Cardiff Council’s bid for a School Buildings Improvement Grant from the Welsh Assembly Government to progress in partnership with the Church in Wales to plan a new school for St Teilo’s High has been successful.
Council Leader Rodney Berman and Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, have welcomed the award of almost £27m which will allow the Council to move forward with its school organisation plans in the Llanedeyrn area of the city, subject to Ministerial approval.
The Council is currently awaiting this decision from the Assembly on its statutory proposal to close Llanedeyrn High School, re-locating St Teilo’s to the Llanedeyrn site and the subsequent refurbishment of the St Teilo’s site for it to be opened as the city’s third Welsh-medium secondary school. A decision is expected in the autumn.
Cllr Berman said: “We are delighted to have secured the funding from the Welsh Assembly Government to move ahead in partnership with the Church in Wales to plan a new school for St Teilo’s and for the refurbishment of the current St Teilo’s site for it to accommodate the city’s third Welsh medium secondary school. Such proposals were dependent on the funding being made available for such a programme.
“Council and WAG officials will now work together to finalise the contract and its finer details. All of this is of course dependent on the Minister approving the proposals in the autumn.”
Cllr Salway said: “This is a very positive step forward. We are now hopeful that the Minister’s decision on this proposal will allow us to invest the money to progress the plan.”
The proposal is part of the Council’s schools organisation plan which seeks to address the issue of surplus places, the increasing demand for Welsh medium education and the growing backlog of school building repairs, and create a fair and well-funded education system that is fit for the 21st Century.
