A RECOMMENDATION due to go before the county council later this month will be to press ahead with the closure of a Radnorshire primary school.

Councillor Phyl Davies, the local authority’s portfolio holder for education, says he will be recommending Powys County Council’s (PCC) cabinet shut the doors at Llanfihangel Rhydithon County Primary School in Dolau, near Llandrindod Wells, when they meet on Tuesday, September 28.

Cllr Davies said: “After carefully considering all the consultations responses, the recommendation that I will be putting forward to cabinet is to continue with the proposal by publishing the statutory notice formally proposing the closure of Llanfihangel Rhydithon CP School.”

The school could close if the recommendation is approved by the cabinet.

PCC is looking to reconfigure and rationalise the primary school provision in the county as part of its ‘Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys 2020-2030’ and is proposing to close Llanfihangel Rhydithon. The council carried out a seven-week consultation on the proposal during April and June this year and the findings of the consultation report, and whether to close the school, will be considered on September 28.

If given the go-ahead, the council will publish a statutory notice formally proposing the change. It would then be required to consider another report to conclude the process.

“We would like to thank all those who took part in the consultation exercise for this proposal,” added Cllr Davies.

“We are committed to transforming the learner experience and entitlement for our learners and we will achieve this by delivering our ‘Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys 2020-2030’.

“Our strategy is ambitious, exciting and we believe it will give our learners the best possible start they deserve. However, as we start to implement it, we will be faced with significant decisions as we look to address some of the challenges facing education in Powys which include the high proportion of small schools in the county, decreasing pupil numbers and the high number of surplus places.

“This recommendation has not been reached lightly but we have ensured that the best interest of the learners at this school were at the forefront of our discussions and decision-making.

“If this school is to close, then the learners would be attending schools that would be better equipped to meet the requirements of the new national curriculum and that could provide a wider range of educational and extra-curricular opportunities.”

The council’s learning and skills scrutiny committee will be considering the proposal on Wednesday, September 22.

For more information about transforming education in Powys, visit www.powys.gov.uk/transformingeducation.