Grassroots democracy has been in action in Gowerton as pupils at Tregwyr Infants and Junior Schools have voted on the name of their new school.
In March this year the Welsh Assembly Government agreed a proposal by Swansea Council to bring together both sets of pupils and create a new all-through Primary School from September 2010.
The school and governors decided they wanted the children’s voices to be heard and put the new name of the school to the children’s vote.
From September the new Gowerton Primary School will open its doors, and will operate out of the existing Tregwyr Infant and Junior School sites.
Acting Head teacher at Tregwyr Infants School Debbie Roberts said “The voting process followed on quite naturally from work the Junior School had done around the General Election and pupils at both schools are used to the process of voting. Here we have a “Kind Crew” and in the Junior School they vote fellow pupils onto the School Council and Caring Crew. Pupils of all ages are actively encouraged to participate fully in all aspects of school life and are consulted on a wide range of important issues.
“The ‘Gowerton‘ title is not in fact new. Before we opened at Tregwyr Infants School in 1952, the school was previously called Gowerton, so it is in our history.”
The proposal to close both schools was put forward by Swansea Council as part of its Quality in Education (QEd) 2020 Programme, which aims to improve the learning environment for all pupils and identify better use of resources.
The proposal went through a public consultation and statutory notice before progressing to the Welsh Assembly Government for final decisions.
