Shake-up is on the cards for schools in Mid Wales
Education in Mid Wales faces a "dramatic" shake-up in a bid to bring the service up to standard.
Powys County Council is looking at closing a number of schools in the county in a bid to save money and improve the service.
The council's chief executive, Jeremy Patterson, told a meeting of the council's cabinet yesterday that major changes need to be made.
The council is looking at potentially closing Gwernyfed and Brecon high schools and replacing them with a new £50 million school, while a review will be carried out in the Builth Wells and Llandrindod Wells area.
The review would then move to Montgomeryshire later this year.
The cabinet passed a recommendation to move ahead with the work.
Mr Patterson told the meeting in Llandrindod Wells: "We can't face up to these challenges in the current structure. We have falling pupil numbers and we are losing pupils over the border to England. We are also seeing the best teachers going elsewhere. We need to do something dramatic to change that and prove to people we are serious about education here in Powys.
"We are not offering the best curriculum or best teachers and as a result standards are dropping.
"The re-organisation will allow us to offer a broad and exciting curriculum. We are investing £50 million in the Brecon area reorganisation. When it moves to mid and north Powys there will also be investment into the infrastructure."
Councillor Arwel Jones, who is the cabinet member for schools, said the urgent need for transformation came because of falling pupil numbers.
He told the meeting: "Without action our schools will suffer and we will fail to provide the best possible education for our learners.
"This September the county has 1,680 secondary places available across the county but has only allocated 1,226, creating a surplus for the year of nearly 25 per cent.
"Only two schools – Crickhowell and Llanfyllin high schools – received more applications than they had places available."
Meanwhile, the cabinet heard that the council still needs to save £3.8 million by the end of the financial year.
The authority said earlier this year that it needs to save £17.567 million by April, but it has so far only achieved £13.694 million – 78 per cent.
The authority now faces having to make up the savings from reserves.
Councillor Wynne Jones, portfolio holder for finance, said: "It is important that the council's financial position is maintained – and an important part of this is the delivery of agreed savings."
