Backing for £7.4m Welsh-medium primary school set to open in 2021
A NEW £7.4m primary school will be built in Barry Waterfront and is set to open in September 2021.
Ysgol St Baruc Welsh-medium primary school will move to the new building and extend its capacity from 210 places to 420 places, along with 96 nursery places.
The new school plans come as the Welsh Government aims to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050.
Currently Welsh-medium primaries in Barry are under-subscribed, with a total of 295 places available.
But a council report says there would need to be “significant investment” in Welsh education in order for the council to meet the Welsh Government’s target.
The report says: “The proposal to increase the capacity of Ysgol Sant Baruc provides the council with the opportunity to increase the annual number of Welsh-medium places by 30 whilst also placing a Welshmedium primary school at the centre of the newly established housing development to facilitate growth within a new community.”
A total of 261 people responded to a consultation on the plans – and 232 of them backed the move. Only 25 opposed it.
The current Ysgol Sant Baruc has no canteen or dining facilities and there is no chance of expanding the existing school site, a report says.
Plaid Cymru councillor Ian Johnson, whose ward includes the current school site, said: “We are all very pleased that the proposal for a new Ysgol Sant Baruc on the Waterfront has been agreed by the Vale Council, and look forward to its opening in autumn 2021. Eighty-nine per cent of respondents to the consultation were in favour and there were no statutory objections to increasing the number of pupils at the school.”