Ysgol Heol Goffa Replacement Approved, but Questions Over ASC Centres Remain

A CENTRE for pupils with autistic spectrum conditions (ASC) in Burry Port will more than double in capacity over the next four to five years, council chiefs have said.

The Canolfan Y Mor centre at Ysgol Glan-y-Mor secondary school will rise to 65 by 2029 and provision for primary age children with ASC will increase at other schools to meet growing demand.

Autistic people experience and react to the world differently to other people, may find socialising confusing, become overwhelmed in busy places and use repeated actions to calm themselves or express joy, according to the National Autistic Society.

Pupils with ASC – one of several types of additional learning needs – require extra support, and pressure on places is growing as demand rises.

An independent review of additional learning needs in the Llanelli area published this year said a lack of sufficient ASC provision was “a very significant issue” in Llanelli, although it also said Carmarthenshire Council had effectively developed a range of specialist provision to meet additional learning needs.

The council commissioned the review having shelved plans for a replacement Ysgol Heol Goffa special school, Llanelli, because costs had soared. It sparked an outcry and protests.

The review set out six options to address the situation and the council’s cabinet finally approved one of them at a meeting on July 31. It’ll mean a new 150-place Ysgol Heol Goffa but it’ll be for young people with different complex needs to ASC.

The chosen option had recommended two new specialist ASC centres – one with 65 places attached to a secondary school and one with 50 places at primary school – as well as the replacement Ysgol Heol Goffa.

But the cabinet report of July 31 said the two new ASC centres would not be required because work was already under way to meet ASC demand at other schools locally. Campaigners welcomed the Ysgol Heol Goffa decision but there was unease about the ASC element.

When asked at the cabinet meeting for reassurances about ASC provision and how many places were going to be made available, Cllr Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education and Welsh language, said work had begun on this since before the Covid pandemic and that additional ASC places would be created at Canolfan Y Mor, Burry Port.

Now, in response to questions from the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council has given more details. It said capacity at Canolfan Y Mor would rise to 65 by 2029 from the current 30-maximum capacity cited in the independent review. This will start with an extra 10 places in September.

The council also said it would also invest in the fabric of Canolfan Y Mor as the review described the demountable classrooms there as temporary, limited and lacking flexibility.

Asked where the 50 places for primary age children with ASC would be provided, the authority didn’t give precise numbers but said there will be more specialist ASC provision at Burry Port Community Primary School from next month and also new provision at Ysgol Penygaer, Llanelli.

It also said the combined 115 places mentioned in the review reflected existing places and additional demand, not just additional demand.

The review, written by a former local authority head of additional learning needs called David Davies, said Wales was seeing unprecedented growth in the number of children identified with additional learning needs and that it was critical that schools were supported to effectively meet them. Mr Davies said this rise was placing increasing strain on local authority and school funding.

The political row over Ysgol Heol Goffa looked to have been defused when Plaid-Independent council leaders first signalled their support for the 150-place school which included the new ASC specialist centres, but it has re-ignited with local Labour politicians angry that in their view it was only partially being adhered to.

Speaking earlier this week Labour demanded clarity on ASC provision with Llanelli town councillor Shaun Greaney claiming the current situation was “a scandal” and that ASC pupils and their families had been “virtually forgotten and neglected.” He added: “Early intervention is essential to give these children the life chances they deserve.”

Carmarthenshire councillor Deryk Cundy, who leads the Labour opposition group, said schools were working hard to help children with ASC but that there needed to be a clear plan to sort it out to avoid risking a “collapse” in the system.

“The figure highlighted of 115 children with ASC could be the tip of the iceberg,” said Cllr Cundy. “We simply don’t know.”

Llanelli’s Labour MP Nia Griffith said expanding ASC provision was crucial. “Families have had to put their lives on hold to care for their children because the proper provision is not there,” she said.

Plaid cabinet member for resources, Cllr Alun Lenny, said it seemed to him that Labour politicians were “hell-bent on trying to make political capital out of the educational needs of autistic children” in Llanelli, and added that extra provision and investment in staff was imminent.

He said: “Speaking personally, I have a close family member with an autistic condition, so I hardly need someone like town councillor Shaun Greaney reminding me about the need for ‘giving these children the life chances they deserve’. It is just not true to say that they are ‘virtually forgotten and neglected’.”

Education campaigner Becki Gilroy claimed that some provision for children with ASC could sometimes “amount to  not a lot more than a babysitting  service”. She said: “Autistic children like my daughter Millie need specialist centres of excellence like Ysgol Heol Goffa.”