Consultation to Begin on Proposal to Close Trallwng Infants’ School in Pontypridd

A proposal to close Trallwng Infants’ School in Pontypridd will go out to consultation.
If approved it would see pupils transferring to the nearby Coedpenmaen Primary School by no later than September 2025.
The cabinet report said Trallwng Infants’ has a 105-pupil capacity and pupil numbers have significantly decreased with just 50 in attendance in 2023-24, down from 75 in 2019-20, with just 30 living in the school’s catchment area. Projections for 2028-29 suggest a further drop to 48 pupils.
The site does not fully comply with the Equality Act 2010 and has a total backlog of maintenance of £227,760 – not including the funding required to reach 21st-Century Schools standards.
It was inspected by Estyn in July 2022 and did not require any follow-up. Trallwng drew up an action plan to demonstrate how it was going to address the recommendations set out.
Coedpenmaen Primary is an age three to 11 school that provides the catchment area for Trallwng Infants’ when pupils reach year three. It has capacity for 269 statutory school-age pupil, with 242 attending in 2023-24; 106 of those (43%) live out of catchment.
Projections show this number decreasing to 222 pupils in 2028-29 with 47 (17.5%) surplus places.
Should the proposal go ahead Monday’s cabinet report notes that – based
on live data – there would remain a surplus capacity at Coedpenmaen Primary for 2025-26 with all current Trallwng Infants’ pupils accommodated.
The backlog maintenance figure for Coedpenmaen is £122,842 and the site itself and the school building does not fully comply with the Equality Act 2010 but the council said it would invest in important improvements.
It was inspected by Estyn in May 2022 and it was the view of inspectors that the statutory category of special measures was necessary. The cabinet report said the school successfully implemented its action plan to address the recommendations and after monitoring visits in April 2024 Coedpenmaen  was judged to have made sufficient progress and was removed from the list of schools requiring special measures.
The report said there is approximately 0.2 miles between the schools and there is a safe walking route for pupils.
The council said there is an option for pupils to receive education in Welsh in both communities with Trallwng Infants’ and Coedpenmaen Primary within the wider catchment area of YGG Awel Taf.
If the proposals go ahead no decisions have been made about the empty school site.
Local councillor Mike Powell said they have two “marvellous community schools” and that Trallwng Infants is a “beacon for infants schools in Wales as community schools, it’s well-attended albeit with falling numbers”.
He said they need to have a good look at how they’re actually providing education for children in Wales and wondered whether they’ll end up with only having a few schools in the whole of the borough because of falling numbers at some primary schools.
He also said they must consider the impact of the introduction of the new community schools.
Councillor Rhys Lewis, cabinet member for education, said they have a statutory duty to review surplus places and that there are falling birth rates which bring into question the sustainability of smaller schools.
He said he believes there are “solid grounds” on which to consult on closing the school but it’s not a comment on teaching standards at the school and that no decision has been made yet.
The council’s cabinet on Monday, September 23, agreed to start a consultation on the proposal. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​