To consider a report by County Councillor Arwel Jones, Portfolio Holder for Education.
Minutes:
County Councillor John Powell left the meeting during consideration of this item having declared a personal and prejudicial interest.
The Portfolio Holder for Education presented the proposals to reorganise primary education in Welshpool.
· It is proposed that the new English-medium School will be located on land at Welshpool High School. The school will, however, operate from the current sites of Ysgol Maesydre, Gungrog and Oldford Schools on a temporary basis before subsequently transferring to the new building at the earliest opportunity;
· The new build Welsh-medium School will be located on the Ysgol Maesydre site, but will operate from the current site of Ardwyn School on a temporary basis before subsequently transferring to the new building;
· The anticipated timescale is for the new schools to be established from September 2017 before transferring into the two new school buildings upon their opening in 2018/19;
· The current four schools in Welshpool – Ardwyn Nursery & Infant School; Gungrog Church in Wales Nursery & Infant School; Oldford Nursery & Infant School and Ysgol Maesydre would close from the end of August 2017.
Council had met on 18th November and had endorsed the proposals. Draft minutes from that meeting were circulated and the meeting was adjourned for a short time to give members to read them.
In presenting the options the Portfolio Holder for Education explained the site selection process that had led to the sites being recommended and which had concluded that there would be significant problems with access and parking if both schools were accommodated on the one site. He confirmed that the Cabinet would visit the sites. He also noted receipt of a letter from the Chairman of the Welshpool County (and Grammar) Schools Old Pupils Association to express concern at proposals to demolish the Maesydre buildings.
Cabinet noted the results of the consultation which were largely positive. A proportion of responses had come from the Wales Humanists Association who had encouraged their supporters to oppose the proposal for the English-medium primary school to be a Church in Wales school. Many of the responses were anonymous and it was not clear how many were from Welshpool or Powys and how many came from out of the county. The Cabinet noted that the public meeting held in Welshpool had been very supportive of the proposals.
County Councillor Phil Pritchard spoke as a local member and thanked officers for their work. He welcomed the establishment of a Welsh medium school in Welshpool but was not convinced that the Maesydre site was the best location. He would prefer to see both schools on the one site and thanked the Cabinet for agreeing to visit the sites.
The proposals were welcomed by the Cabinet, People Scrutiny Chair and group leaders. Members expressed disappointment that the meeting was not webcast and the Leader said he would raise this with the Cabinet Manager to ensure that future meetings involving decisions on school reorganisation were webcast. Members sought clarification about the ownership of the Gungrog site and were advised that part of the site was owned by the County Council and part by the Church in Wales but that the Church in Wales had agreed to gift the proceeds of the sale of the site to the County Council. Members also asked about the transportation of pupils and it was explained the Schools Service and Highways would work together to see how bus services in the town could be altered to best suit the needs of pupils. There was no intention to change the Council’s school transport policy whereby primary school pupils had to live more than 2 miles from a school to qualify for free school transport.
RESOLVED |
Reason for Decision: |
1. To receive the Consultation Report and the views of Full Council at its meeting on 18th November 2016 in respect of the proposal to establish a new English-medium Church in Wales (Voluntary Controlled) Primary School and a new Welsh-medium Community Primary School in Welshpool, resulting in the closure of Ardwyn, Gungrog, Oldford and Maesydre Schools.
2. To approve the publication of a statutory notice in respect of this proposal.
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To provide a sustainable model of English-medium and Welsh-medium primary education in Welshpool town.
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County Councillor John Powell returned to the meeting.
Supporting documents: