No change for Gwauncelyn but the rest push on.
Parents at Gwauncelyn school breathed a sigh of relief this week when the Labour Cabinet announced they would not be pushing forward with changes to the catchment areas which would have seen the school fall into the catchment area of Hawthorn rather than Bryncelynnog as at present.
However, they still intend to go ahead with proposals to create 3 to 16 schools at Hawthorn and Pontypridd High, removing the sixth forms which with see pupils have to transfer to Bryncelynnog or Coleg Y Cymoed if they wish to continue their education post 16.
The Cabinet meets on Thursday 21 March for what will undoubtedly be a rubber stamping exercise, their plans having already been made clear in a press release.
They have provided their usual pat answers to the concerns raised by those who responded to the consultation and, just as they did in the Rhondda, they will do what they want regardless.
One element of common sense glimmers through in the papers to be presented on Thursday, the idea that they should not consider any more changes to catchment areas for several years but rather wait and see what the result of several planned housing developments will be.
This is something we have said for some time. A long term plan is needed not fragmented changes that just keep moving on the problem of surplus or insufficient places in any one school.
As for the rest of the proposals we can say little that we haven't said before. Unnecessary disruption at the whim of a cabinet and officers who are using our children as Guinea pigs in their educational experiments.
