To consider a report by County Councillor Arwel Jones, Portfolio Holder for Education.
Minutes:
Council considered responses to the consultation to close the Welsh-medium stream at Brecon High School from the 31st August 2017, with Brecon High School becoming an English-medium school from the 1st September 2017. Attached to the report was the consultation document, the consultation report together with the Authority’s responses to the issues raised, the minutes of meetings with School Council, staff, governors, parents and the community, impact assessments and the draft minutes of the Council debate on 7 March together with the Authority’s responses to the issues raised. Cabinet had also received correspondence from members of the public and Chris Davies MP.
Having considered the responses received to the consultation on this proposal, the Portfolio Holder advised that his recommendation was to proceed with the proposal as outlined in the consultation document because of the low pupil numbers in the Welsh-medium stream at Brecon High School and the need to ensure robust linguistic progression and appropriate curriculum choice for Welsh-medium pupils throughout all key stages of education.
County Councillor David Meredith spoke as a local Member and as the Chair of Governors of Brecon High School. He noted that the issue of low numbers in the Welsh stream had noted been helped by the previous consultations or by the decision to grant free transport to Builth Wells High School. He argued that the proposal was not in line with the Council’s own school transport policy that pupils should not have to travel over 45 minutes. He noted that the timing of the consultation had been unfortunate coming as it did when the school was coming out of special measures and was now ranked higher than Builth Wells High School. He emphasised the financial implications of removing the Welsh stream arguing that no account had been taken of the additional transport costs which he said would be less than bringing the school up to 2B status. He called on the Cabinet to heed the results of the vote taken at Council the previous week.
County Councillor Matthew Dorrance said that there was very clear local support to keep Welsh-medium education in Brecon. He argued that the Portfolio Holder decision to grant a school transport appeal had undermined the Welsh-medium stream in Brecon. He noted that there were 173 pupils at Ysgol y Bannau and Sennybridge and said that the Council should be seeking to educate them as close to home as possible. He said that the decision should not be taken before the School Transport review had been completed.
County Councillor Gillian Thomas said that the Brecon, Sennybridge and Cray area was a stronghold of the Welsh language in South Powys and the proposal would not meet the requirements of the Welsh Language Measure and the Future Generations and Well-Being Act. She argued that the decision had been predetermined by the flawed wording of the three consultations, by the decision to provide free transport to Builth Wells, by the decision taken by Cabinet two weeks earlier to create a dual stream school for Builth Wells and Llandrindod Wells, by making no provision for Welsh medium in the new build school in Brecon and finally by comments made by the Portfolio Holder for Education at the Cabinet meeting on 28 February.
County Councillor Liam Fitzpatrick referred to the vote taken by Council the previous week as a clear indication of how the Cabinet was misjudging the views of how people felt about the provision of Welsh-medium education in Brecon. He questioned how a major Welsh town would not have the facilities to educate children in their national language.
The Cabinet sought clarification on transport costs and was advised that it cost approximately £110k to transport pupils from the Brecon and Sennybridge area to the Welsh medium high school in Ystalyfera and Builth Wells High School.
The Cabinet also sought clarification on the cost of bringing Brecon High School up to Category 2B status. Officers explained that £106k would come to the school from the fair funding formula dual stream uplift, £54k which the school already received and an additional £47k, plus the per pupil funding of £2,500 per pupil giving a total of approximately £160k. However, to deliver 80% of the curriculum in Welsh, there would need to be 5-6 additional teachers at a cost of approximately £270k cost to the schools delegated budget. This meant that an additional £110k would have to be found in the school’s budget which was already in deficit with the sum having to come from the English stream.
Cabinet asked about the number of pupils required for a viable Welsh-medium stream and were advised that even if all 180 pupils in Ysgol y Bannau and Sennybridge attended that would only be 30 pupils per year group and smaller subject groups. Members of the Cabinet questioned the number of subjects on offer and noted that in addition to the expressions of support made at Council to retain the Welsh-medium stream, a Welsh speaking member had said that what was being provided did not constitute a Welsh language education as pupils did not have access to a full range of subjects. Portfolio holders stressed that the proposals were not about savings but were designed to provide a sustainable quality Welsh-medium education.
A Cabinet member noted that only two A level subjects available in the medium of Welsh in Builth Wells and questioned whether enough had been done to support the school. Cabinet was advised that there had been a significant reduction in post 16 education funding from Welsh Government in the last 5 years leading to a reduction in the number of A Level courses on offer including Welsh-medium courses in Builth Wells High School.
RESOLVED |
Reason for Decision: |
i) To note the Consultation Report and the views of Full Council in respect of the proposal to close the Welsh-medium stream at Brecon High School from the 31st August 2017.
|
To understand the issues raised during the consultation period.
|
ii) To approve the publication of a statutory notice in respect of this proposal. |
To provide a more sustainable, educationally and linguistically viable model of Welsh-medium secondary education.
|
Supporting documents: