A SHAKE-UP of Llandudno primary schools has sparked fears happy children will be thrown into turmoil.
Schools in Llandudno and neighbouring town Llandudno Junction are facing an uncertain future, following a two year review of Conwy primary schools. Plans to axe small, community schools and concerns over job losses, have angered school governors and politicians.
Last week a draft strategy for school modernisation was created by the Council County Borough Council. The plans aim to bring schools in Llandudno into the 21st century. A public consultation started this month and will end in September.
If plans go ahead the two schools could be amalgamated into one new school. Ysgol Ffordd Dyffryn, Dyffryn Road, would close and students would be moved to a school on the site of Ysgol Tudno, Trinity Avenue, or another location. In Llandudno Junction both Ysgol Maelgwn and Nant-y-Coed would close and a new school would be built at another site.
Ysgol Tudno and Ysgol Ffordd Dyffryn were selected for initial review in 2008. Last year a meeting was held with parents, teachers and governors. The Pioneer reported how members of the community feared their small schools would be lost.
Former mayor of Llandudno Janet Jones, who has been a governor at Ysgol Tudno for more than 16 years, said both schools are “lovely” and do not need to be changed. She said: “The nursery class is full at Ysgol Tudno for September and the main school classes are filling up. They even had to turn a child away from the nursery. They have fantastic facilities, the teachers are excellent and the PTA is brilliant.
“The children at both schools are happy and moving them would just be terrible. If jobs are lost and the schools close it would be such a shame. I don’t think the council have taken into consideration the amount of people that move to the area and Ysgol Tudno is central. We have already lost one of our small community schools on the Great Orme, we don’t want to lose any more,” she added.
The strategy plan aims to tackle what the authority has described as the problem of empty school seats due to a dip in the number of school pupils.
Figures from the 2010 school census show there are 1, 900 unfilled school places in Conwy. By 2015, the council expects that 30 of the 61 primary schools in Conwy will have more than 25 per cent unfilled places.
Darren Millar, AM for Clwyd West, said closing schools to address falling pupils numbers would take its toll on Conwy. He said: “There will now follow months and years of excruciating uncertainty for families and communities across Conwy as the local authority consults over its proposals. The education of our children and jobs of the professionals who teach them are at stake.
“Schools in Conwy that are able to deliver the national curriculum should not be forced to close unless there is agreement to do so from parents, teachers and governors,” he added.
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