Postpone post-16 changes say councillor

Calls have been made to withdraw plans to reorganise sixth forms in Powys until more options are put on the table.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour cabinet on Tuesday, May 13 councillors agreed to start discussions to shape the way post-16 education is conducted in Powys.

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This is an attempt to address the exodus of sixth form pupils out of county and to make the system in Powys more financially viable and improve A-level results.

Three were option laid out  in front of councillors – with the current preferred option which would see a sixth form college set up with one board of governors and management team across two sites in Brecon and Newtown – this would see all English medium sixth forms close.

Similarly, a sixth form college would be based across Welsh medium all through schools at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen in Machynlleth, Bro Caereinion in Llanfair Caereinion and potentially Builth Wells.

The Welsh medium sixth form would also be run separately from the main schools.

Powys Independent group Cllr Graham Breeze said: “I call on the cabinet to withdraw the paper for further discussion or at least make an assurance of adding another option before considering going out to engagement of any kind.

“There’s already much opposition across Powys to the proposals from school, parents, governors, councillors and indeed from within the ruling Liberal Democrat and Labour groups.”

He added that the Learning and Skills scrutiny committee had highlighted when they met earlier this month the “ridiculous situation” of proposals to close Welshpool and Llanfyllin, “the largest and most successful sixth forms”  in the north of Powys.

Cllr Breeze said: “Indeed scrutiny committee members asked for any northern sixth forms centres to be housed in Welshpool rather than Newtown, and I ask that this option is added to this paper before it is put out to engagement.

“If anyone from the cabinet thinks that the majority of sixth formers from Welshpool and Llanfyllin will head to a centre in Newtown, they need to think again, because they will scuttle across the Shropshire border and be lost to Powys forever.”

“This is not an improvement for sixth form pupils in the north of Powys and in particular Welshpool and Llanfyllin.”

Cllr Breeze invited  the cabinet member for post-16 education Cllr David Selby (Liberal Democrat) to visit north Powys schools and in particular Welshpool High School where he: “has not been seen.”

Cllr Selby said: “I recognise that I haven’t been to Welshpool High School in the last six to 12 month, but I definitely did before that, and I have been to Llanfyllin .

“The whole purpose of the work is to go out to engagement with our stakeholders which includes schools and that will happen and is absolutely vital to craft something that’s acceptable.

Cllr Selby did not rule out siting a sixth form college in Welshpool.

“We will talk about any proposals that come forward and engagement with anybody who has something to discuss or contribute,” said Cllr Selby.

Director of education Dr Richard Jones: “We’ve done our best to keep our schools engaged with our thinking, but the reality is there is a point where we need to step back set the strategic direction which is around engagement going back to our schools and getting those views from governors and headteachers.”

Eventually the cabinet went to a vote and unanimously backed the proposal to start the discussions.