Cardiff Council has welcomed the decision of the Welsh Assembly Government to approve its plans for a new school for St Teilo’s High, in partnership with the Church in Wales, and the establishment of the city’s third Welsh-medium secondary school.
The Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning, Leighton Andrews AM has formally agreed to the proposal following objections received by the Council to a statutory notice detailing the proposed changes. This followed a full public consultation on the plans.
The plans approved by the Assembly are to:
- Close Llanedeyrn High School
- Transfer St Teilo’s Church in Wales High School to the site of Llanedeyrn High School
- Increase the capacity of the school from 1,114 places to 1,440 places.
- Establish provision at the school for children with special educational needs (visual impairment).
- Establish a new Welsh-medium secondary school on the current St Teilo’s Church in Wales High School site. The new Welsh-medium school will be a community school for boys and girls aged 11-18. It is intended that the capacity of the school when complete will be 1,114 places.
It is intended to implement the closure of Llanedeyrn High School on a phased basis. Year 7 pupils admitted to Llanedeyrn High School during this academic year 2010/11 will not be able to complete their schooling at Llanedeyrn High School and will therefore be offered the opportunity to transfer to Llanishen High School or Cardiff High School or otherwise to apply for admission to St Teilo’s Church in Wales High School from the beginning of Year 10 in September 2013.
No pupils will be admitted to Llanedeyrn High School at age 11, Year 7 from September 2011. Llanedeyrn High School will finally close on August 31, 2014.
From September 1, 2011 the catchment areas for Llanishen and Cardiff High Schools will be changed to include the Llanedeyrn High catchment area.
Both Cardiff High School and Llanishen High School will be provided with a significant investment package to enable them to cater fully for the additional pupils.
Parents of pupils living within the existing Llanedeyrn High School catchment area will also be able to express a preference for admission to any school including St Teilo’s Church in Wales High School. The Governing Body of St Teilo’s High School is the admission authority for this school.
From September 1, 2011 the admission number of St Teilo’s High School will increase from 180 places to 240 places. 160 of these places will be foundation places and 80 will be parish places, to be offered to children who do not qualify for foundation places. If more applications are received for either category of place the published oversubscription criteria will be used by the governing body to allocate places.
The Council will continue to support Llanedeyrn High School throughout this period and with key partners will work to ensure that both the curriculum and the pastoral system are able to provide for the pupils of the school.
Children will continue to be admitted to the Specialist Resource Base (Visual Impairment) throughout the closure phase and will transfer to the role of St Teilo’s Church in Wales High School from September 2014.
The establishment of the Welsh-medium secondary school will be on a phased basis. Pupils will be admitted to Year 7 from September 2012. The school will have an admission number of 180.
The catchment area of the new Welsh-medium secondary school will be the subject of a separate consultation beginning in the autumn.
The plans are part of the Council’s schools organisation programme 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.
Funding for the new St Teilo’s school was secured in July when WAG announced that the Council’s bid for a School Buildings Improvement Grant of almost £27m had been successful.
This funding was approved without prejudice to the decision now taken by the Minister on these proposals.
Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “Whilst we welcome the news today, we sympathize with both staff and pupils at Llanedeyrn High School. We hope the new arrangements as they evolve will prove that difficult decisions like these have to be taken to improve things for learners in the long term. The Council’s commitment to Llanedeyrn High remains resolute over the next few years to ensure that their pupils continue to receive a full education and to ensure that the staff are well supported by Cardiff’s wider education community.
“I’m very pleased that, in partnership with the Church in Wales, we are now able to progress a new school for St Teilo’s and also establish a much needed third Welsh-medium secondary school which will alleviate the growing pressure on the Plasmawr and Glantaf and ensure that we are able to satisfy the increasing demand for Welsh medium education across the city.
“The Council will now work closely with all schools concerned to ensure the transition arrangements are smooth as possible.”
