Parents divided over Welsh-only future plan for school near Shropshire border
Offering only Welsh spoken education at a secondary school in a Welsh town 10 miles from the Shropshire border would fail to provide the best for the children of the community, a governor and parent has said.
Scores of people turned out to a consultation event at Llanfyllin High School in Llanfair Caereinion to hear options for the secondary school system in Powys.
The county council has said it can not afford to keep six secondary schools in north Powys open and has suggested changes to two bilingual schools, Llanfyllin – which would lose its Welsh stream – and Llanfair Caereinion which would become all Welsh.
Parents at Llanfyllin say they want to retain both Welsh and English streams in their town.
Powys county councillor and governor at Llanfair, councillor Myfanwy Alexander, said the feeling at the meeting at Llanfair was mixed.
"There was a vocal group of parents who want a totally Welsh school but there were also many at the meeting who want it to remain bilingual."
"There are different views and I am speaking as an individual," she said.
"I am passionate about the Welsh language but, as a governor and a parent I want to see the status quo remain.
It is our duty is to provide a good education for all, not to save the Welsh language, and I think that we are in danger of mixing our feelings about the language with our duty to provide the best eduction for all the children of this county."
She said there were fears for the future of the school if the 200 English educated children were taken out with Councillor Alexander saying she doubted that their places would be filled with those wanting Welsh spoken education.
"It has been suggested that to survive with just 300 pupils, the school would have to lose 15 staff from 60, that is a huge drop," Councillor Alexander said.
"The only way the curriculum could be delivered would be by non specialist teachers and there would be a catastrophic affect on A-levels choices – choice is a huge issue here."
She said she was extremely concerned about an education system that did not recognise that the area was bilingual.
"There are parents of the school's catchment area where children already have to travel an hour to get to and from home. If they want to learn in English and Llanfair becomes all Welsh they could face an extra 40 minute travel time.
"The school belong to the community for every child in that community . It should not be for one elite group."
Consultation continues until the end of July.
