Photo courtesy of Cymdeithas yr Iaith.
FOUR rural schools are another step closer to shutting in Carmarthenshire.
The council’s cabinet has voted in favour of a formal consultation recommending Ysgol Blaenau, Ysgol Pontiets, Ysgol Carwe and Ysgol Bancffosfelen close at the end of December 2027.
Placard-waving parents and pupils stood on the steps of County Hall, Carmarthen, before the meeting urging cabinet to save their schools. “Are your ‘savings’ worth out futures?” read one placard about Ysgol Blaenau, near Llandybie.
No binding decisions, however, have been made and it’ll full council that has the final say.
Although the individual circumstances of the four primaries are different the council is worried about declining pupil numbers, high surplus places, the condition of some school buildings, and current or projected financial deficits.
Councillors representing the four schools put the concerns of parents and pupils, including the question of closing a school during the academic year, to cabinet as it considered and voted in favour of the closure consultation for each school in turn.
Cllr Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education, said at the outset that the authority had to meet “the needs of a community not just a village” and address growing financial deficits accumulating in many of the county’s schools. “Accepting the status quo is not an option,” he said.
One primary has already closed in the county this year and two more will shut at the end of next month.
Cllr Davies also said school closures would in principle be at the end of an academic year from now on, although he said there may be circumstances when a different date may be appropriate.
Referring to Ysgol Blaenau, he said it currently had 21 registered pupils and 98 spaces, with 41 pupils from the catchment attending schools elsewhere. The school’s forecast deficit at the end of 2026-27, he said, was £362,556.
Cllr Davies cited a 2024 report by inspection body Estyn which said school governors hadn’t addressed the deficit effectively enough, which ward councillor Dai Thomas disputed.
Cllr Thomas said the debt had built despite governors taking difficult decisions including redundancies. Suggesting governors were responsible for the deficit, he said, was “simply untrue”.
He said Ysgol Blaenau was a happy and successful school with dedicated staff committed governors, not “just a budget deficit or set of buildings”, and that it deserved better.
He said: “Please give this school the opportunity it needs to survive and succeed”.
After the vote was taken, Cllr Davies spoke about Ysgol Pontiets, Pontyates, which had 16 pupils and 83 spaces, with 41 children from the catchment going to schools elsewhere. The deficit forecast at the end of 2026-27 is £80,469.
Ward councillor Alex Evans said he had serious doubts about the consultation document and claimed deficiencies in it could open up the council to a “credible judicial challenge”.
He also asked what assessment had been done to establish whether the B4317 was a safe route to school given that Pontiets pupils would transfer to Ysgol Ponthenri a mile away. He said there was a 50mph speed limit on the road and a lack of street lighting.
Cllr Edward Thomas, cabinet member for transport, said a technical desktop assessment had been carried out and that further work and improvements would be needed regarding the road should Ysgol Pontiets close.
The meeting then heard about Ysgol Carwe, Carway, which has been shut temporarily since September 2025 due to serious building issue with pupils relocating to Ysgol Gwynfryn.
Cllr Davies said this problem had occurred overnight and that there had been no choice but to close it. Reopening the school, he said, would cost more than £2 million.
Ysgol Carwe had 58 pupils as of January this year, 118 spaces and a 2026-27 deficit forecast of £23,143.
Ward councillor and long-serving school governor Tyssul Evans asked cabinet to respond to concerns in the community that the building problems in part of the school were being used as an excuse to close it. Investment in Ysgol Carwe, he added, had been promised.
Cllr Evans also said the school was not currently in deficit and that steps had been taken to cut costs. He said: “And now we are being punished for that.” He added. “Who is managing this council – the administration or the officers?”
Cllr Linda Evans, leader of the Plaid-Independent administration, said a range of criteria was considered by cabinet not just the condition of buildings, and that people could raise concerns as part of the proposed consultation.
Then another ward councillor, Meinir James, addressed cabinet to ask what the impact would be on the Welsh language of closing three Welsh language schools in the vicinity, as was proposed, and whether all sources of funding had been explored including grants to invest in Ysgol Carwe.
Cllr Davies replied saying funding opportunities “are routinely explored where appropriate” but that in Ysgol Carwe’s case “wider challenges” would still exist with the school although he agreed it was not currently in the red.
Turning finally to Ysgol Bancffosfelen, Cllr Davies said it had 48 pupils as of January this year and 98 places – although this latter number will come down to 86 – and 41 children from the catchment attending schools elsewhere. The budget deficit for the end of 2026-27 is forecast to be £107,733.
Cllr Davies said he had concerns about buildings at the part-Victorian school but not about the leadership – and added that a new Estyn report would be published at the end of the month.
Ward councillor Liam Bowen said there were currently 50 pupils, a team of hard-working staff and that the school had grown. He said he was disappointed in the unwillingness of cabinet to discuss things with him and that there were 19 schools in the county with fewer pupils than Ysgol Bancffosfelen, 16 of which were forecast to be in the red.
The meeting heard that investment would be made in receiving school Ysgol Pontyberem to increase capacity.
Cabinet member for resources, Cllr Alun Lenny, said the school strategy being implemented by the administration was to modernise education.
“We have to consider whether buildings from the Victorian age are suitable for the 21st Century,” he said.
