Site is retained to build Powys new school

Following a consultation last autumn, education officers have chosen Dyffryn Banw Primary School site at Llangadfan as the location for a merged school.

This means that Llanerfyl Church in Wales Foundation school will be closed, saving nearly £50,000 a year.

Powys County Council  says that both schools would close and a new Welsh-medium Voluntary Aided Church in Wales School be opened at the Dyffryn Banw site from September 1, 2020.

Both schools would be shut the day before, August 31, 2020.

Transferred

This is a complete U-Turn from the recommendations to Cabinet in July 2018, which suggested closing Dyffryn Banw and keeping Llanerfyl with pupils transferred to the school which is two-and-a-half miles away. A report on the consultation findings will be heard by councillors at the Full Council Meeting on Thursday, March 7.

There,  recommendations made by councillors will form part of the whole report on the school closures that will be looked at by the cabinet.

The Cabinet will decide whether or not to go ahead with the closures.

During the consultation it was found that 83 per-cent supported merging the existing schools with 14 per-cent against.

Out of a total of 229 responses 61 per-cent wanted to see the new school established at Dyffryn Banw with 35 per cent against.

By Elgan Hearn - Local Democracy Reporter