FM's response to school need 'shameful' - MS

A PLAID Cymru MS has branded a one line answer from Wales’ First Minister about a replacement school in Pontardawe as “shameful”

- IAN LEWIS Reporter [e-mail]

Sioned Williams, MS for South Wales West, asked the First Minister Eluned Morgan in the Senedd, about Welsh Government support for a replacement school for Godre’r Graig Primary School, which has been teaching its pupils off site for the last sixyears.

The school was closed in 2019 after fears of a landslide from a nearby quarry tip with children relocated to temporary portable classrooms on the sports field at Cwmtawe Community School, where they are still being taught, while Godre’r Graig Primary School was demolished last year.

An application for support with funding a replacement building has been submitted to Welsh Government by Neath Port Talbot Council, but the ongoing uncertainty, amplified by Welsh Government responses so far, is impacting pupil numbers.

In her question to the First Minister, Sioned Williams MS noted that from correspondence made available to the school, it appeared that the application was being assessed as if it were for a brand-new school - not a replacement for one closed through no fault ofthe staff or pupils, but because of the impact of the community's industrial legacy.

Ms Williams asked the Welsh Government to recognise the exceptional circumstances that have led to the school requiring a new building.