Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) appeal to all campaigners for the future of village schools to come to the protest in Caernarfon before the defining meeting of Gwynedd County Council at 12 o'clock this Thursday (13/12/07). Cymdeithas yr Iaith have announced that the ongoing pressure applied by local campaigners on the County Council has succeeded in changing their strategy involving village schools in Gwynedd, and that there is still valid reason to continue with this pressure.

Ffred Fransis, spokesperson for the Education group for Cymdeithas yr Iaith said:"The programme presented to the County Council on Thursday morning will be totally different to what was in front of the scrutiny committee a month ago. At that time, the intention was to publish in September 2008, Statutory Closure Notices, to close up to 36 schools (category A), either for complete closure or reorganising. This would have meant less than two days each in discussing the schools fate.""The council have since agreed that this would be an insult on the local communities, an administrative impossibility, and illegal as it would be impossible to ensure that each school receives the appropriate attention.""By now, the Council have agreed that there will be a discussion regarding the whole plan for the next four months, and they have dropped from 36 to 7 numbers of schools that will have their fate decided by next September. The council have also agreed to consider other possibilities, from schools co-working with each other where they had not before, to Area Schools or a core model of federalism."CONGRATULATIONSCymdeithas yr Iaith have congratulated campaigners for their dedicated work on behalf of their local communities, and are pleased that the pressure has since bore fruit. Cymdeithas yr Iaith also congratulate Gwynedd council for their readiness to listen and change their plans.CALL FOR AN AMMENDMENTIn a message released to each member of the county council., Cymdeithas yr Iaith have called for a 3 point amendment to be passed in the meeting this Thursday:1. That the council 'note' rather than 'approve' strategies to show that there is open and fair discussion and that no plans or decisions have been made before hand2. That no statutory consultations for the future of even the remaining 7 schools in category A will be discussed until Autumn next year, to allow time for discussing a full strategy3. A reformation of the statutory consultations for 2008-2009, as it would be impossible to guarantee justice with individual cases by deciding the future of over two dozen school in one year