Headteacher sharing plans considered

Twm Owen Local Democracy Reporter

Plans for primary schools to share headteachers are likely to have to be considered over the next 12 months a council education chief has said. 

But a senior councillor has said there are no plans to close schools despite spending pressures on education. 

Monmouthshire County Council is planning to put an additional £1 million towards schools in its proposed budget for 2025/26 but is still having to make savings to the overall £72m budget for education, which also includes skills and the economy. 

Conservative councillor Paul Pavia, told a council scrutiny committee he believes “some difficult decisions need to be taken on our schools estate” which he described as “an option that needs to be on the table” when considering surplus places.

“Part of the community”

The council’s Labour cabinet member for finance, Ben Callard, said the administration isn’t looking to close schools. 

The Llanfoist and Govilon councillor said: “We all know changes to schools are very, very big decisions that really affect communities. I was at Govilon Community Council and we were talking about the closure of Govilon school that happened many years ago but residents still felt part of the community is missing as the school is not there.” 

Director of education Will McLean said the council will have to look at school leadership. 

“As we go forward we will need to look at leadership structures of schools like we have in the past with two federations of Llanfoist and Llanfihangel and Kymin View and Llandogo,” said Mr McLean. 

Those arrangements, introduced in 2019 and 2021 respectively, saw single governing bodies for two schools established and the two schools in each federation share a headteacher.

Salaries

The director of education added: “It is something we need to look at and I think we will take forward this coming year.” 

He said school numbers and surplus places are constantly under review and “in some particular areas of Monmouthshire the problem is more acute than others and we are developing a set of proposals in those areas that seek to address that.” 

Working together, Mr McLean said, can help schools provide the new Welsh curriculum and different experiences to pupils. He also said the council would have to consider its different types of schools such as religious and community schools. 

He also said headteacher salaries are linked to the size of a school: “In trying to attract the very best headteachers when you look at other Gwent councils they have far larger primaries that attract a higher level salary and does attract a different group of headteachers. 

“Look at Newport they often have primaries of about 600 pupils, we don’t have any schools of that size at all.” 

Families priced out

Cllr Callard also said he hopes the council’s replacement local development plan, which intends to ensure 50 per cent of 2,000 new homes planned are affordable, will mean more young families with children can afford to live in Monmouthshire. 

Cllr Pavia, who represents Chepstow Mount Pleasant, also said he was concerned 70 per cent of all Monmouthshire’s 34 primary and secondary schools are in a deficit position, in that they spend more money than they are allocated. 

Cllr Callard acknowledged the concern but said the council works with them to address their finances and said: “The additional £1m will support them but we know it won’t offset the deficits overnight and we wouldn’t want it to. Some of our schools do need to make some changes to make themselves more financially sustainable.” 

The cabinet member added the council has “some fantastic schools that do great work”.