Village school to close despite delay of a year
Transforming a primary school to Welsh medium to save it from closure was “always a nonstarter” a councillor has said.
Plans to close Llanfihangel Rhydithon primary school, which has 36 pupils, were put on hold while officer investigated whether instead it could become a Welsh speaking school.
But following an investigation, Powys County Council education department staff found that teaching children in Welsh at the school, also known as Dolau, was not viable.
The means that the planned closure of the school between Llandrindod Wells, Knighton and Presteigne, will go ahead on August 31, 2023.
At a meeting of the council’s Learning and Skills scrutiny committee education portfolio holder, Councollor Pete Roberts defended delaying the closure by a year. It has been due to close in August this year.
“There was need of detailed exploration of this to rule it out as an option. It was essential we undertook this piece of work before an opportunity was lost completely."
Conservative group leader Councillor Aled Davies said: “We discussed this issue some months ago and nothing has changed – the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan clearly indicated this was the wrong location for such a school.
“The cabinet went against the advice of officers to run the consultation – the option appraisal came back with zero scores.
“It’s a difficult time for the community and it’s been put through another emotional wringer.”
He added that there are not enough Welsh speakers in this part of Powys to justify a Welsh medium school and that children would need to be “bussed in from elsewhere in the county” for it to work,
“It was a non-starter a flight of fancy, there is serious concerns about what happened here,” said Cllr Davies.
Director of education, Lynette Lovell explained that the delay was inevitable due to a legal challenge to the school closure that the council had successfully defended.
This had meant that there was a lack of time to properly organise the closure this year.
Ms Lovell added that: “for the sake of the children” it is better to move schools at the beginning of a school year rather than in the middle of it.
The closure is expected to be rubber stamped by a meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday.
