Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Director of Lifelong Learning.

It was resolved –

·        That the Council should move to issue a statutory notice to lower the admission age of Ysgol Llanfairpwllgwyngyll to admit pupils on a part time basis from the September following their third birthday with effect from 31 August, 2015.

·        To allow Officers to move immediately on the proposal if no objections are received within the 28 day period to the statutory notice. This to be followed up by a further report.

·        That the Authority and the school should plan for the use of the “Gorlan” through an official agreement with the Community Council for the 2015/16 school year with the aim of educating the nursery children within the main building by September, 2016.

The report of the Director of Lifelong Learning on the outcome of the consultation on the proposal to lower the admission age of Ysgol Llanfairpwllgwyngyll to admit pupils on a part-time basis from the September following their third birthday with effect from 31 August, 2015 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Education reported that whilst there is general support for the proposal Estyn has raised the issue of the effect of educating nursery children in the Gorlan as a building set apart from the main school building.

The Head of Learning said that the Authority has agreed the use of the Gorlan building with the Community Council for the 2015/16 school year but is hopeful that changes to the internal organisation of the school can be effected within a year thus enabling the nursery class to be integrated within the main school building sooner.

Councillors Alun Mummery and R. Meirion Jones addressed the meeting as Local Members. The former referred to the challenge of completing the necessary changes within a year and the costs involved and urged the Education Authority in effecting planned adaptations to the school to have regard for the future in terms of the expanding population of Llanfairpwll. The latter said that ideally completion of alterations to the school should coincide with the implementation of the lowered admission age so that the nursery class can be accommodated within the main school from the outset.

It was resolved –

•  That the Council should move to issue a statutory notice to lower the admission age of Ysgol Llanfairpwllgwyngyll to admit pupils on a part time basis from the September following their third birthday with effect from 31 August, 2015.

•  To allow Officers to move immediately on the proposal if no objections are received within the 28 day period to the statutory notice. This to be followed up by a further report.

•  That the Authority and the school should plan for the use of the “Gorlan” thorough an official agreement with the Community Council for the 2015/16 school year with the aim

of educating the nursery children within the main building by September, 2016.