Abertysswyg and Pontlottyn primary schools took a step closer to closing after senior councillors pledged to proceed with a new ‘super-school’.
The new school, on the site of the old Rhymney Comprehensive, was approved by Caerphilly Council’s cabinet on June 17, despite opposition from the Abertysswg Primary School’s Governing Body.
Fochriw Primary School was due to close to join in with the scheme under original plans, but it will remain open after just 14% of residents were in favour of the move.
The original cost of the project was estimated at £12m, but this has been reduced to £8m.
Caerphilly County Borough Council will pay £4m with the rest match-funded by the Welsh Government.
A formal consultation saw objections from Abertysswg governors on grounds of attendance, child safety going to and from school and the availability of after-school activities.
Part of the objection read: We, as the Governing Body, along with the majority of residents of Abertysswg, feel that the school’s importance to the village has been totally ignored and is being used as a sacrificial lamb to enable Pontlottyn to have a new school.
“They may need one, we at Abertysswg don’t. If consideration was given for Fochriw to be excluded, why not the same opportunity afforded to the families at Abertysswg.”
Councillor David Harse, governor and Leader of Rhymney Town Council, said: “I’m very disappointed because the school’s the heart of the village.
“We can’t do any more, we put in our objections and went to the cabinet with other objections.
“I’m not against the new school, I’m against the location. It should be in the community. It’s not right for the children to walk all that way to school in all weather conditions.”
Councillor Rhianon Passmore, Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning said: “The development of this new primary school will have far reaching benefits for learners and the wider community in the upper Rhymney Valley.
“Not only will the brand new facility address several issues, not least that of general suitability and sustainability at both Abertysswg and Pontlottyn Primary Schools, but most importantly the new school will significantly improve the teaching and learning environment for pupils and staff alike.”
“Learners” – I can’t stand that word. They are pupils or students. What’s wrong with using English words that convey the meaning.
By doing this Labour will have what they want – remove all local identity from the village. The McClaren was knocked down, the Sunday bus service removed, now the school, next the post office. Strip the village of all facilities then moan they are deprived!
Quite right, a ‘learner’ conjures an image of someone who has little experience of controlling a car and has to have a qualified driver with them. Learner means a beginner. The correct noun for a school child is ‘pupil’ or else, the unfortunately little used word these days, ‘scholar’.
Student can be used but I prefer to use that for those who study, investigate and examine in more depth than at school, as is done in colleges or universities. Trendy types such as Ms. Passmore have picked up this misuse of words from spending too much time with the educational establishment that continues to deliver a sub-standard school system.
Schools need to be smaller and more specialised, not larger with fewer teachers to pupils.
This bis ‘super-school’ will churn out hundreds of pupils with the minimal requirements needed to progress to the next stage of their education. The children will have the standards on paper but in reality they will struggle in the socialisation process as a large school inevitably turns them into unidentifiable, robotic, buzzwarks; I would be surprised if every teacher in the school knew the name of every pupil as they should.
The school a step backwards, away from the successful, ambitious, intelligent, and capable children Wales needs in its schooling system.