The Vale Council is consulting on a proposed change to Penarth's schools admission arrangements for the academic year 2021/2022.

There are proposals to change to secondary school catchment areas and a minor amendment to the primary school oversubscription criteria.

The proposed changes aim to ensure a more even distribution of school places to meet future demand for pupils within a defined catchment area requiring a school place.

The amendment will prioritise those living closest to a primary school where the number of applications from within catchment area exceeds the number of places available that will support attendance at a child's local school.

St Cyres is one of the schools proposed to face changes in terms of catchment areas.

The proposal states that: ''The school is able to meet pupil demand from within their catchment area with scope to increase its

catchment area size to meet need from other areas of the Vale.

''The current low catchment populations means that a number of pupils gain access from outside the catchment area based on

proximity grounds and where Cardiff is in closer proximity to the schools than other areas of the Vale of Glamorgan.''

The proposal outlines that St Cyres could accommodate the pupil population of area from other school catchment areas as follows:

• Increase the catchment population by incorporating the areas of Wenvoe into the school catchment area.

• Increase the catchment area population to include the whole of the Penarth and Sully areas in recognition that Stanwell School are their own admissions authority. Stanwell operate a primary feeder school arrangement for entry to the school with an assumption that the school are likely to continue to attract around 55% of children in the area.

• The above would redistribute pupils in the Vale to meet the needs of the overall secondary school population.

Stanwell will not be affected by these changes due to the fact that it is a foundation school who are their own admissions authority. They have retained the feeder primary school criteria for entry to secondary education.

Responding to the consultation:

The consultation period will run from 11 December 2019 to 3 February 2020. You can respond to the consultation in the following ways.

Fill in the online survey by clicking the red button below:

Complete the consultation response form, which can be found at the end of the letter to parents/prescribed consultees, and return it to the address provided.

Email the form or your comments to [email protected]