Birth rates so low in one part of Wales schools could close

A sharp decline in birth rates throughout a Welsh county is threatening the future of several schools in the area. Caerphilly County Borough Council documents warn the borough's falling birth rate statistics is affecting the demand for school places which is resulting in excess capacity.

A council meeting this week heard it's had a knock-on effect on school budgets and the current situation isn't sustainable for some of the borough's schools. It comes as members of the council's education committee agreed to back a new working group assembled to investigate the worrying trend.

Rhydri Primary School in Rudry closed last summer and Cwm Glas Infants School in Llanbradach shut the previous year. Both schools were closed due to declining local birth rates which left them confronting rising expenses.

The Rudry situation sparked controversy amongst local residents who maintained the council ought to have taken greater steps to keep the school operational.

On Wednesday, January 27, the committee voted to back the working group which will comprise four committee members and six additional councillors representing different areas of the borough. School heads and council officials will also participate in the group "to ensure broad and balanced representation".

A document outlines a "continual falling birth rate" declining from 2,000 births annually to approximately 1,400 over a decade.

"Significantly fewer" pupils are joining the primary school system as a result, generating "surplus places across many schools", the meeting heard.

The council contends it must modernise its educational framework "to one that is more efficient, provides a higher quality of outcomes, and is sustainable".

"Without a strategic review of primary educational provision there is a risk that our school infrastructure will not reflect future demand leading to inefficient use of assets and missed opportunities to improve outcomes for learners," the report warns.

The local authority maintains that creating the working group "will enable a structured, evidence-based approach to developing primary school reorganisation proposals".

One consequence of this move is Caerphilly's school-building programme. The council plans to delay any schemes that haven't progressed to the Welsh Government's full business case stage until the working group completes its assessment.

It maintains this delay is "prudent" considering the substantial sums involved in constructing new schools. Some of the funds previously allocated for a new joint bilingual campus in Rhymney have been redirected towards contributing to the A469 road repair project.