500 sign petition in bid to save school under threat of closure

Churchstoke County Primary School is one of four Powys schools facing being shut down as part of a Powys County Council shake-up.

The council said it 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 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.

A petition started by parents at Churchstoke Primary School and adjoining Little Explorers pre-school, has reached more than 500 signatures in just one day.

Powys County Council will consider the plans in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Hannah Price has three children who attend the school and one child who attends the pre-school. She said it is a really stressful time as the school is at the heart of their village.

"The school let us know before it was put out by the council, and we did not really think it would get this far," she said.

"We want to get as much noise out there as possible before the meeting, we hope that will help us and make them re-think.

"It's so stressful for us. We want as many people to know what's going on as possible. So we started a petition.

"We will be putting up posters around the village and the children are going to sing a song written by one of the parents about saving the school.

"We feel really strongly for the school to remain open. With the new builds, there will be more children coming in.

"Three of the schools they have suggested as alternatives are in England which might confuse our children who are in a Welsh school.

"The school have been really good with home schooling and now we have this to deal with – it's frustrating."

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."

If the cabinet members approve the recommendation to start the statutory process at the meeting on Tuesday, 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.

To sign the petition visit www.change.org/p/powys-county-council-save-churchstoke-cp-school-now-urgent.