Plans to turn a Powys school into a Welsh medium school could take a step closer if recommendations are approved by cabinet.

Powys County Council's proposal to move Ysgol Bro Caereinion in Llanfair Caereinion along the language continuum from a dual-stream school to a Welsh-medium school are still in progress.

Following a seven-week consultation between October and December 2023, the council announced that the findings of the consultation report will be considered by cabinet on Tuesday, March 19.

The recommendation being considered by cabinet is that the council should go ahead with the proposal to change Ysgol Bro Caereinion’s language category by publishing a Statutory Notice, with the transition scheduled to begin in September 2025.

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Cllr Pete Roberts, Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys, said: “We would like to thank all those who took part in the consultation exercise for this proposal.

"After considering all the consultation responses, the recommendation that will be put forward to Cabinet is to continue with the proposal by publishing the statutory notice formally proposing the change.

“We have considered the consultations findings and have amended the proposal to address some of the concerns that have been raised.

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“This proposal would see the council provide well planned provision for increasing the opportunities for a growing number of children and young people to become fully bilingual, fluent in both Welsh and English and therefore contributing to the Welsh Government’s aspiration to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

“This proposal meets the aims of the Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys and implement the commitments in our Welsh in Education Strategic Plan, which will enable us to make good progress against our target of increasing the number of pupils being taught through the medium of Welsh.”

Powys Council also acknowledged that concerns were raised during the consultation process, about the proposed implementation, with the transition planned to be carried out on a phased basis from September 2025 to September 2026.

The council also added that free transport will be provided to pupils currently in years 4 and below at Ysgol Bro Caereinion and Ysgol Rhiw Bechan to the nearest English-medium secondary school when they finish primary.

Additional support would be provided to pupils not yet in the Welsh stream in the form of immersive Welsh language support to enable pupils currently in the English stream in the school’s primary phase to transfer to Welsh-medium provision.