A NEW “all singing, all dancing” primary school could be built in Bettws, where some pupils are in their third academic year without a permanent home.
Newport City Council has proposed building a new £18 million English-language facility and merging Monnow and Millbrook primary schools.
The main building at Millbrook Primary was closed in the summer of 2022 because of structural concerns, and further investigations found the school should not be reopened until it had been made safe.
Ever since, pupils have been taught in temporary locations – the nursery class at nearby Ysgol Gymraeg Ifor Hael and older pupils at an adult training centre in Brynglas – and the council went on to decide to knock Millbrook Primary down.
A new school, if the project goes ahead, will be built on the demolished Millbrook site.
Cllr Deb Davies, the city council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for education, is expected to back the reorganisation proposal next week (December 12).
That will kick-start the process, and the plans will later go out for public consultation so members of the schools’ communities can have their say.
That consultation is currently scheduled to take place in the spring next year.
It is currently expected the two primaries could amalgamate into a single three-form entry school from September 2026, and move into their new school building a year later.
The project is likely to be funded via the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme, with both the Welsh Government and the city council contributing to the costs.
Bettws ward councillor Kevin Whitehead said plans suggest the new school “will be an ultra-modern all singing all dancing affair, and must be welcomed”.
“Unfortunately, both primary schools on Bettws are aged and were quickly depreciating in condition for some time and this day was always coming,” he added. “No doubt some will welcome this as much as some will lament the closing of the current schools.”
Cllr Whitehead did warn that “some early concerns will obviously be around the traffic attending the school in the mornings and afternoons adding to the already congested roads out here” but noted the parking capacity proposed for the new school was “very generous in size”.
The project “would have been given a lot of thought about the best outcome for the children on the estate”, he added.
