Controversial school closure plan moves step closer

Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter

A Welsh medium primary school could be just months away from shutting its doors for good after senior councillors recommended its closure.

If a full meeting of Carmarthenshire council approves the closure of Ysgol Llansteffan at a meeting on March 4 it would close at the end of the August and pupils would transfer to Ysgol Llangain four-and-a-half miles away.

Ysgol Llansteffan’s parent teacher association had urged council chiefs not to recommend approval, saying pupil numbers were rising.

A census at the start of January 2025 found Ysgol Llansteffan only had eight pupils. Many parents in the area choose to send their primary-age children to other schools, as is their choice.

A cabinet report said a general consultation on Ysgol Llansteffan’s future hadn’t been required, in line with school organisation rules, because it had fewer than 10 pupils.

However, people did have the chance to air their views after the council published a formal statutory notice last November to discontinue the school.

When cabinet met on February 23, members heard more about the 201 responses, only three of which supported the closure plan.

Sixteen themes emerged from the responses, among them concerns about the capacity and class size of receiving school Ysgol Llangain, the impact on transport, pupil well-being, and questions over the savings the council say could be achieved.

The cabinet report also said Ysgol Llansteffan now had 16 pupils according to the latest census in January this year.

Council education officers responded to the objectors’ concerns in the report, and Cllr Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education, said 46 children from the Ysgol Llansteffan catchment area attended other schools. “This basically has then limited demand for provision in the village, which is a financial loss,” he said.

According to a council report from last November the cost per pupil at Ysgol Llansteffan this academic year is £18,545, far more than the average in Carmarthenshire.

Cllr Davies said receiving school Ysgol Llangain would have a pupil capacity of 64 in 2026-27. He said it was estimated that 41 pupils would be on its roll this coming September.

Cllr Aled Vaughan Owen said “concerns, sadness and disappointment” expressed by parents of Ysgol Llansteffan pupils and by residents were “completely understandable” but that the council was following the relevant procedures correctly. He added: “Officers have provided robust responses which are factual and detailed.”

Cllr Linda Evans, leader of the Plaid-Independent-led authority, said it was a very difficult decision and that her own children had attended a small school. But she said people were now having fewer children in Carmarthenshire and across Wales, meaning fewer pupils coming into the system.

Cllr Edward Thomas said the situation was clear. “There are too few pupils to make it (Ysgol Llansteffan) viable.”

Impact assessment

Ysgol Llansteffan’s parent teacher association had urged a rethink, saying Welsh Language Commissioner Efa Gruffudd Jones hadn’t finished her investigation into a complaint regarding the council’s impact assessment of closing the school on the Welsh language.

And, according to the association, there were now 17 pupils at Ysgol Llansteffan. “This represents a clear and material change in circumstances which must be reflected in any fair, lawful and evidence-based decision-making process,” said the group’s letter to the council’s director of education Owain Lloyd calling for a deferral of a decision.

“The fact that numbers have already exceeded those anticipated calls into question the robustness of the council’s pupil projections to 2030 and whether the data underpinning the proposal remains sufficiently current or reliable to support a sound determination.”

The association also claimed there had been no meaningful discussion of its counter-proposal to develop the school into a centre for environmental studies and outdoor education.

Counter-proposals

Welsh language campaign group Cymdeithas yr Iaith, which is backing the parent teacher association, claimed “not a single voice” was raised in the cabinet meeting on behalf of the parents and children of Ysgol Llansteffan and that the Welsh language complaint had not been mentioned.

Ffred Ffransis, of Cymdeithas yr Iaith, said the objections of parents were based on “substantive and well-argued counter-proposals to develop the school as a centre for environmental studies which would raise extra funds”.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith also said the council had written to the parent teacher assoication saying it was aware of the Welsh language complaint and that councillors would be advised of this, but that there was no statutory requirement to defer determination.