Shropshire Star

School gets stay of execution

Campaigners fighting to save a Powys village school from closure have been told it will have a stay of execution for at least a year. Pupils were due to join another school this year. Campaigners fighting to save a Powys village school from closure have been told it will have a stay of execution for at least a year. Pupils were due to join another school this year. The fate of Howey Primary School, near Llandrindod Wells, is in the balance. Staff, governors and parents are waiting to hear whether the Wales Minister for Education Jane Hutt agrees with Powys County Council's board decision to close the school. Chairman of governors at Howey, county councillor Les Davies, said yesterday: "I'm absolutely delighted we have had a stay of execution until September 2009. That gives us plenty of time to deal with whatever situation now comes at us." Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star

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Campaigners fighting to save a Powys village school from closure have been told it will have a stay of execution for at least a year. Pupils were due to join another school this year.

The fate of Howey Primary School, near Llandrindod Wells, is in the balance. Staff, governors and parents are waiting to hear whether the Wales Minister for Education Jane Hutt agrees with Powys County Council's board decision to close the school.

The county council was expecting to hear yesterday that the minister had given her official approval for the closure as part of an on-going review of primary education in Powys.

The 29 pupils there were due to be transferred to Newbridge-on-Wye School, two miles away, in September this year.

In the meantime the county council has given approval for a £2.5 million new school at Newbridge.

A Powys County Council spokesman said: "If the minister gives her approval to the board's recommendation the earliest it will close will be the end of August 2009. The pupils from Howey would then go to the new school in Newbridge when it opens in September next year."

Chairman of governors at Howey, county councillor Les Davies, said yesterday: "I'm absolutely delighted we have had a stay of execution until September 2009. That gives us plenty of time to deal with whatever situation now comes at us."

He added: "The staff were very concerned and now they are relieved. The children, who were taking letters home with them explaining the situation to their parents, were also very excited."

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