Cardiff Council is dismayed at receiving a decision from the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) that it has rejected the proposal to close Lansdowne Primary School and relocate Ysgol Treganna onto the Lansdowne site as a two-form entry primary school with nursery.
Cardiff Council had made the recommendation as part of its School Reorganisation Plan after a public consultation.
Under the proposal, submitted to WAG, Radnor Primary School would have been established as a two-form entry English-medium primary school with nursery on the site it currently shares with Ysgol Treganna.
The primary reason for rejection seems to be that WAG do not think that the Radnor site is suitable for a two-form entry English-medium primary school.
Reacting to the decision Council Leader Rodney Berman said: “This is going to send shockwaves among the schools community in Cardiff and our hearts go out to all the children who are now facing uncertainty about their future.
“People in the Welsh-medium community, in particular, have been working incredibly hard for years to secure an acceptable solution for their current overcrowding problem in Canton and with this decision they have been kicked in the teeth.
“Parents at Radnor will no doubt also be surprised that the suitability of the site their school shares with Ysgol Treganna is being questioned.
“WAG received our proposal in August of last year, and if they have now discovered what they consider to be such a fundamental issue why has it taken nine months to identify it? Given that during this period the Assembly has kept coming back to us with questions it makes you wonder whether WAG may have desperately been looking for a reason to turn this proposal down and have kept asking question after question until they found something they felt they could hang a refusal on.
“I am now calling for an urgent review of the way schools reorganisation in Wales is handled and am raising my concerns through the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA). Decisions are taking far too long and this decision suggests that there is now no consistency in judgements. Let’s not forget that this is the proposal that the former First Minister had raised concerns about. This reinforces my concern that judgements are becoming political which is unacceptable.
“If schools reorganisation is now turned into a political football other local authorities across Wales may now be reluctant to put forward their proposals because none us know what the ground rules are any more.”
The Lansdowne proposal was put to WAG because the site is in a suitable location and could provide accommodation of an adequate size for Ysgol Treganna as a two-form entry Welsh-medium primary school with a 52 part time place nursery.
English-medium demand within the Lansdowne catchment area could also be accommodated in local schools and the option kept open the opportunity to build a new one-form entry primary school on the Fitzalan High School site, should demand for either English or Welsh-medium increase significantly in the medium or longer term.
Today’s judgement has also raised concern about the new Welsh-medium starter class, known as ‘Ysgol Tan-yr-Eos’ at Ninian Park Primary School.
Councillor Berman added: “Tan-yr-Eos will now quickly run out of room because we are not in the position to provide any alternatives. We simply cannot afford to wait another 12 months for WAG to consider a new option and I am urging the First Minister to put all politics aside so we can get a scheme in place that benefits the children of this city. I am deeply concerned this decision does not appear to be at all balanced in considering all educational aspects of all groups of children in the area.”
