School Transformation

Motion as voted upon

Council notes

1 The focus of Estyn on concerns about the performance of the authority in delivering for Powys Secondary Schools in its 2019 report

2 The consultation and briefing sessions that were undertaken prior to Feb 2020 to establish the current schools transformation programme

3 The presentation by the Headteacher from Dolgellau as part of the transformation consultation conference on the benefits of cluster schools in rural areas

4 The major changes to the way schools have worked during the Covid pandemic

5 The recent comments at a Members’ Briefing on Schools Transformation by a Powys Secondary Head of an all-through school reflecting that whilst an all through school was working he wished he could have extended the benefits by including all primary schools in the cluster

6 That the Council is about to embark on developing a new Local Development Plan as the current one has failed to bring forward the number of properties in urban areas that it was expected to

Council Believes

1 Successful transformation programmes are ones that take stock of their direction if there are major societal or business changes which may change the model of proposed service delivery

2 That the Covid pandemic represents such a fundamental change whose impact is only now starting to become clear in the Powys housing market with a resultant demographic impact.

3 That the close working developed within school clusters over the past 24 months means that large parts of the basis for change that underpins the current transformation programme, particularly in relation to delivery of the new curriculum, may have been superseded by changes to ways of working on the ground

4 That the cluster school model as outlined at the transformation conference, which received cross party support as the basis for change, has not been properly tested as a way forward in any of the current transformation proposals, leaving the Council vulnerable to Judicial Review in respect of the Welsh Government’s Rural Schools policy within the Schools Organisation Code

5 That in the absence of this information Cabinet may have made decisions which with additional briefings they would wish to reconsider.



Council therefore requests Cabinet to

1 Implement a 1 year delay to the implementation of all current closure proposals that have been approved by Cabinet over the past 18 months.

2 To request the transformation team to undertake a comprehensive review of the assumptions underpinning the programme in respect of changes made to ways of working within clusters during the Covid Pandemic

3 To request the transformation team to undertake a comprehensive review of the cluster school model that was proposed at the transformation conference, which will assist in the development of secondary and post-19 provision, but which has not been considered in any of the subsequent proposals.

4 That both reports are published before the end of the summer academic term and are made available for discussion by full council and scrutiny before existing decisions are either reconfirmed or abandoned during the autumn term 2022 for implementation at the end of the academic year.