Bridgend County Borough Council’s Cabinet has approved a consultation on proposals to establish a Welsh-medium seedling school and childcare provision on land at Porthcawl Primary School.
An options appraisal found that land on the existing Porthcawl Primary School site was the most suitable location to accommodate both a seedling school and childcare facility.
To compensate for the land which will be used for the new facility, an all-weather pitch would be provided at Porthcawl Primary School.
The proposed seedling school is a ‘starter class’ with 30 full-time equivalent nursery places, and 30 Reception places.
It is planned that the seedling provision will be operated and governed by Ysgol y Ferch o’r Sgȇr, and pupils would transition to that school at Year 1 to conclude their primary education; that is until a Welsh-medium primary school is established in Porthcawl as part of a future band of the school modernisation programme, which Cabinet previously approved in principle.
The proposed childcare facility will have capacity for 16 full-time (32 part-time) childcare places, together with 6 places for 0 to 2 provision offering full care from potentially birth to four years-old. This includes afterschool and holiday provision, to offer full wrap-around care via the medium of Welsh. It is planned that this facility will be operated by a private provider.
Porthcawl was previously identified as a key location that would benefit from Welsh-medium childcare provision. It was considered that such facilities would help support transition from childcare into Welsh-medium primary school education.
It is currently estimated that if the proposal progresses to completion, the new provision will open in January 2025.
It is really pleasing that this extremely exciting proposal is continuing to take steps forward.
There is a strong Welsh language community in Porthcawl, and this new seedling school will continue to reinforce the importance of the Welsh language in the county borough as a whole.
The proposal will have a positive impact on the amount of young people studying a Welsh-medium education in the area and crucially will also help to strengthen transition links.
Councillor Jon-Paul Blundell, Cabinet Member for Education
