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SCHOOL CLOSURES: Four more Carmarthenshire village schools face the axe, three of them in the Gwendraeth Valley

Three more Gwendraeth Valley village schools could close at the end of 2027, along with Ysgol Blaenau near Llandybie.

Ysgol Carwe, Ysgol Pontiets and Ysgol Bancffosfelen are all named in closure plans going before Carmarthenshire Council councillors on Tuesday, with 155 children across the four schools facing a move.

The council’s education scrutiny committee will be asked to back formal consultation on all four. Cabinet would make that call on 2 November.

It comes a day before full council takes the final vote on closing Ysgol Meidrim and Ysgol Y Fro in Llangyndeyrn.

Which Carmarthenshire schools could close, and where the pupils would go

Carway’s 58 pupils have been taught at Ysgol Gwynfryn in Pontyates for more than a year. The council wants to make that move permanent from 1 January 2028.

Their own building shut over safety fears in August 2025, and the council puts the cost of the work it needs at more than £2m over five years.

At Bancffosfelen, 48 pupils would move to Ysgol Pontyberem. The council says the school hall has been declared structurally unsafe and needs knocking down, after a 1960s classroom extension had already been taken out of use.

All teaching now happens in the original Victorian building, which the council says suffers persistent water coming in, damp and mould.

Pontiets’ 21 pupils would move to Ysgol Ponthenri, with nearly three-quarters of the school’s places empty, according to the council.

Ysgol Blaenau, near Llandybie, has 28 pupils, only four of whom live in its catchment, the council says. They would move to Ysgol Gymraeg Penygroes or Ysgol Llandybie.

Gwendraeth Valley village schools hit hardest

If they all go ahead, four of the six village schools facing closure in the county by the end of 2027 would be in the valley. Ysgol Y Fro in Llangyndeyrn is set to shut at Christmas if full council agrees on Wednesday.

Most of the children would stay in the valley, moving to Ysgol Gwynfryn, Ysgol Ponthenri or Ysgol Pontyberem.

The valley has been here before. Mynyddygarreg’s school was spared after its community campaigned for more than a year and gathered a petition of more than 1,000 signatures.

Pontyates has already fought to keep its GP surgery this year. Hywel Dda University Health Board dropped its plan to close Meddygfa’r Sarn in May after a four-month campaign, but campaigners now say no GP partnership has come forward to run it.

Blaenau and Pontiets have faced closure before

This is the second closure threat for Blaenau. In December 2021 the council put plans to close Blaenau and Mynyddygarreg on hold, with education cabinet member Glynog Davies calling for a fuller review first.

Pontiets was one of four rural primaries put under review last year, but its consultation was shelved while Carway’s future was unresolved.

What closing the four schools would save

The council says closing all four would save around £140,000 a year in running costs. Pontiets accounts for almost half of that, at £66,807.

Blaenau’s finances are the worst of the four: it ended 2025-26 £287,857 in deficit and is forecast to reach £362,556 this year, according to the council. Bancffosfelen is £62,924 in the red and heading for £107,773.

Carway and Pontiets were both in surplus in March, but the council expects both to slip into deficit this year.

It also points to building bills it would avoid, including £727,321 of work at Bancffosfelen and £310,802 at Blaenau over five years.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith says the plans are full of “errors”

Cymdeithas yr Iaith is urging all four schools to lobby scrutiny councillors before Tuesday to reject consultation.

The group’s Ffred Ffransis said: “By proposing to close four additional village schools even before the Council has made its decision on Meidrim, the Cabinet has shown that it is on a mission to close village schools throughout the county outside the towns and a few large villages.”

He said the officers’ “rushed work” had thrown up “numerous errors”, and that the Bancffosfelen document relies on an Estyn report from 2018 when the school was inspected again this year, with the report due next month.

The group also says promises to Carway and Bancffosfelen that money had been set aside for their buildings have been broken.

Ffransis added: “The future of our village schools and communities should not be taken so lightly.”

What happens at Tuesday’s scrutiny meeting

The committee meets at County Hall in Carmarthen at 10am on Tuesday 13 October.

