Agenda item

To submit a report by the Director of Education, Skills and Young People on the County Council’s Schools’ Modernisation Programme in relation to Ysgol Y Graig and Ysgol Talwrn.   

The report of the Director of Education, Skills and Young People incorporating a proposal paper on schools’ modernisation in the Llangefni area with reference to Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Y Graig  was presented for the Executive’s consideration. The report sought the Executive’s approval to proceed to a statutory consultation on the proposal to “increase the capacity of Ysgol Y Graig to accommodate pupils from Ysgol Talwrn, close Ysgol Talwrn and review the catchment areas of Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Y Graig.”

The Portfolio Member for Education, Libraries, Culture and Youth presented the report which set out the proposal for schools modernisation in the Llangefni area with specific regard to Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Y Graig. As he had done under item 2, he referred to the background wherein the Council had in May, 2019 through the Chief Executive and the Executive, rescinded the original decisions in respect of schools modernisation in the Llangefni area and had requested Officers to look afresh at the various issues in relation thereto and the requirements under the School Organisation Code 2018, and report back to the Executive in due course. The proposal paper forms part of this process and represents an initial internal assessment for which the Executive’s approval is sought as a basis for statutory consultation. He referred to the Authority’s vision in instigating the schools modernisation programme and the main objective of the programme in seeking to create the best possible educational environment for teachers and pupils to succeed thereby promoting high standards. In doing so he accepted that change can be difficult and that implementing the schools modernisation agenda to date has at times been challenging, resulting on the one hand in the closure of some primary schools, but on the other hand leading to a £22m   investment in education on the Island through the creation of three new schools for present and future generations. In outlining the process and timeline to be followed for statutory consultation should the proposal paper be approved, the Portfolio Member urged all interested parties and stakeholders to take part and submit their views in order to ensure the consultation is as meaningful as possible.

The Director of Education, Skills and Young People advised that the general introduction he had made under item 2 regarding the key drivers for change and the criteria for education provision in the context of the wider Llangefni area applied in this case also with analysis of all the reasonable alternatives for education provision in the Llangefni area (section 5 of the proposal paper) concluding that there is no viable whole Llangefni area solution. As a result, and due to their geographical proximity, attention has focused on a possible solution for the Ysgol Y Graig and Ysgol Talwrn catchment areas and separately for the Ysgol Bodffordd and Ysgol Corn Hir catchment areas (as addressed under item 2). The Officer outlined the key challenges facing Ysgol Y Graig and Ysgol Talwrn (section 6) and said that ten reasonable alternatives (inclusive of the proposal) for Ysgol Talwrn and nine reasonable alternatives (inclusive of the proposal) for Ysgol Y Graig have been considered and analysed against the key school modernisation drivers and the criteria for education in the Llangefni area (sections 7 and 8 of the proposal paper). The Officer referred to the reasonable alternatives for the Llangefni area set out in section 5 of the paper which he summarised as follows –

•           Retain the status quo – leave Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni, Ysgol Bodffordd, Ysgol Corn Hir, Ysgol Y Graig and Ysgol Talwrn as they are;

•           federate Ysgol Bodffordd, Ysgol Corn Hir, Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni (secondary school);

•           federate Ysgol Y Graig and Ysgol Corn Hir (move Ysgol Corn Hir to a newly built school and increase the capacity of Ysgol Corn Hir). Extend the federation later on to include Ysgol Bodffordd, Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni under one governing body.

•           One new primary school for the Llangefni area to take pupils from Ysgol Bodffordd, Ysgol Corn Hir, Ysgol Y Graig and Ysgol Talwrn;

•           a new all-age school for Llangefni to include Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni, Ysgol Bodffordd, Ysgol Corn Hir, Ysgol Y Graig and Ysgol Talwrn;

•           conduct backlog maintenance work on all the schools;

•           extend all the primary schools;

•           clustering, collaboration of primary schools in the Llangefni area;

•           using the schools as community hubs to accommodate/support community services e.g. health, childcare facilities, family and adult learning, community education, sport, recreation, social activity

•           co-locating local services within schools

•           establishing multi-site schools (KS1 – on one site) (KS2 – on another site)

Analysis has shown that only the proposal under consideration has a positive impact on standards, the community and pupils’ travelling arrangements in their totality. The assessment has also led to the conclusion that the Council will need to mitigate the effect of potential closure on Ysgol Talwrn by providing transport for eligible pupils attending Ysgol Talwrn to the newly expanded school. The assessment means that the Authority’s preferred proposal for statutory consultation is to ”increase the capacity of Ysgol Y Graig to accommodate pupils from Ysgol Talwrn, close Ysgol Talwrn and review the catchment areas of Ysgol Y Graig and Ysgol Talwrn.” The proposal would entail Ysgol Y Graig being extended and continuing to operate into the future; the governing body of Ysgol Y Graig would govern the extended school. The Authority would seek to ensure representation on the governing body from Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Talwrn would close.

Councillor Aled Morris Jones, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee reported from the Committee’s 14 January meeting where the proposal paper had been scrutinised with representatives of both Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Y Graig making a contribution to the meeting. An alternative option which was to retain Ysgol Talwrn and federate it with another school (possibly Ysgol Llanbedrgoch as the Committee was informed by the Ysgol Talwrn Chair of Governors that the two schools collaborate well) was proposed but did not garner sufficient support among the Committee’s members. The Committee subsequently resolved  by a majority of its members to recommend the proposal to “increase the capacity of Ysgol Y Graig to accommodate pupils from Ysgol Talwrn, close Ysgol Talwrn and review the catchment areas of Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Y Graig” to the Executive. 

The Chair thanked the Corporate Scrutiny Committee for its detailed scrutiny of both proposal papers.

The Executive considered the proposal paper having regard to Scrutiny’s recommendation of the preferred proposal and noted that the purpose of the proposal paper was to provide a basis for statutory consultation to which stakeholders were urged to respond; the importance of doing so was emphasised so that the consultation would be as meaningful as possible. 

The Portfolio Member for Education, Libraries, Culture and Youth proposed the report to the Executive.

It was resolved to approve the proposal “to increase the capacity of Ysgol Y Graig to accommodate pupils from Ysgol Talwrn, close Ysgol Talwrn and review the catchment areas of Ysgol Talwrn and Ysgol Y Graig”, and authorise Officers to conduct a statutory consultation on the proposal.