Issue - meetings

            That the comments made by the Committee be submitted to Cabinet to inform their consideration of the proposals. 

The Chief Officer (Education and Youth) introduced a report to inform the Committee of responses from the statutory consultation period for the proposal to close Ysgol Llanfynydd. 

                        The Chief Officer provided detailed information on the process undertaken since the decision by Cabinet in June 2015 to enter into formal consultation on closure and other school organisation options for Ysgol Llanfynydd by September 2016.  He commented on the important role of this Committee to consider the consultation document and the responses from stakeholders and to provide comments to Cabinet to allow a decision to be made on the next stage.  Cabinet approved the formal consultation in line with criteria in the Council’s School Modernisation Strategy which provided details of the unfilled places across the primary school portfolio, diminishing resource criteria and small school criteria.  An extensive consultation exercise commenced on Wednesday 21 October and ended on Wednesday 2 December 2015 and the views of children and young people had also been sought.  The Chief Officer explained that it was no longer a requirement in Wales to hold meetings about school re-organisations but a number of events had been held to allow parents, teachers and pupils to put their views forward.  The responses received focused on the following areas of concern:-

·         Accuracy of data contained within the consultation document;

·         Impact on pupils/transition/friendship groups;

·         Education standards;

·         Capacity of other schools in the area to accommodate pupils;

·         Admissions to other schools should Ysgol Llanfynydd close;

·         Transport and traffic

The next stage was for the views of this Committee to be considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 19^th January 2016 and if the Cabinet decision was to proceed with its proposals, the Council would publish a Statutory notice providing a 28 day notice period for objections.  If objections were received, the Council must publish an objection report providing a summary of the objections and their responses to them within 28 days of the end of the objection period.  After that period, Cabinet would be asked again to implement the school organisational change for Ysgol Llanfynydd or not.  The Chief Officer reiterated that at its meeting in January 2016, Cabinet would not be making a decision on whether to implement the organisational change or not.  He acknowledged that this was a lengthy process which would generate an amount of uncertainty for those involved.  He paid tribute to the school community, staff and governors and added that the school was continuing to be a purposeful learning environment and was very much a working school.  The Chief Officer explained that at September 2015 the school population had 34 pupils with unfilled places at 57.5% and for 44% of the pupils attending, Ysgol Llanfynydd was not their nearest school.  The school population and capacity of Ysgol Llanfynydd was lower than national designation of a small school and school numbers did not meet the minimum requirements of primary school models as noted in the Council’s School Modernisation Strategy. 

            The report detailed the concerns that had been raised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51