If cabinet agrees on 2 November, a formal consultation would follow, with the closures taking effect on 31 December 2027.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

MEIDRIM: Village school down to 24 pupils ahead of final vote on Christmas closure
Full council decides on Meidrim and Ysgol Y Fro on Wednesday.

CARWAY: Council weighing village school’s long-term future as £1.8m classrooms stay on hold
Carway’s children bussed to Pontyates, with formal proposals promised.

Carmarthenshire school closure plans put on hold… for now
Blaenau and Mynyddygarreg’s 2021 reprieve.

PONTYATES: Campaigners urge GP teams to bid for Meddygfa’r Sarn as tender opens
The search for a new GP team to run the village surgery.

MEIDRIM: Village school down to 24 pupils ahead of final vote on Christmas closure

Ysgol Meidrim is down to 24 pupils, and could close for good on 31 December if councillors back the plan next week.

Six children moved to Ysgol Bancyfelin or Ysgol Griffith Jones in September, according to Carmarthenshire Council. The school had 31 pupils at the end of the summer term.

On Monday the council’s cabinet voted unanimously to recommend closing it, with nobody against and no abstentions.

It also unanimously backed closing Ysgol Y Fro in Llangyndeyrn, which no longer has a single pupil. Full council has the final say on both on Wednesday 14 October.

Speaking in Welsh, local councillor Jean Lewis told cabinet the governing body had “worked tirelessly” to save the school. “For this community, this is not just a matter of closing a building,” she said, through the chamber’s interpreter.

She asked cabinet: “Is it really justified to close a Welsh rural school, which is at the heart of an entire village, for such a small financial saving?”

And she warned: “Once a school like this is closed, there’s no turning back the clock.”

Ysgol Meidrim closure: 151 objections and nine in support

The closure notice in June drew 160 responses: 151 objections and nine in favour.

If the closure goes ahead, pupils would move to Ysgol Hafodwenog or Ysgol Griffith Jones from 1 January 2027, the council says.

Its case rests on numbers and money. The council says the school ended 2025-26 £62,581 in deficit and is forecast to be £123,968 in the red by next March.

It puts the cost per pupil at £6,363, against a county average of £5,479, and says closing the school would save £63,229 a year. The building could sell for around £150,000 if no community group takes it on.

Campaigners say the real saving is far smaller. Cymdeithas yr Iaith puts it at about £13,000 a year once extra transport costs are taken off, and Cllr Lewis told cabinet a lot of the costs “will go with the children to other schools”.

Meidrim governors’ rescue plan: “Closure is irreversible. Collaboration is not”

The school’s governors sent the council a detailed alternative in July, asking for “a defined period” to show it could work before “an irreversible decision” is taken.

Their plan includes a partnership between the council and the community, wider use of the building, childcare, and talks on federating with the Bancyfelin, Llangain and Llansteffan schools.

Their case to councillors came down to six words: “Closure is irreversible. Collaboration is not.”

They also point to new housing along the A40, saying Ysgol Bancyfelin is already at or above capacity and Meidrim’s spare places “may become an important strategic asset”.

Governors note the school came out of Estyn special measures in December 2025. They add that the judicial review earlier this year “did not halt the statutory process” but reinforced that alternatives to closure deserve “genuine and conscientious consideration”.

That legal challenge shaped Monday’s meeting. Education cabinet member Glynog Davies left the chamber for the Meidrim item, telling the meeting he had spoken for the council at the judicial review.

He stood aside on legal advice, and deputy leader Hazel Evans presented the report instead.

The governors’ plan did not change the council’s mind. It says the plan has no projected income and spending, cashflow forecasts or three-to-five-year budgets, and that federation would not fix falling numbers.

The council’s verdict: “No new evidence has been presented that would justify amending the proposal.”

Ysgol Y Fro in Llangyndeyrn has no pupils left

At Ysgol Y Fro, every pupil has applied for and accepted a place at another school, and no new starters are due, the council says.

Its closure notice drew 22 responses, all of them objections. The council ruled out one suggestion, turning it into a Church in Wales school, saying it would not fix pupil numbers, money or leadership.

