BRYN Hafren Comprehensive school staff have labelled proposals to transform secondary education in Barry as “flawed”, “inadequate” and “insulting” following a meeting with officials.

The Vale Council has proposed a £35m transformation which would see the creation of a super-school in excess of 2,500 pupils making it, the teachers say they have been told, the largest school in Wales and the second largest in Europe.

Changes, favoured by the authority, would see Bryn Hafren re-locate to the Barry Comprehensive site, utilising the current Ysgol Bro Morgannwg and Nant Talwg buildings, while Bro Morgannwg would re-located to the Bryn Hafren site with a new Welsh-medium primary school constructed in the same grounds.

Teachers say their favoured option is two separate site new-build schools, in Barry, catering for girls and boys without geographical catchment area restrictions and open to choice.

Staff at the currently all-girl secondary vented their feelings after meeting with Vale Council cabinet member for children’s services, Cllr Chris Elmore and director of learning and skills Jennifer Hill at the school on Monday, February 23.

The meeting lasted more than two hours and was attended by around 80 Bryn Hafren school employees. 111 staff have signed a document citing their concerns.

Staff, in favour of the mixed education of girls and boys, aired their concerns surrounding the initial consultation where they believe an unrepresentative number of respondents had said yes to a simple yes or no question.

They also questioned the eventual size of the school, how funding would possibly – if at all - be derived, and what would happen to the select groups of children transferred to other sites, in 2017, ahead of any funding talks with the Welsh Government beginning at the earliest in 2019/20.

Bryn Hafren’s NASUWT spokesman, in a document supplied to the Barry & District News, said: “No teacher is against co-education in principle. However, as professionals we feel it must be done for the right reasons and at a time that is best for the pupils.

“It is felt that this process was flawed and that the consultation is not considered to be representative and therefore is not an accurate illustration of the community’s wishes.

“Whilst co-ed is a preference we do not believe that this is at all costs. Would people be so keen if they knew there was a proposed staged process or that the school would be in excess of 2,500?”

The teachers added that £49 million was spent on the new-build St Cyres building, in the Penarth Learning Community, with £44,000 per pupil invested in their education. Significant investment had also taken place in Cowbridge and Llantwit Major.

“The pupils of the English-medium school in Barry will have a sixth of this sum invested in them,” the representative said in the report put together on behalf of staff. “Under ‘preferred’ Option D, the English-medium pupils will have approximately £7,521 each invested in their education.”

Teachers said they “resented” a suggestion, in a slide presentation to staff and governors, that Bryn Hafren site pupils would suffer from “low esteem” due to a perceived east-west Barry divide, and sending Year 7 girls and boys to a mostly-girls school site in 2017, pre any funding decision, was “perplexing.”

They also said the idea that all Year 10 pupils would receive their GCSE education at Barry Comprehensive was “worrying”.

“130 14-year-old girls will move schools to start the most important years of their education and attend school with over 1,000 boys – any parent of these girls would be worried about the vulnerability of their daughters in this situation,” the report said.

“If the council is so concerned about pupils’ self-esteem, perhaps it could demonstrate to the English-medium pupils that it values their views, their education and their futures by providing them with the best faculties, not the best possible facilities on a budget.

“It is felt that the pupils of Barry are being forced into a cobbled together and rushed transformation of their education. It will take three-and-a-half years of transition/disruption to the pupils of this town. Barry deserves better.”

Staff also said there was no evidence to suggest a single larger school would raise standards and questioned the care of pupils on split sites during and after transition. Unsuitable facilities would result and opportunities to study subjects such as dance would be lost.

The report concluded: “We fear that a school of this size will make vulnerable pupils more anonymous and thus have a detrimental impact on their development and success.

“As Wales’ largest town, the financial investment offered by the Vale of Glamorgan and Welsh Government is inadequate and quite frankly insulting.

“The children of Barry deserve better than a “band-aid” solution.”

Cllr Chris Elmore said that in autumn 2013 the authority had consulted pupils and parents at Barry and Bryn Hafren Comprehensive schools and they had said they wanted to see a change to mixed schooling. Following this consultation the authority had developed a plan to introduce coeducational schooling for Barry.

He said: "During the course of that work it became apparent that the merger of these two schools would also provide the opportunity to expand Ysgol Bro Morgannwg and allow the school to meet the increasing demand for Welsh medium education in the Vale – something that we as a local authority have a legal obligation to provide for.

“The plan that we have developed allows for a transformation of secondary education in Barry and will provide the town with first class English and Welsh medium schools.”

Vale Council cabinet members, at its meeting on February 23, agreed to endorse the principle of co-education and set out a timetable for public consultation beginning on May 11 and lasting eight weeks.