Decision details

The Director, Education & Inclusion Services referred Members to her report which provided Members with an update on the demand and supply of Welsh Medium Education places in the County Borough.

Members were referred to section 4.4 of the report which provided detail of the current supply and demand within the County Borough for welsh medium primary schools. The Director advised that the majority of the Welsh medium primary schools did have sufficient surplus places to meet the demand for places. However, there were a number of schools where demand was close to outstripping the supply and Members were reminded of the actions being taken forward to address these issues.  

Members were also referred to the supply and demand for Welsh medium secondary schools as detailed within the report and were advised that similar to the primary schools, other than YG Rhydywaun, there were sufficient surplus places to meet the future demand for school places. Members were reminded

that before Christmas 2018, Cabinet approved a £10.2m investment to improve the facilities and increase the capacity of YG Rhydywaun by a further 162 places, creating a 1,200 capacity school. 

The Director provided an update on the future plans to develop and enhance Welsh Medium Provision across the County Borough and investment that would need to be taken forward with details of site suitability and current buildings replacement needing to be considered in the near future.

The Director concluded that the Council has an excellent track record of planning for school places, ensuring that there are sufficient school places to meet local need and parental choice for English and Welsh medium provision. She added that her report sought to put in place further plans to ensure sufficient capacity to grow the existing Welsh medium provision and to improve the quality of the educational experience by providing 21st Century School learning environments.

The Cabinet Member for Education & Lifelong Learning commented on the demand and supply and the actions being taken forward by the Council to increase supply and access to meet the needs across the County Borough.

The Cabinet Member for Welsh Language welcomed the report and the constant review of provision across the County Borough, allowing the Council to respond to demand when needed.

The Leader also welcomed the report and the level of investment that the Council had taken forward and were proposing to take forward across the County Borough.

Following discussion it was RESOLVED:

1.    To note the current position in terms of the supply and demand of Welsh Medium primary and secondary schools places across the County Borough;

2.    To note the action being taken by the Council to increase the supply of Welsh Medium places where the demand is projected to exceed supply;

3.    To  undertake a feasibility study and submit a business case to Welsh Government to either refurbish the existing Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhondda facilities or relocate the School to new 21st century facilities to be built in the Rhondda and to report back to Cabinet at a future date;

4.    To undertake a feasibility study to identify a suitable site to build a new school for Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Llyn Y Forwyn, and to report back to Cabinet at a future date;

5.    To commit to opening a new Welsh Medium Primary School to serve planned housing developments to the south of Llantwit Fardre/Church Village, if the developments proceed;

6.    To undertake a feasibility study to explore the opportunities to increase the availability of Welsh Medium primary school places in the Cynon Valley, south of Aberdare, and to report back to Cabinet at a future date.