[lg policy] Bangor Primary School Closures Confirmed

[Harold Schiffman]

Bangor Primary School Closures Confirmed

Posted by The Bangor Aye <http://www.thebangoraye.com/author/badmin/> | Nov
6, 2018 | Bangor News <http://www.thebangoraye.com/category/bangor-news/> | 0
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[image: Bangor Primary School Closures Confirmed]

Gwynedd Councillors have voted unanimously to close Ysgol Glanadda and
Ysgol Babanod Coed Mawr primary schools in Bangor and for the building of a
new Ysgol y Garnedd, which will accommodate up to 420 pupils.

Cabinet member for education, Cllr Gareth Thomas, said: “Ysgol y Garnedd is
over capacity and the building is not fit for purpose. They find it hard
with a lack of space and facilities which has a detrimental effect on staff
and pupils, so a new school was one of the main objectives.

“There’s a lack of space to build in Bangor so it was difficult to find a
suitable site but thankfully we found one. Its been very difficult to
appoint headteachers to Glanadda and Coed Mawr, which has also formed part
of the decision process.”

Cllr Gareth Thomas also referred to the new Ysgol Glancegin in
Maesgeirchen, which he said had “state of the art facilities, and has
already proved its worth in the city.”

The main objections raised were the concerns about the increase of traffic
and safety of children on an already busy Penrhos Road, which serves
several schools in the area and Ysbyty Gwynedd.

The council were informed that the new school is double the size of the
existing Ysgol y Garnedd but will provide an additional 30 parking spaces
for staff and visitors and that traffic management will also be in place to
improve the process of dropping children off and collecting them from
school, easing congestion along Penrhos Road.

Cllr Thomas added: “I understand the concerns over Penrhos Road and we
could also look at the possibly staggering opening and closing times, which
could improve the traffic situation, but that would be down to the
individual schools.”

Concerns were also raised by local residents about the use of Penrhos
Avenue during the construction of the new school, Cllr Dafydd Gibbard
confirmed that heavy vehicles would only use the main entrance to the site
and only workers vehicles will use Penrhos Ave.

Councillor Elin Walker-Jones for Glyder Ward in Bangor, supported the plans
for the new school but said: “There are concerns regarding shutting
Glanadda and Coed Mawr and I’m aware that the chair of governors has asked
to keep Glanadda open.

“Concerns have also been raised over Welsh medium education at Ysgol y
Garnedd due to the change in demography, despite the efforts of other
Bangor schools in terms of the Welsh language, I’d want to see y Garnedd
given the support it needs to continue offering this Welsh ethos, even with
greater pupil numbers.”

Cllr Gareth Thomas noted that all schools in Gwynedd should adhere to the
same language policy, but accepted the feeling that Y Garnedd has a
stronger emphasis for providing Welsh medium education.

Calls had been made to delay the decision on the closures but Cllr Gareth
Thomas added that the deferring the decision would delay the construction
of the new school and disrupt the funding from the Welsh Government,
requiring the whole process to start again.

The proposal was carried unanimously which means that Ysgol Glanadda and
Ysgol Babanod Coed Mawr will close in August 2020.

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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