Fewer than 91 pupils = a small school, says Welsh Government

11 July 2014

Fewer than 91 pupils = a small school, says Welsh Government

UCAC education union has discovered that the Welsh Government has defined a ‘small school’ as “a school that contains fewer than 91 registered pupils”.

The definition is significant because it means that Local Authorities can federate ‘small’ schools without consulting with pupils, parents, staff or organisations that represent staff.

Rebecca Williams, UCAC’s Policy Officer said “The figure of 91 pupils is totally unsuitable in a Welsh context. We know, for example, that 70% of Ceredigion’s primary schools, and 62% of Gwynedd’s primary schools fall into this new category of ‘small school’.
 
“We do not oppose federating schools at all – in fact there are substantial benefits to such arrangements. However we are concerned that this new definition will leave the pupils, parents and staff of a significant proportion of schools in Wales without a voice in the process.
 
Notes
  • The Education (Small Schools) (Wales) Order 2014 was made on 29 April 2014, and came into force on 22 May: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2014/1133/contents/made
  • The Order refers to the Education (Wales) Measure 2011, which enables Local Authorities (section 11) and Welsh Ministers (section 16) to federate schools. That part of the Measure came into force in May this year; until then, only schools themselves could establish a federation. Section 15 gives Welsh Ministers the power to “make provision by order for the definition of a small maintained school by reference to a specified number of pupils registered at a school on a specified date in any year.”
  • The School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013, section 56 (1) defines a small school as “a school with fewer than 10 registered pupils”
  • The Welsh Government consulted on the proposals early in 2013. UCAC’s response to the consultation was: “We disagree strongly with this proposal. A school of around 100 pupils is not a small school in a Welsh context. The intention of the proposals is to put in place a faster and easier process for federating small schools, in exceptional circumstances. However, we note that almost a third (32%) of Wales’s primary schools come under the proposed definition – which means that they are not exceptional cases. We do not oppose an efficient process for federating small schools, however we cannot accept a process that bypasses consultation with stakeholders in such a high proportion of schools in Wales.”
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