An FOI (Freedom of Information) response from Powys County Council over the future of a school in Llanfair Caereinion has created concerns over their decision.

Llanfair resident Judith Lloyd, who made the request for information, has accused Powys Council of “making decisions with little accurate information” based on its response to a Freedom of Information request.

The request was made regarding a proposal to move Ysgol Bro Caereinion in Llanfair Caereinion along the language continuum from a dual-stream school to a Welsh-medium school.

Responding to a request over the amount of Welsh learners at Ysgol Caereinion, the council said: “There are currently 544 learners on roll at Ysgol Bro Caereinion."

OTHER NEWS:

The council added that it did not have access to the exact figures for the number of pupils attending Ysgol Bro Caereinion who have Welsh as their first language or the percent of the younger population within the school’s catchment area who are primarily Welsh speakers.

They said: “However, 52.94 percent of pupils are taught in Welsh medium classes.”

Ms Lloyd said: “It seems that the council has made this decision with little factual information.

“I am not against the speaking or teaching of Welsh, and issue does not effect the schooling of my grandchildren in any way, but I am a concerned member of what is a lovely community.

“I believe the decision regarding the change of the school has not been made for the good of our community, but to meet the targets set by the Welsh government of 1 million Welsh speakers in Wales by 2050.

“In this time of austerity the government where housing, food, warmth are the essential needs of every community, this government will be once again wasting money on this school change.

“There are not enough Welsh speaking teachers nationally, the shortfall being over 2000, so the Welsh government are giving bursaries to teachers willing to learn Welsh.

“Surely this money should be going to school meal services, or more up to date equipment.”

Having run a consultation on the proposal, Powys County Council acknowledged that concerns had been raised by some members of the community.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Whilst the consultation showed that there was support for the proposal, there were also a number of concerns raised.

"In particular, there was concern about the timescale for change in the secondary sector and also the lack of availability of home to school transport to other English-medium secondary schools, and Cabinet agreed two recommendations to mitigate these specific concerns.

“The aim of the proposal is to provide children and young people with the opportunity to benefit from two languages and become fully bilingual, and able to communicate effectively in both Welsh and English.”