“Wider Consultation Needed” to Assess Educational Provision at Three Primary Schools

Wrexham Council could launch their second consultation with residents over the provision of Welsh language education in Glyn Ceiriog.

In December 2016, members of the Executive Board approved the start of consultation on changing the language medium at Ysgol Cynddelw, Glyn Ceiriog, from dual English/Welsh medium to solely Welsh medium.

There are currently 98 pupils accessing education at Ysgol Cynddelw. There are currently a number of year groups that have no pupils accessing the English medium.

The consultation, which was requested by the Board of Governors at Ysgol Cynddelw, took place from January, and involved a public meeting with stakeholders at the school towards the end of February.

Having received a number of responses from consultees, the Executive Board will next week discuss proposals to re-examine provision across all three schools within the Glyn Ceiriog federation: Ysgol Cynddelw, Ysgol Pontfadog and Ysgol Llanarmon.

If approved by the board, the new consultation will ask stakeholders and parents for their views on three following options:

– Retain the status quo with all three schools remaining as they are currently.
– Change language designation at Ysgol Cynddelw to Welsh medium.
– Propose closure of Ysgol Pontfadog and re-locate pupils to the Cynddelw dual stream site.

Cllr Phil Wynn, Lead Member for Education, said: “Having gone through the first round of consultation on Ysgol Cynddelw in particular and having examined the views of consultees, we believe that a wider consultation is needed so as to properly assess educational provision within the area.

“Current arrangements don’t make the best use of resources within the federation, while an increase in numbers at Ysgol Pontfadog – if it were to take more English medium pupils – would improve efficiency in terms of resources.

“The new round of consultation, if approved by the Board, will provide us with more detailed findings, which will support improved school provision in Glyn Ceiriog in the future.”

The report will go before the Executive Board at 10am on Tuesday 11th July. Those who cannot attend the meeting can watch it live on the Wrexham Council website.