Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Head of Learning.

It was resolved to approve delaying the following until 1 April, 2019 –

·        The implementation date of proposal (1) to complete Ysgol Santes Dwynwen.

·        The implementation of proposal (2) to change the status of Ysgol Parc y Bont.

The report of the Head of Learning seeking the Executive’s approval to delay the implementation dates for the statutory notice to complete Ysgol Santes Dwynwen and the statutory notice to change the status of Ysgol Parc y Bont to 1 April, 2019 was presented.

The Portfolio Member for Education, Libraries, Culture and Youth Services reported that on 17 June, 2016 the Authority and the Diocese of Bangor (Church in Wales)  published two statutory notices of their intention to (1) combine Ysgol Bodorgan, Ysgol Dwyran, Ysgol Llangaffo and Ysgol Niwbwrch into a new school under the voluntary control of the Church in Wales on a site in Newborough, and (2) not to support Ysgol Parc y Bont as a Church in Wales school, to establish a new Welsh-medium community primary school to be maintained by the Isle of Anglesey County Council for 3-11 year old boys and girls and to federate Ysgol Brynsiencyn with another school. The proposals were to be implemented on 1 September, 2018. However, due to the factors set out in the report, namely the land purchase and planning permission processes taking longer than expected and the pre-election pauses for the Local Government Election in May, 2017 and then the General Election in June, 2017 the start date of both proposals has had to be pushed back, and consequently, the Executive is asked to approve extending the timetable by 8 months to 1 April, 2019. As the proposer of the intention in the original statutory notices, any subsequent changes to the timetable has to be agreed to by the Executive.

The Head of Learning confirmed that 4 March, 2019 remains the target opening date for the new school.

Councillor Peter Rogers spoke as a Local Member and said that although he fully supported the new school and was working hard to ensure its success, he was disappointed by the delay and in particular a possible knock on effect on pupil numbers for the new school with some pupils transferring out of area, and more significantly the potential impact on pupil projections for the catchment area secondary school in Llangefni which can affect funding.

The Chair thanked the Local Member for his comments and said that she and the Executive shared his commitment to making the new school a success both for the area and for the area’s children. The new school has presented additional challenges which as the report describes, are unfortunately outside the Authority’s control.

The Portfolio Member for Education said that changing the status quo almost invariably brings with it challenges. However, previous experiences with opening new schools have shown that after the initial challenges have been overcome, the messages from those areas are positive.

It was resolved to approve delaying the following until 1 April, 2019 –

•  The implementation date of proposal (1) to complete Ysgol Santes Dwynwen.

•  The implementation of proposal (2) to change the status of Ysgol Parc y Bont.