Llanidloes consultation on school is near to completion
A consultation to merge Llanidloes High School and the town's primary school has another couple of weeks to run.
The process started on December 5 and will run until Santes Dwynwen’s Day, January 25.
If the proposal is supported Llanidloes' primary and high schools, which are next to each other, could operate as a federation from the beginning of the next school year, September 2019.
The consultation document states: “Governors, headteachers and senior leaders at Llanidloes High School and Llanidloes Community Primary School believe now is the right time to explore federating the two schools.
“Collaboration between our two high achieving schools is already well developed.
“Our transition arrangements are strong, our firm commitment to promoting the Welsh ethos is closely aligned and excellent professional relationships exist at all levels.
“We believe that federation will help us meet the diverse needs of our pupils even more effectively.”
The federation of schools is a legal process which enables schools to work together through a formal structured process by sharing a governing body that will make decisions in the best interests of all the schools, staff and pupils in that federation.
Each school retains its name, category, budget, staff and remains in its community.
In March 2018, the Powys County Council cabinet agreed a new school organisation policy, which sets out the authority’s aspiration for ‘secondary schools to become ‘all-through schools’, or part of ‘multi-sited arrangements’.
Ysgol Bro Hyddgen in Machynlleth already provides education from the age of four to 18.
Following the consultation, in March, the governing bodies will meet to consider the responses and decide to proceed with the federation or not.
Llanidloes Primary School has 283 pupils and a capacity for 269.
Llanidloes High School has 545 pupils and a capacity for 692 pupils.
People can take part in the consultation by e-mailing school.consultation@powys.gov.uk or writing to the School Transformation Team, at Powys County Council, County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, LD1 5LG.
Report by Elgan Hearn - Local Democracy Reporter