Ysgol Y Fro ended 2025-26 £107,810 in deficit, according to the council, which says closing it would save £99,522 a year. Pupils would transfer to Ysgol y Dderwen.

Rural school closures in Carmarthenshire: what happens at full council on Wednesday

Both are designated rural schools, so the Welsh Government’s school organisation code presumes against closing them unless the council makes a strong case and has looked at every realistic alternative.

The council says it has done that. The vote comes as the county’s schools head for a £16m deficit that finance chiefs have warned could wipe out the council’s emergency reserve.

Meidrim and Y Fro were two of four rural primaries put under review last year, and campaigners say more are coming.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith says three village schools in the lower Gwendraeth Valley, including Bancffosfelen and Carway, and Ysgol Blaenau near Llandybie face proposals to close at the end of 2027. The council’s education scrutiny committee is due to consider consulting on them on Tuesday morning, the group says.

The group’s Ffred Ffransis said: “By proposing to close four additional village schools even before the Council has made its decision on Meidrim, the Cabinet has shown that it is on a mission to close village schools throughout the county outside the towns and a few large villages.”

Its message to councillors ahead of Wednesday’s vote is stark: “If Meidrim is to close, then 20 other Welsh-medium rural schools in Carmarthenshire are immediately under threat, and that will be the end of our Welsh-speaking rural communities.”

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

SCHOOL CLOSURES: Council confirms village schools in Meidrim and Llangyndeyrn to shut, but campaigners say they will fight on
The closure notices issued in June.

CARMARTHENSHIRE: Schools’ £16m deficit could push council into the red
The county’s schools budget crisis, school by school.

CARWAY: Council weighing village school’s long-term future as £1.8m classrooms stay on hold
Carway’s children are still bussed to Pontyates, with formal proposals promised.

Four Carmarthenshire schools face closure under modernisation plans
Llansteffan, Y Fro, Meidrim and Pontiets put under review last year.

AMMANFORD: Questions raised over future of school land as council stays silent

A Carmarthenshire councillor is demanding answers over land purchased for a new school in Ammanford, after years of promises with no sign of building work on the horizon.

Carmarthenshire County Council confirmed in 2023 — following questions from Green Party councillor Rob James — that it had bought land for a new school in the town, with Welsh-medium provision described as a priority. At the time the purchase was seen as a significant step forward after more than a decade of discussion about modernising education in the area.

But despite the land acquisition, there has been no public update on when — or whether — a school will actually be built there.

Recent council decisions have focused on reconfiguring nursery provision within existing schools, with no corresponding announcement on the new build. That silence has prompted Cllr James to write formally to the Cabinet Member for Education seeking answers.

He wants the council to confirm whether it still owns the land, whether the project remains active, and whether alternative brownfield sites have been fully considered as part of a sustainable approach to development.

Cllr James, who is also the Welsh Green Party‘s Senedd candidate for Sir Gaerfyrddin, said residents had been hearing about new school plans in Ammanford for years without seeing any results.

“The council has even gone as far as purchasing land, yet there is still no clear timeline for when a new school will be built,” he said. “People deserve to know what is happening with the land that has been purchased and whether this long-promised investment is still going ahead.”

The Green councillor said the condition of existing school buildings made the lack of progress all the more frustrating.

“Having visited the schools in Ammanford, I know that the environment in which pupils are being taught in is not fit for purpose,” he said.

The need to modernise education provision in Ammanford has been recognised since at least the early 2010s, when proposals for new and reorganised schools first featured in the council’s Modernising Education Programme. More than a decade on, the community is still waiting for a clear plan — and Carmarthenshire is not alone in facing questions about the future of its schools, with rural communities across the county facing the threat of closures as the council presses ahead with its wider modernisation programme.

Cllr James has form for holding the council to account on infrastructure and investment. He has previously challenged transport plans he said left west Wales communities behind, and the Ammanford area has featured in broader debates about investment in the region’s towns and transport links.

Cllr James said the issue was ultimately one of transparency and accountability.

“After more than a decade of discussion, the community deserves clear answers,” he said.

