South Wales Evening Post - 20 November 2008
Let's be quite clear: Swansea Council has not said it wants to close any particular school. At least, not in so many words.
Instead, the council has issued a list of schools that could be closed or merged, if its "emerging strategy" is implemented.
The plans have not yet reached that stage, but this week the council's cabinet voted to move things in that direction.
One of the 15 schools which could be affected, Llanmorlais Primary, has already started a campaign to keep the school open, and this week two pupils put questions about the school's future to education boss Mike Day.
While the council may be stressing that this is not the start of formal consultation on closing any of Swansea's schools, there is no escaping the fact that it has named certain schools as ones it believes could be closed.
It will certainly not come as a huge shock if, when formal consultation on school closures is finally announced, these same schools appear on the list.
It would also seem unlikely that, when the council reaches that point, it will add extra names.
Ever since the news emerged that Swansea's school system was crumbling — needing £147 million worth of improvements — the council has been working on the Quality in Education (QEd) 2020 programme, designed to get the school system back on track.
While the council has been talking to stakeholders — teachers, heads, governors — about its options, council bosses have made no secret of the fact that some schools may have to close.
Speaking at Tuesday's cabinet meeting, council leader Chris Holley said: "I think the time has come for the public in Swansea to realise once and for all that doing nothing is not an option.
"We are faced with a severe crisis after many decades of under- investment. We are left with a situation where we have old buildings and falling rolls across the city.
"If we don't take these decisions, the quality of education will get diluted. We have to look at single option available to us and we will still look at every option.
"But, we have to remember that we can't sit on our hands and do nothing."
But what of the schools affected? Fifteen have been named in the three phases of the council's emerging strategy —phase one of the new strategy is a plan to establish single primary schools to replace the following existing schools. Phase one includes Manselton and Cwmbwrla primary schools, Cwm primary and Cwm Glas primary, and Llanmorlais and Penclawdd primaries.
Phase two includes options to create single schools in place of Brynhyfryd infants and juniors and Plasmarl primary, and Gorseinon nursery, infants and juniors.
Phase three includes creating a single school in place of Graig nursery, infants and juniors.
A campaign to save Llanmorlais Primary School, which could merge with Penclawdd, has already begun. The cabinet meeting this week was packed with members of the campaign group — and two year six pupils asked education boss Mike Day why their school should be threatened.
It is only a matter of time before similar campaigns spring up across the city, with proud pupils, teachers and governors battling to save their schools.
The closure of a school is an emotive issue — as 11-year-old Llanmorlais pupil Nia Mabbett told Councillor Day and his cabinet colleagues: "I am the fifth generation of my family to go to Llanmorlais Primary School.
"I have a baby sister — how will we explain to her that she will be the only one in our family not to go to Llanmorlais?"
People have an understandable connection to their schools and any closure will not be a cause for celebration, but with the cost of bringing our schools up to standard standing at £147 million some tough decision lay ahead for our councillors.
The question that needs to be answered as we go through this process is: how on earth did we get in this position in the first place?
