Cymdeithas yr Iaith has criticised a report presented to Ceredigion County Council that recommends the closure of a Welsh-medium village school, the author of which has neither visited the school or spoken to anyone connected specifically with the school.
The independent consultant's report on education in north Ceredigion has recommended closing Ysgol Llangynfelyn (Taliesin) and Ysgol Cwmpadarn (Llanbadarn). The author of the report visited 12 schools while preparing the report, but did not visit Ysgol Llangynfelyn. No contact was made with parents or a governors of the school either. The only contact made was with the headteacher of the group of three schools of which Ysgol Llangynfelyn is part. The school's fate will now be decided at a meeting of Ceredigion Council's Education Review Panel tomorrow afternoon (March 10/2). The Panel's recommendation will then go to a meeting of the Council's Cabinet where a decision could be made to hold a statutory consultation on the intention to close the school.
Bethan Williams said: "Members of Cymdeithas yr Iaith joined the parents and governors of Ysgol Llangynfelyn in a picket during the panel's meeting. It is disgraceful that the report recommends closing a school without even visiting the site. Past experience has shown that Ceredigion Council rarely changes any decision as a result of consultation, and so it is very important that the Review Panel listen closely to the villagers' case.
She added "As a society we see the detrimental effect this would have on Welsh education in the area, and this is ironic because one of the report's purposes was to recommend how to strengthen Welsh medium education. There are many in-comers to the village among the parents, and Ysgol Llangynfelyn is their point of contact with the language and culture of the country they have moved to. If the school closes, many of the parents who do not speak Welsh will take their children to an English school in Aberystwyth or decide to home-school their children. It could lead to a loss of 20 pupils from Welsh medium education."