A CONSULTATION on the future of Froncysyllte Community Primary School will open next week after Wrexham Council’s Executive Board voted in favour of it.
The views of parents, staff and the community will be sought from Tuesday, September 23 to Friday, November 7 on two options.
The first is to continuing to run all three schools within the Dee Valley Federation – Froncysyllte, Garth Community Primary and Pentre Church in Wales Voluntary Controlled School at a deficit amid falling pupil numbers. The second is closing Froncysyllte – also known as Fron School.
The option to close Fron School has been selected for the consultation as it is the school with the lowest pupil numbers – with just four children remaining.
Projected figures presented to the Executive board suggest that within five years there will be no more pupils attending the school as no new pupils have registered with the school for a number of years.
A third option – to close all three and amalgamate them into a single school site – will not be considered within the consultation as no suitable site could be found.
If the council’s preferred option – the closure of Fron School – does progress the school will close at the end of this academic year.
For 2026-27 this would generate a saving of £57,269. That saving could increase by £2,667 if staff are redeployed during the notice period to cover supply roles in Garth and Pentre.
According to the consultation documents, in a full financial year, the saving would equate to £204,130. The closure of Fron School would have financial implications for Garth and Pentre, which would need to make up the shared headteacher costs for the Federation as they would now be split between two schools – an additional £13,524.
However education officers highlighted this would be mitigated by the additional budget allocated due to incoming pupils transferring to these schools which would bring in an additional £20,880.
Addressing the Executive Board Cllr Rondo Roberts, the member for the Llangollen Rural ward where Fron School and Garth CP Schooo are situated, said: “I’d like to say how saddened I am at this stage to be going to consultation with Fron School.
“It’s a sad decline that the school’s been going over but the other two schools in the federation are thriving and wherever we go after the consultation I think it’s very sad for the village.”
Bangor-is-y-Coed Cllr Robert Ian Williams asked the Lead Member for Education Cllr Phil Wynn if the Church in Wales (CIW) had been engaged prior to the matter coming before the Executive Board, as Pentre school is a Voluntary Aided CIW school.
“The Diocese and its education officers have been fully sighted of this before it came to Executive Board today,” he said. “They will be permitted to make their submissions as part of the consultation process.”
Cllr Graham Rogers of Hermitage also expressed his regret that the council had to consider the closure of Fron School.
“Nobody likes to be faced with closures, job losses etc,” he said. “But the reality is we need to consider the children and what’s best for the community in general.”
The consultation report will be presented to Wrexham Council’s Executive Board on January 20, triggering a statutory period of further review and opportunities to object to the proposals.
The final decision will be made on June 9.
