Secondary schools and sixth forms in Mid Wales facing a massive shake-up will have to wait until autumn to learn their fate.

Thousands of people from across Powys have responded to a public consultation exercise on plans which could see schools merged and many lose their sixth forms in favour of new sixth form centres.

It had been hoped a final plan would be released this summer after the consultation. But today Powys County Council officials admitted the findings will now not be published until September or October due to the volume of replies received.

John Evans, communications officer for Powys County Council, said: “Powys County Council has a lot of feedback to work through because of the successful consultation we had.

“We had thousands of people respond and it will take a while for officers to go through all the feedback forms. We are hoping we will be able to publish the finding in early autumn, possibly September or October.”

He said the council and Coleg Powys’s governing body would consider all issues and views received before deciding how to proceed. The council believes the reorganisation is necessary due to falling pupil numbers, financial reasons and the need to improve Welsh medium education.

The local authority approved plans to transform secondary education in December. All 13 secondary schools will stay open, but some may merge.

There are also plans to streamline management, which may lead to one headteacher for three schools.

Teaching posts could also be lost through retirement or voluntary redundancies. There are also plans to reorganise pre-16 Welsh-medium education across three sites.

Teaching union leaders fear heavy job losses and are strongly opposed to plans.

Proposals for post-16 schooling include stripping schools of sixth forms and opening sixth form centres.

Councillor Stephen Hayes, the council’s cabinet member with responsibility for education, said: “When I took on this portfolio in May, I made it clear I am committed to sustaining the standards of excellence in our secondary schools. We will make sure we take the time required to get this right.”

By Anwen Evans