PLANS for a £35million super-school in Barry appear to have been scrapped by the Vale council, following opposition from parents, teachers and pupils.

The plans, announced in February, proposed a massive shake-up to secondary schooling in Barry with the construction of a new English medium mixed sex super-school at its core.

Yesterday (Wednesday, September 30) the Vale council confirmed that a report due to go before Cabinet next week (Monday, October 5) will recommend that the original plans do not go ahead.

Under the plans a new secondary school would have been built on the current site of Barry Comprehensive and Ysgol Bro Morgannwg with pupils from Ysgol Bro Morgannwg secondary and the newly opened Ysgol Nant Talwg primary school moving to the current Bryn Hafren school site.

A new primary school was planned to be built for Ysgol Nant Talwg pupils.

Although it is unclear what any newly drawn up plans will entail, the Vale council have said that the results of the consultation show "considerable support for expanding the number of Welsh medium secondary school places in the Vale and for introducing mixed schooling for boys and girls in the town’s English medium schools."

Speaking on behalf of a parents group who opposed the plans, mother-of-two Nia Hopkin said: "We're really pleased with the news. It's what we hoped for and what we were campaigning for, for the council to see sense and look at proposals that would benefit all the children.

"It goes to show that people power works. I'd like to say a big thank you to all the parents who responded to the consultation because without them it might have gone through."

Vale MP Alun Cairns - who co-ordinated public meetings to discuss the proposals - said he was eager to see the new plans.

"I must pay credit to the parents that came together in our campaign to challenge the plans for a super school in Barry," he said.

"The plan for such a large school was flawed to begin with, but the efforts in bringing the community together for public meetings in April has been worthwhile. ?"The education of children in Barry and the Vale is too important an issue to be rushed, and I look forward to seeing the new proposals."

In response to the consultation the Vale council's cabinet will be asked to give authority for a new plan to be prepared.

Councillor Chris Elmore, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Schools, said: “Our goal has always been to transform the way in which secondary education in Barry is delivered to ensure we are giving young people the best possible environment in which to learn. To do this we need to design a proposal based on the views and needs of those who will be at the heart of the new system.

“We sought the views of parents, pupils and staff so that we could refine our plans based on what we were told. We made clear that the responses that we received would be carefully considered before any decisions were taken on the next steps. This is exactly what we have done."

While the new proposals are being developed, the report also recommends a programme is drawn up for immediate improvements to be made at Barry Comprehensive School.