Cardiff schools: Parents march against closure threats

IN THE latest stage of Cardiff Liberal council's outrageous school closures programme, Lansdowne Primary School is threatened with closure. Neighbouring primary schools will also be hit as their class sizes are pushed up to accommodate children from Lansdowne.

Ross Saunders, Cardiff Socialist Party

But a well-organised campaign by parents and teachers - starting the day after the plans were announced - has already organised a march to City Hall for 22 November. The protest will also be supported by parents with children in other threatened schools.

Rhodri Morgan, First Minister in the Welsh Assembly and the area's Assembly Member, attended the meeting for parents and campaigners but refused to change the way schools are funded.

At present, the Assembly's per-pupil school payment formula punishes schools for achieving smaller class sizes and the council insists that one local school will have to close.

Uniting parents, school workers and campaigners is crucial for winning this campaign; the council would exploit any divisions to railroad their plans through.

Parents at Ysgol Treganna, the Welsh-medium school which would take over Lansdowne's site under the plans, recognise this. They protested in support of Lansdowne school the day after the plans were announced. Their demand for a new school to ease overcrowding should be supported by all parents.

The campaign to save other schools has also taken off. Parents and teachers at Llanedeyrn High School have organised a campaign to stop the closure.

Steve Williams, a Llanedeyrn parent, said: "The council are trying to save money at the expense of the kids". At the end of the meeting he gathered parents and teachers to fight the closure.

Cardiff Socialist Party members are working to form a co-ordinating committee to unite all the different campaigns and get all schools to oppose the closures.