A consultation to merge Llanfair Caereinion Primary School and Caereinion High School has started, the council has announced.

Last month, Powys County Council revealed plans to create a new bilingual all-age school for four to 18 year olds on the existing schools sites in Llanfair Caereinion from September 2022.

Now it wants the community to have its say on the proposals during a six-week consultation.

Currently the primary school has 162 pupils and there are 465 pupils in the secondary school. The council said it wants to "improve the learner entitlement and experience".

Education portfolio holder Cllr Phyl Davies said: “Providing high-quality teaching and learning environments is one of the aims of our Vision 2025 and we are committed to delivering an improved learner offer for the children and young people in Powys through our Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys.

“The strategy sets out a number of strategic aims and objectives that will shape the work to transform education in Powys over the coming years.

“One of the strategic objectives in the strategy is to ‘develop a network of all-age schools based around the 13 current secondary school locations. Our proposal for Llanfair Caereinion will help us meet this objective.

“Since the approval of the strategy, we have met with representatives of the governing bodies of Llanfair Caereinion C.P. School and Caereinion High School. Both governing bodies have indicated their support in principle to move towards establishing an all-age school in Llanfair Caereinion.

“However, it is important that the people of Llanfair Caereinion and the wider catchment area have they say on these proposals and I would urge them to send their views so that they can be considered.”

Powys County Council said change is needed in Llanfair Caereinion due to a number of challenges which include decreasing pupil numbers, budget pressures, building conditions and temporary leadership at both schools.

Caereinion High School's Welsh-medium stream serves a large catchment area, which includes the towns of Newtown and Welshpool. Welsh-medium pupil numbers in the primary school have increased, suggesting greater demand for Welsh-medium provision in the town.

Have your say

To respond to the consultation, click here and follow the links to give your views online.

Alternatively, you can respond to Powys County Council in writing by emailing school.consultation@powys.gov.uk or via Post at Transforming Education Team, Powys County Council, County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, LD1 5LG.

The consultation will close on Tuesday, November 24.