Changes to Welsh medium primary and secondary school catchment areas in Cardiff are being proposed by Cardiff Council.
If agreed the plans mean some children would live nearer their local Welsh medium school and others further away. Some would also lose the free school transport they currently get.
The changes would come in from September 2021 will affect the primary and secondary school that children are in the catchment area for.
The schools affected include Ysgol Treganna and Ysgol Pwll Coch in Canton, Ysgol Mynydd Bychan and children attending Ysgol Glan Morfa, who will now transfer to Ysgol Bro Edern rather than Ysgol Glantaf.
Ysgol Hamadryad in Cardiff Bay would get a catchment for the first time.
The picture below shows the catchment area for Ysgol Hamadryad in blue - which will combine part of the current catchment for Ysgol Mynydd Bychan in Cardiff Bay (right) part of the current catchment for Ysgol Pwll Coch in Grangetown (left)
The picture below shows part of Caerau in yellow, where children currently go to Ysgol Nant Caerau but will go to Ysgol Treganna under the new plans. The area in red to the left remains in the Nant Caerau catchment.
This image shows one of the options for streets in Canton (in green in the central area bordered in blue lines) where children currently go to Ysgol Treganna but will start gonig to Ysgol Pwll Coch. In this plan (option A), Landsdown Gardens in Leckwith is still in Treganna catchment
In an alternative proposal for Canton, the Lansdown Gardens (the small area in yellow above) would switch to Ysgol Pwll Coch but the streets bordered by Lansdown Road, Cowbridge Road East, Grosvenor Street and Alexandra Road would remain in the Treganna catchment
Under the proposals some children living at addresses currently in catchment for Ysgol Pwll Coch and Ysgol Mynydd Bychan would now be in catchment for Hamadryad.
Some addresses in Canton and Riverside - which would transfer from the catchment area of Ysgol Treganna to Ysgol Pwll Coch - are further from Pwll Coch than from their current catchment area school of Treganna.
However, Cardiff Council’s consultation document on the plans notes the increased distance for any of these addresses is less than 0.3 miles.
Parents could still state a preference for admission to any school, but acceptance would be subject to enough places being available, the document says.
The changes would also affect free transport for some. Children in the primary school catchment for Ysgol Glan Morfa currently get free home to school transport to Ysgol Glantaf, as this is their catchment area school and it is more than three miles from their home address.
This arrangement would be phased out for pupils entering secondary education from September 2021 as they would go to Ysgol Bro Edern, nearer to their home addresses.
All addresses in Canton and Riverside which are proposed to transfer from the catchment area for Ysgol Plasmawr to Ysgol Glantaf, are nearer to Glantaf than Plasmawr, the consultation says.
“Overall, the changes would improve the balance between the number of children and the number of places serving each area.
“The percentage of children who are able to gain a place at their local Welsh-medium secondary school would increase.”
Cardiff Council says these are the potential disadvantages of the primary school proposals
• Some addresses within Canton and Riverside, which are proposed to transfer from the catchment area of Ysgol Treganna to Ysgol Pwll Coch, are further from Ysgol Pwll Coch than from the current catchment area school of Ysgol Treganna.
• Families living in the areas transferred would be considered under a lower priority oversubscription criteria if their address is longer within the catchment area of their preferred school,
Cardiff council says these are the advantages
If the changes are implemented at primary schools Cardiff council said it would mean a better balance between the number of children and the number of places serving each area.
It would also increase the percentage of children able to get a place at their local Welsh-medium school, cut distances between home and school and “increase in the percentage of Cardiff children transferring to Welsh-medium secondary education”.
The consultation says almost all addresses in the proposed catchment area of Ysgol Hamadryad are nearer the school than to other Welsh-medium primaries.
Almost all addresses within the part of the Ysgol Nant Caerau catchment area proposed to transfer to the Ysgol Treganna catchment area are nearer Ysgol Treganna.
“Overall, the changes would improve the balance between the number of children and the number of places serving each area, and would increase the percentage of children who are able to gain a place at their local Welsh-medium primary school."
The disadvantages of secondary catchment proposals, according to Cardiff Council
Some children will no longer live in the catchment area of their preferred school. Parents could still state a preference for admission to any school and, subject to sufficient places being available, could still gain admission.
• Children living in the primary school catchment for Ysgol Glan Morfa currently receive free home to school transport to Ysgol Glantaf, but would not get free transport to Ysgol Bro Edern.
Advantages of high school catchment change
All addresses in primary catchment area of Ysgol Glan Morfa are nearer Bro Edern meaning pupils have less far to travel to high school.
• All addresses in Canton and Riverside, which are proposed to transfer from the catchment area of Ysgol Plasmawr to Ysgol Glantaf are nearer Glantaf.
• Changes would improve the balance between the number of children and the number of places for each area.
• The percentage of children able to gain a place at their local Welsh-medium secondary school would increase.
Demand for Welsh medium education is growing, but birth rate is falling
The number of children entering Welsh-medium primary places across Cardiff fluctuated between 2009 and 2017, Cardiff Council said.
As the population grew so did the number of children entering Welsh-medium education, but a falling birthrate now means there are still enough places for growing demand for reception places.
In October 2019, there were 684 pupils enrolled in Welsh-medium reception classes in Cardiff, compared to 840 places available.
The number of children entering reception from existing housing city-wide is projected to fall further in the period from 2021 to 2023, consistent with a projected fall in the birth rate, the consultation document shows.
Between 2009-10 and 2018-19 the total number of families applying for places has reduced leaving 15% surplus places available at entry to Welsh-medium primary schools.
“This means that if the trends change and more of the population choose Welsh-medium education there continues to be a reasonable level of surplus places to accommodate families throughout Cardiff.
“The Council is therefore well placed to increase the percentage of pupils taking up places in Welsh medium education. The 840 places available at entry to Reception Year could accommodate up to 22% of the projected population.”
Cardiff school admissions policy
The council’s admissions policy gives higher priority to children who live within the catchment area of a school, than to those who live outside of the catchment.
Children with brothers or sisters attending a school also get a higher priority than other children without brothers or sisters attending.
However, primaries are not feeder schools for secondary schools and children living within catchment for a secondary get priority over those who don’t.
People have until February 26 to respond to the consultation which can be viewed here.
