Issue - meetings

(a)       That Cabinet withdraws the amalgamation proposal;

(b)       That Cabinet requests an extension of time from Welsh Government as allowed under the School Organisational Code;

(c)        That the Council applies to Welsh Government for capital when the grant for the early years education fund is released to undertake the necessary improvements for Brynford;

(d)       That Cabinet invites the two schools to work with the Council on a federated two-site model; and

(e)       That the Council holds its powers to enforce a federation in reserve.

Councillor Roberts introduced the School Modernisation – School Standards and Organisation Act 2013 – Brynford and Lixwm Area School Review report which invited Cabinet to determine whether to proceed with a statutory proposal for school organisational change.

            The review began in June 2015 with consideration of the reorganisation of the provision in three schools; Rhos Helyg, Brynford and Lixwm as triggers had been met in the Council’s School Modernisation policy.  In December 2016 Cabinet resolved to move to a statutory consultation on amalgamation of Lixwm and Brynford onto a single site and leave Rhos Helyg alone.

            Councillor Roberts met with governors from Brynford and Lixwm to listen to their views and also with governors from Cilcain. Brynford governors supported amalgamation as it could result in capital investment through the 21^st Century Schools programme.  However, Lixwm governors preferred a federation which would ensure that Lixwm would remain in its community.  Attempts to develop a federation did not come to fruition so in January 2018, with no federation to consider, Cabinet determined that the statutory consultation process needed to be undertaken.

            He stressed that throughout the whole process there had been no pre-determination of an outcome and that the Council consulted fairly and openly.  All school reviews were unique and decisions were taken on the merits of the case.  This was evident in previous decisions that had been taken in relation to post 16 provision in Flint and the development of a federation between Ysgol Maes Garmon and Ysgol Mornant.  Many of the triggers in the Council’s School Modernisation Policy were met and the Council had fully complied with the Code in running the consultation process.

            There were genuine concerns on the long term sustainability of small schools in the current economic climate and the Council wanted to ensure that governors could still afford to put teachers and support staff in classrooms to support learners.  It was on that basis that he said the status quo was not a viable options.  Given the view of the Cabinet Secretary for Education on the need to protect small and rural schools he called upon Welsh Government (WG) to provide greater clarity on their developing policy for small and rural schools, including the definition of ‘rural’ and their rationale for the classification of Flintshire schools under that policy.  In addition he asked WG what the funding intentions were for small and rural schools if it was such an important policy to them so that Councils, like Flintshire, could be confident that those schools would get the resources they needed to remain sustainable in the future.

            The Chief Officer (Education and Youth) explained that the pupil numbers in both schools were below the recommended requirement for a sustainable small school.  In both schools almost half of the children came from outside the local area leaving unfilled spaces elsewhere.

            Federation was initially rejected by all of those involved in the first stage of the consultation process.  Lixwm since favoured that option in order to protect their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 188