Outspoken councillor proposes shutting small schools in Welsh county

Richard Evans – Local democracy reporter

An outspoken councillor has proposed closing rural schools in a Welsh county, claiming the move would save money and improve education.

Abergele councillor Paul Luckock says rural schools in Conwy are costing the council £14,000 per head compared to £4,000 per pupil at the larger schools on the coast.

Conwy’s cabinet has repeatedly blamed the Welsh Government at council meetings, citing an “outdated” funding formula that short-changes the authority compared to neighbouring councils such as Denbighshire, as well as some authorities in South Wales.

Several schools in Conwy have been amalgamated as part of Conwy’s “rationalisation” of primary schools, which has seen primary schools in Mochdre and Abergele placed under one administration.

Consultation

Conwy is currently taking part in a public consultation over the amalgamation of Ysgol Hen Golwyn and Ysgol T Gwynn Jones in the latest move to save funds.

But Cllr Luckock claims Conwy has too many schools with too few pupils, arguing closing rural schools in areas such as the Conwy Valley would save money.

“Since I was elected in May 2022, we’ve not progressed at the speed we should have both in the amalgamation of schools and the closure of some small schools and the building of area schools,” he said.

“The cost-benefit methodology, but also, more importantly, the teaching and learning methodology, says you really should have in a primary school a minimum of 120 pupils. So that is the guidance we are given. As you know, we are also given guidance that no schools should have more than 10% of surplus places.

“But of course, we are in that situation where we’ve got lots of schools, very small schools, and many schools, including secondary schools, with more than 10% surplus places. But we’ve now reached the stage where if schools reach a number of 10 children, we can close them. Our smallest school has 12 children.”

Concerns

Speaking about Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan, near Betws y Coed, – Cllr Luckock referred to an Estyn report published in November 2024 before the school was placed in special measures due to safeguarding concerns.

The Estyn report said: “Leaders identify some of the school’s strengths and are aware of the improvement priorities. However, they are not successful enough in addressing fundamental weaknesses in the quality of provision and pupils’ outcomes. For example, the quality of teaching is not robust enough at the school, and leaders do not address these weaknesses effectively enough.”

Cllr Luckock went on to speak about the federation between Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan and Ysgol Llanddoged in Llanrwst.

He said: “We had two schools in a federation, which quite recently had a very damning Estyn report. (Ysgol) Ysbyty Ifan failed on all grounds, leadership, safeguarding, all that. That school has only got 14 pupils. It is still open and (we are) still trying to find a way of federating these small schools to make them… to provide a (better) teaching and learning environment. Obviously, there is significant resistance each time you want to close a school.

“So to be fair, there has been some progress. My argument is the progress being made is much too modest. What Charlie (Cllr Charlie McCoubrey) as leader is saying, Julie Fallon (cabinet member for education), is that these are very controversial decisions, and initially you’ve got to invest some money to amalgamate and close schools. That is a cost, and you might have to borrow or raise council tax to do that.”

‘cost-effective’

He added: “So basically, we are in a bit of a perfect storm. I am personally very supportive of the rationalisation of our schools, because in the long term, and most importantly, that will improve teaching and learning opportunities and be much more cost-effective.

“You’ve got to remember that primary schools along the coast basically get around £4,000-£4,500 per head, because that’s what Conwy’s funding formula gives them. Some of these small schools in rural areas receive up to £14,000 per child per head. It needs to be addressed. Some of these schools just don’t give the teaching and learning opportunities which children require. The way to solve it – the way to do it is to establish schools with at least 120 pupils, and those area schools would have to serve a number of rural communities.

“It is a controversial decision, but eventually, those decisions will have to be taken, because I don’t think Conwy is going to get a massive amount of money to maintain what I would say is a flawed system. It’s politically supported in Conwy to have all these small schools, but I don’t think it is sustainable in the longer term, and I think there are money constraints. The larger primary schools and the primary schools on the coast are very unhappy with the funding formula because they receive very significantly less money per child.”

A spokeswoman for Conwy County Council said: “Conwy is committed to ensuring that all learners have a good quality learning experience whilst making sure that educational settings operate as efficiently and effectively as possible.

“School modernisation in Conwy continues to be a priority, and working with our communities to enable the delivery of effective education is a key driver.”