Carmarthenshire County Council has responded to say that they are not able to provide a comment to Swansea Bay News on this during the pre-election period for May’s Senedd election

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Rural schools under threat: Carmarthenshire communities face piecemeal closures as council defends tough decisions
Carmarthenshire communities have been fighting to keep local schools open as the council presses ahead with its modernisation programme.

Future of Llanelli, Ammanford and Carmarthen town centres set out in new plans
New plans set out the council’s vision for the future of Carmarthenshire’s main town centres.

Metro row: Carmarthenshire councillor blasts ‘Swansea-centric’ transport vision
Cllr Rob James challenged transport plans he said left west Wales communities behind.

Labour candidate backs metro link to Ammanford and Llanelli as debate grows over west Wales transport
The debate over transport investment in west Wales intensified as candidates staked out their positions.

Former Carmarthenshire Labour leader defects to Green Party
A high-profile defection boosted the Green Party’s growing presence in Carmarthenshire politics.

Welsh language campaigners prepare to fight ‘flawed’ Carmarthenshire school closures

The council’s Cabinet has agreed to publish a statutory notice to close Ysgol Llansteffan, while also launching consultations on the future of Ysgol Meidrim and Ysgol Y Fro, Llangyndeyrn.

Campaigners argue the decision is flawed, with Cymdeithas criticising councillors for pressing ahead despite admitting that the initial statutory stage of discussions with the schools — known as stage 0 — “did not happen properly.”

Ffred Ffransis, speaking on behalf of Cymdeithas yr Iaith in Carmarthenshire, said preparation work to mobilise responses and objections would begin immediately alongside the schools themselves:

“The cabinet should not have voted for a consultation after admitting that the initial statutory stage of discussion with the schools, known as stage 0, did not happen properly. The council officers’ reports say clearly that a consultation or a statutory notification to close should not be authorised unless councillors were sure that it was the best option. The preparation work to ensure responses to the consultations and objections to the statutory notice to close, together with the three schools, will start straight away.”

Four schools under review as viability questioned

As Swansea Bay News previously reported, Carmarthenshire councillors considered proposals last month to close four rural primaries under the county’s Modernising Education Programme. Reports highlighted falling rolls, high surplus places and financial pressures.

• Ysgol Llansteffan has just eight pupils on roll, with costs per pupil more than three times the county average.
• Ysgol Y Fro has 15 pupils and was placed in Special Measures by Estyn earlier this year.
• Ysgol Meidrim, with 31 pupils, is also in Special Measures following an inspection in 2024.
• Ysgol Pontyates has 24 pupils and more than 70% surplus places, with projections showing numbers continuing to fall.

Pontyates campaign continues despite reprieve

Although Pontyates was excluded from the immediate closure process, villagers have vowed to continue their fight. At a packed public meeting earlier this month, governors and parents insisted the threat remains and uncertainty continues.

“Of course it is a relief to hear that the consultation process is unlikely to proceed in the case of Ysgol Pontyates, but the anxiety and uncertainty will continue. For the benefit of the children and staff we must continue to fight, demand fairness for our families and our community, and ensure a future for a school – which has just celebrated its hundred and fifty years – for generations to come.”

Campaigners accused the council of rushing plans “in a thoughtless and unnecessary manner” and warned closures would mean upheaval and long journeys to larger schools. One pupil told the meeting:

“Our school is small but it is very special. We all know each other… We learn everything in Welsh and we are very proud of that. It is part of who we are and it helps keep our village and our language alive.”

Parents and supporters plan to protest outside County Hall in Carmarthen when the Cabinet meets on 17 November to decide whether to continue with the consultation.

Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr Glynog Davies said:

“We of course understand how difficult this is for the schools involved and wholeheartedly sympathise with the parents, staff, governors and local members.

“It is important to note that no decisions have been made with regards to Ysgol Meidrim and Ysgol y Fro and a consultation process will provide an opportunity for those school communities to have their say as part of the decision-making process.”

Related articles

• Four Carmarthenshire schools face closure under modernisation plans
• Pontyates villagers vow to continue fight to save school

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