Agenda item

To submit a report by the Director of Education, Skills and Young People.

The report of the Director of Education, Skills and Young People incorporating the Objection Report on the proposal to transfer pupils from Ysgol Carreglefn to Ysgol Llanfechell and close Ysgol Carreglefn was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The report was introduced by Councillor Dafydd Roberts, Portfolio Member for Education and the Welsh Language who reported that following approval by the Executive at its meeting on 20 February 2024 a Statutory Notice of the Council’s intention to transfer pupils from Ysgol Carreglefn to Ysgol Llanfechell and close Ysgol Carreglefn was published on 1 March 2024 after which stakeholders had 28 days in which to make a statutory objection to the proposal. The report sets out the objections received along with the proposer’s [i.e. the Council’s] response to them which the Executive must now consider before coming to a final decision regarding the proposal. The Portfolio Member highlighted that as Ysgol Carreglefn had fewer than 10 registered pupils at the 2024 January Census Point, the School Organisation Code allows a streamlined procedure to bring about official closure with the requirement for a general consultation being waived.

The Senior Education Manager for the Secondary Sector reported that the Council received 8 responses objecting to the proposal 7 of which were from pupils of Ysgol Carreglefn and the other from the Governing Body of the Ysgol Carreglefn. The pupils’ responses were sent in an email by a member of staff of Ysgol Carreglefn containing 7 individual objection letters each signed by the pupils. The issues raised in the objections and the Council’s response to them are summarised in Table 1 of the Objection Report. As well as those responses, comments were received from Mechell Community Council after the closure of the objection period on 2 April 2024. These are summarised at section 4 of the Objection report and as they convey views rather than objections and were received outside of the statutory objection period, they have not been dealt with and responded to as statutory objections and are included in the report in the interest of transparency. Should the Executive affirm the proposal to transfer pupils from Ysgol Carreglefn to Ysgol Llanfechell and close Ysgol Carreglefn, a decision letter to that effect would be issued and arrangements put in place to implement the decision and transfer the pupils to Ysgol Llanfechell, and to provide support for them, their parents, and the school’s staff with the process.

Councillor Dafydd Roberts, Portfolio Member for Education and the Welsh Language in saying that the objections to the proposal had been considered and responses provided as per the Objection Report, proposed the recommendations of the report which were to approve the closure proposal and the transfer of Ysgol Carreglefn pupils to Ysgol Llanfechell. In doing so he thanked the Officers and contributors to the process and paid tribute to the staff, governors, pupils, and parents of Ysgol Carreglefn as well as the wider community for all their hard work in supporting and sustaining Ysgol Carreglefn in recent years.

Those thanks were reiterated by Members of the Executive who also acknowledged the respectful way in which Ysgol Carreglefn and the community of Carreglefn had dealt with the process which is never pleasant and they reiterated their commitment to working with the community to secure the school building as a community resource. Councillor Carwyn Jones spoke of his own experience in Llanddona when the community came together after the closure of the local school to secure a new community centre which has since flourished. Councillor Llinos Medi speaking as a Local Member said that the school and community understand the rationale for the proposal with the number of pupils at the school expected to reduce to 5 in September 2024 making it unfeasible to sustain the school in the long-term. She referred to the Community Council’s comments which although not part of the statutory objections reinforce the importance of continuing to support community activities in the school building which the Executive has also previously acknowledged.

It was resolved –

·      To transfer pupils from Ysgol Carreglefn to Ysgol Llanfechell and close Ysgol Carreglefn from 31 August 2024.

·      To authorise Officers to issue notice of the final decision in the form of a decision letter in accordance with the School Organisation Code 011/2018.

·      To extend the catchment area of Ysgol Llanfechell to incorporate the current catchment area of Ysgol Carreglefn.