What is happening?

Powys County Council has announced a review of post-16 education in the county in order to address a number of concerns with the current offer. The official explanatory documents can be found here.

The documents outline three options for consideration, all of which risk the future of the sixth form at Crickhowell High School. One proposal (Option 3) involves closing all Sixth Forms within school settings in Powys and establishing new Further Education colleges in Brecon and Newtown.

You can see further information about the likely effect a closure of Crickhowell High School Sixth Form would have in thisinformation sheet.

Crickhowell Town Council is leading a campaign with the support of our neighbouring Community Councils to get Powys County Council to withdraw any proposal which includes the option to close the Sixth Form at Crickhowell High School and instead focus on how they can better utilise the excellence in our provision to achieve successful outcomes for all post-16s in Powys.

How can I support the campaign?

• A well attended community meeting was held on Monday 30 June.  You can see the slide deck from the meeting here, and a summary of the speeches will follow in due course.  Keep your eye out for future community meetings and encourage all your friends and family to attend!

• We need everyone to sign the petition.  You can do this electronically or pop into Crickhowell Volunteer Bureau where the hard-copy petition is being held.

• As well as signing the petition, it is important we let both the local elected officials and the Members of the Senedd know how strongly the community feels about the proposal.  Words are powerful, and we want the decision makers to know how strongly the community value our sixth form provision and the place the school holds within our town.

There is some suggested text in the two documents below, focusing on different angles depending on whether you wish to write regarding the importance of the sixth form for education purposes or its place in the community. But letters written from the heart with a personal touch will make the most impact – so use the suggestions if you want and shape them to your own feelings.

·      Suggested text - education

·      Suggested text - community

Once you have written your email or letter, you can find a list of who you should send it to here: ‘Who should I write to?’. As a minimum you should send your correspondence to your County Councillor, our MP, an MS whom you most want to influence and the three senior PCC Cabinet members.  Separate emails would have more impact, but if you are short of time copying the whole list of email addresses in will help the decision-makers understand the strength of feeling about closing Crickhowell High School Sixth Form . But for the key people listed above, paper letters sent by snail mail may make more impact.