Footpath through school to be closed

The grounds of Ardwyn Nursery and Infants School have long been used as a short cut to the town by members of the public and by dog walkers. Now the pathway is to be fenced off.

“During recent consultations and operational meetings to discuss the closure of Ardwyn Nursery and Infant School and to establish the new Ysgol Gymraeg Y Trallwng, both staff and governors raised concerns around safeguarding of pupils at the school estate,” said Gareth Thomas, Interim Head of School Services for Powys County Council.

“Issues have been raised that members of the public use the Ardwyn School grounds, not only during out of school hours, but also during school hours, especially dog walkers.

"This creates a very real safeguarding issue, and is of significant concern to staff, parents, pupils, governors and wider members of the community.

“Powys County Council officers have investigated issues related to the rights of way and public access at the school site and it has been concluded that there is no public right of way as defined by law within the grounds of the school and there are no other public access arrangements in place.”

County Councillor Graham Breeze said he fully supported the decision.

“The move is essential and long overdue in the interests of the safety of the pupils attending the school,” he said.

“This will prove an inconvenience to those who regularly use school grounds for dog walking or simply as a means of accessing the town centre but the safeguarding of the children must come first.

“New signage will be erected notifying the public that there is no right of way through the school grounds,” he added.

Ardwyn School will officially close at the end of the current term to be replaced by the new Welsh School to be named Ysgol Gymraeg Y Trallwng. All Welsh-only education will remain at the Ardwyn site on Red Bank until the new school is built at Maesydre in time for pupils to return from the 2018 summer holidays.