School Mergers and Closures

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 2:22 pm on 25 April 2018.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 2:22, 25 April 2018

Cabinet Secretary, in your responses to both Suzy Davies and Bethan Jenkins, you talked about the interests of the learner and the well-being of the learner, which I fully support. But, of course, the well-being of the learner also depends on the well-being of the communities the learner lives in and is educated within, and, as has been pointed out, Cymer Afan is actually proposed to be closed with pupils transported and transferred a distance of over 10 miles. The experience they have of getting home post school education—in other words, they often stay behind for after-school activities, and that's an important part of the well-being of the learner, to be able to do that—means that there will be difficulties in that aspect. When you look at this, because it might well come across your desk, will you also consider the well-being of the community and the well-being of the learner beyond just the educational experience inside the school itself? Will you also look at, perhaps, whether there needs to be a consultation under the new school reorganisation guidelines, and not the old ones?