210 pupil primary school is for an "ideal world scenario" says education boss

An education boss has been asked to clarify, again, what size school he believes is ideal for Powys.

At a meeting of the Learning and Skills committee on Wednesday, December 8, members were looking at the proposals to reorganise schools in Brecon.

This will see Mount Street Infants and Junior schools as well as Cradoc community primary school, merged under one headteacher and governing body and eventually mover from three sites to a new build school.

Consultation on proposals for a new 360-place English-medium primary at Penlan, the former site of Brecon High School took place between February 25 and May 12.

A Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and a community swimming pool would also be part of the scheme which could be built on the site of the old Brecon High School.

The whole scheme which includes a new 180 place dual-stream primary school in Sennybridge, replacing the current building there is estimated to cost £32 million.

In recent weeks Cabinet member for education, Cllr Phyl Davies has made his own views on an ideal size of primary school known.

At  meeting in November he suggested that a “middle hundred” number of pupils would be the ideal.

Later in the month when pressed for more clarity by a “question at any time” by Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr James Gibson Watt, Cllr Davies answered that size “would be” 210 pupils school made up of seven classes of 30 with seven class teachers and a headteacher.

Only four of the council’s 78 primary schools have 210 pupils or more.

Committee chairman, Cllr Pete Roberts said: “I’m looking for some clarity from something that hangs over from our last meeting and that’s the statement from the portfolio holder around the ideal size.

“To help our discussions can you confirm that we are looking as part of this transformation, the aspiration to move to schools of 210 pupils.”

Cllr Davies said: “I was asked a question and I provided an answer based on what an ideal number from my perspective would be, and that’s what I believe.

“The numbers do relate to how we can best resource a school and that 210 is an ideal world scenario.

“I don’t think it has a bearing on strategy, it’s about an equal offer of education across Powys.”

Cllr Davies apologised that his personal views were becoming “involved” in the reorganisation process.

School transformation manager, Marianne Evans said: “It’s a question that’s been asked many times over the years, there could be an ideal, but Powys is vast and sparsely populated.”

“We need to take into account of all kinds of different things such as geography and location, language, so in some cases a small school may be the only one for miles around.

“It’s not a one size fits all for Powys.”

Cllr Roberts said that clarifying the comments had been “helpful.”

He pointed out that a new school building suggested for Sennybridge  would have less pupils than Cllr Davies’ ideal of 210.

A decision on the Brecon school’s reorganisation will be taken  by Powys’ Independent/Conservative cabinet on Tuesday, December 14.

Under the proposals, merging the Mount Street schools a Cradoc into a “new primary school” would happen by September 2023.

Pupils would then transfer to a new school building in 2025/26.