Song forms last-gasp bid to save Llandinam School
A song has been written and recorded in a last-gasp bid to keep a primary school open.
Powys County Council's cabinet will meet tomorrow to vote on the future of Llandinam School as well as the closure of Ysgol Carno.
Children at Llandinam, near Newtown, have written a song entitled Save our School based on the Black Eyed Peas song Where is the Love? in a bid to convince councillors that the school should be kept open.
The release of the song follows the production of a 15-minute video put together by Oliver Wilkins, an Emmy-award winning film maker.
The video has already had more than 4,500 views worldwide after it was posted on the internet. Rebecca Delve from the campaign group set up to keep the school open said: "We don't know what will happen on Tuesday.
"We want to make sure the councillors are aware of the strength of feeling to keep the school open. The video and the song does that.
"Llandinam Primary is an English medium school with 43 pupils between the ages of 3-11.
"The school ethos is that each child matters and staff are devoted to providing a warm and inclusive learning environment.
"Research in many countries has found that closing rural schools leads to the decline of local communities.
"The council assessment has criticised mixed age classes and the cost per pupil.
"They claim that closing Llandinam will save £62,110 per year. The council's net expenditure on schools and inclusion for 2011/2012 was £95,551,000; therefore closing Llandinam will make a saving of just 0.06 per cent.
"This minimal saving may be negated by additional transport costs to the nominated receiving school of Caersws.
"The children, parents, teachers and people of Llandinam strongly believe that rural communities need their schools to thrive and survive."
The meeting of the authority's cabinet will be held at County Hall in Llandrindod Wells starting at 10am.
