RDC(3) RRSWC2

Rural Development Sub-Committee

Inquiry into Reorganisation of Schools in Rural Wales

Response from Dr Ann Marie Courtney

Rural Schools

Dear Sirs,

I would like to present the following as written evidence to the Rural Schools Inquiry being conducted by the Assembly’s Rural Development Sub-Committee.

All four of my children undertook their primary education at a small village school in the Dolgellau area and this issue is of particular concern to me as both of my boys were mildly autistic yet were still able to be accommodated within the present system, which most definitely would not have been the case had the school been larger and outside of the village. I cannot speak highly enough of the quality of education and standard of pastoral care which the boys received at their small school. Their educational foundation there was such a success that the older boy is now at Cardiff University, undertaking a Masters degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, whilst the younger boy will be taking a Scholarship exam to Chetham’s School of Music next year, with a view to becoming a classical musician. The evidence I would like to give is based on the fact that the small saving which would have made in making both boys attend a larger school outside their community would have been massively offset by the cost of having to provide them with a Special Needs Education when they failed to cope there. Then there would have been the cost of supporting two people throughout their entire lives because they were not able to support themselves. I don’t know what percentage of people from a Special Needs educational background go on to complete postgraduate degrees, but I’m assuming it is a smaller number than those who attend small village primary schools.

It is arguable that even for children without learning difficulties, receiving their educational grounding in a small school based in their own community gives them a start in life which they need to contend with all the other aspects of rural deprivation. Once the school dies, the community dies. Where else is there in a village where a significant number of people regularly meet? - the shop - don’t have one - the pub - don’t have one - the Church - generally only once a week if you’re retired). I would like to suggest that, before destroying the tradition we have of educating our primary school children within their own communities, (a benefit acknowledged by the truism "It takes a village to raise a child”), research is conducted into the offending rates of teenagers who attended small village schools and those who didn’t. If the former is smaller, then how much money was saved, (not to mention the social costs), by the legal system, the social services, etc, compared to the amount saved by running larger, central, schools?

In my area, Gwynedd Council seems to have had an attack of the very worst kind of short-termism, as they have chosen to slash a significant part of their educational spending without any consideration of the wider consequences. I hope that the Welsh Assembly Government will be able to moderate the Council’s actions by taking a more whole-life view of the financial and social costs of this decision to end the tradition of educating rural primary school children within their own communities.

Dr. Ann Marie Courtney