Council mulls controversial plan to replace English-medium school with a Welsh school
Martin Shipton
A row has broken out in Monmouthshire over plans that could see an English-medium primary school closed to accommodate a Welsh-medium school.
Families living in the village of Wyesham, near Monmouth, are calling for urgent answers from Monmouthshire County Council amid concerns that Kymin View Primary School could be earmarked for closure.
Local Conservative town council candidate Xavier Turner has called on the council to confirm publicly whether Kymin View is under threat, following reports that the site may be repurposed for a Welsh-medium school.
Backlash
Mr Turner says he has spoken to concerned parents who have been told the council is proposing to close Kymin View Primary and move Ysgol Gymraeg Trefynwy – Monmouth’s Welsh-medium school – to the Kymin View site, despite the fact that the school has only 18 pupils currently.
It is alleged that school staff and governors have been told not to speak about the plans publicly, to avoid a backlash against the council.
Mr Turner said: “We all support the Welsh language, but you cannot force parents to switch to Welsh-medium education by shutting down a well-performing English-medium school.
“Kymin View was only inspected by Estyn last year and the report was really positive about standards of teaching, leadership and inclusion. In contrast, the Welsh-medium option at Overmonnow currently has around 20 pupils. It makes no sense to displace hundreds of families for the sake of a plan that hasn’t been properly discussed.
“If Kymin View is closed, families would be forced to drive a 14-mile round trip to Llandogo or face a traffic-congested journey across the Wye Bridge to reach Overmonnow or Osbaston. That’s unacceptable.
“It’s appalling that Wyesham residents have been kept in the dark and have to piece together scraps of information through rumours. The councillors leading Monmouthshire County Council should be ashamed of the shabby way they treat Wyesham again and again.”
Petition
Mr Turner has set up a petition so Wyesham residents can register their opposition to the proposal. He added: “We can’t wait for the council to come forward with formal proposals to close Kymin View. We need to send a clear message now that the community will not stand by and watch its only school be closed. We will fight this proposal every step of the way.”
Cllr Richard John, leader of the Tory opposition on the Labour-led county council, said, “Kymin View Primary has a great reputation as a well-performing school. Despite having the county’s highest percentage of children eligible for free school meals, pupils perform above average compared to similar schools.
“It would be insane to close this school, which does so much good to offer opportunities to children born into less well-off families.
“It’s a disgrace that the council’s cabinet is proposing this without any consultation with the local community. Our team on the county council will work with the whole community in Wyesham to fight any proposal to close Kymin View.”
Duty
A Monmouthshire County Council spokesperson said: “We have a duty to monitor and manage the number of school places within our communities. There are currently a significant number of surplus places within the Monmouth town area. The plans identified in the press statement to reduce this number of surplus places are entirely speculative and there is currently no preferred option.
“On Tuesday July 8, Monmouthshire County Council officers met with headteachers, staff and governors from the four schools (Kymin View Primary School, Osbaston Church in Wales Primary School, Overmonnow Primary School and Ysgol Gymraeg Trefynwy) to share the relevant data with them and explain the rationale to consider the surplus places and the need to plan accordingly. It was made clear to attendees that there was no preferred option at this time.
“When further consideration has been given to the position of the four schools we will engage with them prior to any formal process of consultation beginning. This process is set out in two defined stages under the Welsh Government’s School Organisation Code and takes approximately four to five months to complete. Any school impacted by any future proposals will be a full participant in the process.”
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Beware of tall poppy syndrome…
What do you mean?
Tory scaremongering. Haven’t they got energy for anything else, something constructive perhaps? Why would parents have a 14 mile drive elsewhere? Just use the same school! Language skills shouldn’t be so feared
Only speaking one language is deemed as illiterate in many countries in Europe where the kids speak 2 or 3 languages. Maybe it is the reason why schools in Europe get better results? Time we focussed on more Welsh language schools to give our kids an equal chance.
The language they all want to speak is English. How do you say Big Mac and fries in Welsh.
But they live a hundred yards from the border. Finding an English medium school isn’t even an issue in Monmouth.
This is nothing more than the usual anti welsh attitude from pointless Tory has-beens.
Use English schools like English hospitals. It should not be an option they are devolved areas and cross border usage should not be acceptable for Cymru. Same with airports if you can’t go. from Rhoose dunna go.
might it be that the Labour controlled council is using their time-worn tricks of deliberately dividing the community on the issue of the Welsh language?
Mr Turned annwyl. We are all forced to speak Saesneg on a daily basis, because of monoglot schools funded by the taxpayers.
Can you imagine the fuss if they had money for a “brand new building” for the Welsh school? Half the county would be apopleptic. So a Welsh school inherits a second-hand dilapidated building in an area that they probably don’t want to be in. And residents will make them feel as welcome as turds in a swimming pool. And so it goes.
As they did with the Welsh primary in Abergavenny. Dregs in one of the worst parts of town with inherited issues from the kids who go there just because it’s on the doorstep for their parents
All schools in Cymru should be ‘Welsh-medium’, with English and another foreign language taught. There’s absolutely no reason why our kids can’t be trilingual.
The quoted Richard John was of course leader of the council until the last elections and before then was the cabinet member for education. I’m sure his comments here are very much about this particular case and have nothing to do with his general attitude towards the language. I’m sure the number of Welsh-medium schools in Monmouthshire skyrocketed under his watch!