel time will kill all the after-school clubs like orchestras and if the school closes it will also affect the future of the local primary school."

Susan Lewis, a fellow parent, said: "Llanidloes High School is one of the best schools I could imagine and to lose it would be a crying shame.

"The children are all happy there and if we had to move them 20 miles away to another school it would be such a hassle and have an impact on out-of-hours learning."

She added: "But I appreciate the difficult situation the council finds itself in."