Council urged to save infants school under threat of closure

Anthony Lewis – Local Democracy Reporter

The case for small classes and and small schools “must not be underestimated,” the chair of governors at a school under threat of closure has said.

There is a proposal to close Trallwng Infants’ School with pupils transferring to the nearby Coedpenmaen Primary School, which is just over 400 metres away, by no later than September 2025.

At a special Rhondda Cynon Taf Council education scrutiny committee meeting on Thursday, October 24, Lynda Davies, who is the chair of governors at the school, said numbers on the roll and live birth data have been used for the consultation which give a different outcome to the PLASC (Pupil Level Annual School Census) data.

She also said: “The case for small classes and small schools in education must not be underestimated.” She added that larger buildings and large classes don’t suit all children and that it can be extremely challenging for pupils with additional learning needs. She said: “I feel that placing pupils in larger classes does not represent progress.”

Regeneration

She added: “Trallwng Infants is at the heart of the Trallwng community and plays an integral role in the life of the community academically, socially and culturally.”

She also said that Pontypridd is becoming a “housing hotspot” partly due to regeneration but also due to connectivity to the Metro, likely to lead to an increasing number of young families moving to the area in the future, needing school places for their children.

She invited the council to consider an alternative which would keep Trallwng Infants open and create a partnership between the two schools.

Jason Bowen, who is a parent at the school, said he wanted to question the financial rationale specifically on the maintenance backlog figure and how it was allowed to accumulate.

Costs

He said it was crucial to understand how accurately the figures reflect actual costs and whether they consider current market conditions or if they are relying on estimates, adding that he suspects that costs have been significantly overestimated.

He also raised concerns about electrical testing being overdue and said that accurate information is critical to the cabinet’s decision-making process and urged the council to ensure all figures have undergone thorough scrutiny and called for new market testing surveys to make sure they’re transparent.

Councillor Mike Powell, who represents Trallwng on the council, said as long-term empty properties come back into use there’s an expectation for an increase in the number of pupils and if Trallwng is closed there is a possibility that they’re not going to have sufficient capacity in Coedpenmaen to take those extra pupils.

He also said: “The lower the class sizes the better the education because the more teacher time with those children.”

Cllr Powell added: “It just seems to me as if we are looking at the closure of Trallwng Infants, and the one in Tonyrefail, purely on a financial basis rather than an educational basis.”

Phillip Southway, a parent governor at Trallwng Infants School, said the school has benefitted from investment of £240,000 at the start of the academic year on a new kitchen, a new staff room, a new sensory room, a community kitchen and the relocation of the headteacher’s office. He said the £240,000 would now appear to be for one year which is a “significant waste.”

Investment

He also said the proposals provide no overall savings from closing the school or expenditure at Coedpenmaen. He said the federation of the two schools would make sense with the capital investment which would be minimal and natural progression.

Lisa Howell, the council’s 21st Century Schools business and school organisation manager said just over £240,000 was invested at the school in 2023/24, not the summer just gone, and was part of the universal free school meals grant from Welsh Government as lots of kitchens weren’t suitable or equipped to deliver the additional meals required.

She said they’ve got a duty to pupils and staff while the school remains open, adding they can’t pre-determine these proposals. She added that condition surveys are done on a cyclical basis so the information is accurate and based on market conditions at the time.

Another council officer said there is a falling birth rate in Pontypridd at the moment, adding they monitor this information daily.

Trallwng Infants’ has a 105-pupil capacity across the reception to year two age groups. The council said pupil numbers have significantly decreased, with just 50 pupils in attendance in 2023/24 – down from 75 in 2019/20, and only 30 living in the school’s catchment area. Projections for 2028/29 suggest a further drop to 48 pupils, resulting in a surplus capacity of 54%.

The school building was graded ‘C’ for condition and ‘C’ for suitability (where ‘A’ is the highest rating and ‘D’ is the lowest) in the most-recent survey in 2022 – while the site does not fully comply with the Equality Act 2010. The building has a total backlog of maintenance of £227,760 – which does not include extra funding that is required for the school to reach 21st Century standards.

The council said Coedpenmaen Primary is a 3-11 school that currently provides the catchment area for Trallwng Infants’ when pupils reach year three. The school has capacity for 269 statutory school age pupils, with 242 pupils currently attending during 2023/24. Projections show this number decreasing to 222 pupils in 2028/29.

The report to cabinet in September when it agreed to consult on the proposals said that – based on live data – there would remain a surplus capacity of 25 at Coedpenmaen Primary at the start of the 2025/26 academic year, with all current Trallwng Infants’ pupils accommodated.

According to the property condition survey carried out in August
2020, Coedpenmaen Primary School is graded B for condition and B for suitability.

The council said that the backlog maintenance figure for Coedpenmaen Primary School is around £122,842 and this figure represents the total cost of all maintenance work identified as being required adding that the site itself and the school building does not fully comply with the Equality Act 2010.

The council has said it would invest in important improvements to the existing Coedpenmaen Primary School facilities which would include enhancements to the school buildings, while also improving upon its external play areas.