Parents pledge to battle high school closure plan
PARENTS have vowed to fight the closure of a local secondary school. Some children face a 30-mile round trip to classes and back under proposals to close Cymer Afan Comprehensive in the Upper Afan Valley in Neath Port Talbot.
Its 226 pupils will move to either the new Ysgol Newydd Margam, Cefn Saeson or Ysgol Maesteg from September 2019.
More than 1,400 people have joined a Facebook page opposing the closure of Cymer Afan, which ranked sixth in the annual Real Schools Guide this year, which looked at categories including teaching, attainment, finances, teacher/ pupil ratio and attendance.
Children were in tears and staff left fearing for their jobs after Neath Port Talbot Council announced a public consultation on the plans, said chairman of governors Mairwen Goodridge.
“It seems it is all about money and filling the new school at Margam and not about education,” she said.
“We get good results but if the children have to travel that far to school absenteeism will definitely rise. It will be hard for parents to get to parents’ evenings and for children to stay for activities after school, so those links will go. Not many people here have their own transport.”
The school was federated with local primaries in 2013 and the benefits from those links will also be lost, she said.
“It is going to be a heck of a blow to the area. Children and staff are upset and parents are up in arms.”
There are more than 50 members of staff at the school, 22 of whom are teachers, she said.
One, who did not want to be named, said if the school goes it would adversely affect an already disadvantaged area.
“In 2017 we were voted the sixthbest school in Wales, according to the WalesOnline Real Schools Guide 2017 and we were also ranked as the most deprived comprehensive school in Wales in 2016, according to Welsh Assembly Government data.
“Cymer Afan is located at the top of the Afan Valley and infrastructure and transport links are quite poor. If the comprehensive school were to close this would also have a major impact on the primary schools who are federated with us for pupils, parents and staff. Education is the biggest employer in the valley and there would be serious economic and social implications if this proposal were to be approved by the local authority.”
Cymmer Labour councillor Scott Jones said: “If this proposal goes ahead no doubt it will have an adverse impact on the health and wellbeing and education of young people. Children would have to get up before 7am to catch buses to school. We are going to fight this. The school is very important for the area.”
Parents said their children were devastated and they are worried results and health will suffer if they have to commute so far to class.
Another parent, who did not want to be named, said her daughter started in Year 7 this year.
She said she would be unable to attend parents’ evenings at the alternative schools, which are a 24-mile round trip from her home.
“I don’t want my daughter having to get up so early and travel all that way to school. She can walk to school now and loves her school. She was crying when she found out it might close. They are trying to get people to walk to school. It’s ridiculous. This is all about money.”
Rebecca Blakemore’s son, Cai, 12, who has autism, has been well integrated into mainstream education at Cymer Afan but might be unable to attend the alternative schools because they are so large he wouldn’t cope, she fears.
“If they close the school the valley will die and people will move away. They have already tried to close the swimming-pool and library,” she said.
Neath Port Talbot Council was approached for comment.