Appeal to Assembly in school row
ANGRY parents are calling on the Assembly to step in and stop their school from being axed.
Duffryn Afan Primary School in the Afan Valley has been earmarked for closure in the council's strategic school improvement plan.
This is despite a campaign by residents of Dyffryn Rhondda and neighbouring Cynonville, who argue the school doubles as a community centre and shutting it would leave them with nothing.
Now mums, dads and other supporters have vowed to keep up the fight as Neath Port Talbot Council moves into the formal consultation phase of its closure proposal.
"Everyone is really angry and disappointed," said parent governor Suzanne Hopkins.
"The council is not listening to the taxpayers about how it is spending their money. We are going to appeal to the Assembly."
The authority wants to close the school on the grounds of concern over educational standards, falling rolls and because around £230,000 is needed for repairs and maintenance.
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The axe is set to fall this September, with transport provided to bus pupils to Cymer Afan Primary School in Cymmer.
Neath Port Talbot Council has challenged the assertion that there are no other facilities, saying the Afan Forest Park Visitor Centre, a mile away, and the Afan Lodge Hotel, next to the school, were available for community group meetings. It says there are also facilities in Cymmer, two miles away, including sports facilities and a swimming pool.
But parents say bus services in the area are not good enough for those without cars to easily get to these alternatives.
Comments
by Darren Hart, Duffryn Rhondda
Thursday, February 18 2010, 9:54PM
“As a parent of 3 children who attend the school, i find it an abomination that they intend to shut the school. Educational standards have risen, the pupil numbers have increased, Transport in this area is pretty abysmal as there is one bus every hour that goes up to Cymmer. The local school is a centeral hub for all ages, and the threatened closure will destroy the community,
But the thing i find more allarming is the fact that they can put £2 million into improving a cycle track, but seems that the council have no regard for the future of the children who grow within it's borough,”