Work underway at new site for Ysgol Carreg Emlyn

Work has begun to develop a new single site school for Ysgol Carreg Emlyn, currently located on two sites at Clocaenog and Cyffylliog.

The new building will be located on a brand new site opposite the current Clocaenog site.

To mark the start on site school staff, pupils, councillors and community council members attended a turf cutting at the site.

Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts, the Council’s lead member for Education, Children and Young People and the Welsh Language, said: “Work starting on the new school is tremendous news for pupils at Ysgol Carreg Emlyn and for future generations living in Clocaenog, Cyffylliog and the surrounding areas.

“It was great to see pupils, teachers and community leaders join together for the turf cutting at the new school site.

“We recognise this has been a long time coming but we are delivering on our promise to press ahead with these ambitious plans.

“Making Denbighshire a place where younger people want to live and making sure they have the skills to do so is a priority in our Corporate Plan and this new school helps us achieve that.”

In the coming weeks work will progress to the ground works for the foundations of the building and cut and fill works will progress for the external areas.

The project is being funded by the Council and the Welsh Government through its 21st Century Schools and Education Capital Programme.

Wynne Construction are the main contractors appointed to carry out the works.

Construction work due to begin at the site of the new 3-16 Catholic school in Rhyl

Enabling works have been completed by Kier Construction at the site of the new 3-16 Catholic school in Rhyl paving the way for the main build work to start. Pictures below show the progress on site and the hoardings that have been erected between Ysgol Mair and Blessed Edward Jones.

Both the Diocese of Wrexham and the Council will work closely with both schools in order to manage this phase of the project in order to reduce the disruption to pupils as much as practically possible.

The new 3-16 school, for the Diocese of Wrexham, will replace Ysgol Mair/ St. Mary’s primary Catholic school and Blessed Edward Jones Catholic high school. The new school would be an English medium school for 420 full time pupils aged 3-11 years old and 500 pupils aged 11-16.

The project will be funded in partnership by the Council and the Welsh Government, through its 21st Century Schools and Education Capital Programme.

Significant milestone in the history of Ysgol Llanfair DC

A turf cutting ceremony has marked the first stage of the building of a brand new replacement school for Ysgol Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd which started construction on site at the start of June.

The new bilingual church school will be built on land opposite Bryn y Clwyd, Llanfair using funding from the Welsh Government’s 21^st Century Schools and Education programme, in partnership with investment from the Council.

Bodelwyddan-based Wynne Construction is the main contractor appointed to carry out the works.

Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Cabinet Lead Member for Education, Children, Young People and the Welsh Language, said: “This is an extremely momentous day in the history of Ysgol Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd.

“We have recognised that the current facilities are dated and are in desperate need of modernisation. There has also been concerns about the lack of car parking, staff areas, public areas and accessibility to the school, which is located on the busy A525 in the centre of the village. That is why the Council, working in partnership with Welsh Government, has invested significantly in this project and we are delighted to see work get underway.

There has been some great progress on site so far and over the coming week’s works will progress on the ground works for the new building, car park area and Playing field.

Community funds up for grabs for education projects

There’s up to £70,000 up for grabs in total for educational projects in Denbighshire and you are invited to apply.

There’s one fund for Denbigh and surrounding area and a separate fund for wider Denbighshire communities – the money is there to support the education of individuals and specific educations initiatives supporting groups to include:

• Projects that support the educational attainment/ development of children and young people 11-25 years
• School / college based projects that support vocational training, health matters and healthy living and
• Education inclusion projects with support for individual students through bursaries, scholarships, travel assistance etc.

For the Denbigh Fund, students between the ages of 11 and 25 who currently live in Denbigh or the Nantglyn, Henllan, Bodfari, Aberwheeler, Llandyrnog, Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmeirch, Llanynys, Llanefydd and Llansannan areas are eligible to apply, as charities, groups and organisations that run projects and activities for the benefit of children and young people in these communities.

For further information, please contact the Community Foundation in Wales, on 02920 379580 or e-mail@ info@cfiw.org.uk

Welsh in Education Plan given the green light

The Cabinet has approved plans to develop Welsh Medium education in the county over the three years.

The Welsh Government has also approved Denbighshire’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (2017-2020), which sets out how the Council will aim to meet targets set nationally.

 The Plan sets out how the authority will:

• Ensure and develop sufficient Welsh Medium school places throughout the County
• Support the increase of Welsh oral communication and understanding skills in all early years’ settings
• Increase the amount and quality of Welsh taught in English medium schools.
• Increase the proportion of learners studying Welsh as a 1^st language
• Raise attainment in Welsh and in subjects followed through the medium of Welsh at every key stage in every school
• Develop a sustainable workforce to support future provision.

Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Cabinet Lead Member for Children, Young People, Education and the Welsh Language, said: “Improving the quality of education and the quality of our school building remains a key priority for the Council and we have made significant investments in Welsh medium education over recent years, the benefits of which can be seen county-wide.

“We want all children and young people in the county to leave full-time education competent and confident in using both Welsh and English languages. 

“We have also made a firm commitment through the Council’ Welsh Language Strategy to continue to focus on Welsh medium education and to work tirelessly to play our part in contributing to the Welsh Government’s target of achieving a million Welsh speakers by 2050”.

This Plan comes hot on the heels of the Estyn inspection report of the county’s Education Services which praised the Council’s approach to developing services through the medium of Welsh.  It found that: “The authority’s plans for increasing the percentage of learners in Welsh Medium provision are suitably ambitious, as are the targets to increase the percentage of subjects taught through the medium of Welsh in schools that currently teach less than 50%. There are sufficient places in all phases for learners who choose Welsh medium education.”