Primary School Consultation

A new public consultation has opened today, offering members of the community the opportunity to share their opinions on plans to reorganize primary school provision in the Cathays and parts of Gabalfa, Heath, Llandaff North, and Plasnewydd. The proposals aim to strike a balance between English and Welsh medium primary education to meet current and future demands, and will be subject to consultation with schools, governors, parents, and children.

The plans consist of three potential options, each designed to improve learning opportunities and support schools in the face of current financial pressures.

Option 1

• Allensbank and Gladstone Primary Schools combine to create a new 420-place English-medium primary school with a nursery at the Gladstone Primary School/St. Monica’s CiW Primary School site.
• St. Monica’s CiW Primary School to move to the Ysgol Mynydd Bychan site and establish a nursery there.
• Ysgol Mynydd Bychan will move to the Allensbank Primary School site, increasing from 192 to 420 places with nursery places increasing from 64 to 96.

Option 2

• Allensbank Primary School move to Gladstone Primary School/St. Monica’s CiW Primary School site, reducing capacity to 210 places and discontinuing nursery provision.
• Gladstone Primary School will increase nursery places to 96.
• St. Monica’s CiW Primary School will transfer to Ysgol Mynydd Bychan site and establish nursery provision.
• Ysgol Mynydd Bychan will transfer to Allensbank Primary School
  site, increasing capacity to 420 places with 96 nursery places.
• Allensbank Primary School moving to the current Ysgol Mynydd Bychan site, reducing capacity from 315 to 192 places.
• Ysgol Mynydd Bychan would transfer to the current Allensbank Primary School site, increasing from 192 places to 420 places, with the number of nursery places increasing from 64 to 96.

The plans align with the Council’s commitment to develop Welsh-medium education and deliver on Welsh Government targets outlined in ‘Cymraeg 2050’.

The consultation will also consider feedback on where to locate the city’s Speech & Language class, currently hosted by Allensbank Primary School.

A long-term plan is necessary to address school places in the area, following an interim proposal for Ysgol Mynydd Bychan and Allensbank Primary School at the start of 2021. All the options have been thoughtfully devised to ensure a suitable number of English-medium places, improved facilities, and sustainability in the Cathays and Gabalfa wards. The proposals aim to balance the number of Welsh and English medium school places, ensuring more children can access their local school. Reusing existing assets more efficiently and working collaboratively, the schools involved would enjoy a range of benefits, including improved resources and learning opportunities for pupils and staff. Moreover, the proposals would retain all existing buildings to ensure sufficient places to respond to any future population changes.

The consultation period will run until Friday 30 June 2023, and there will be a range of in-person and online public meetings and drop-in sessions throughout. To view the proposals and share your views please visit www.cardiff.gov.uk/CathaysGabalfaPrimarySchools