Mountain Ash sixth form could close with students moved to Aberdare

The sixth form at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School could be closed with students moving to Aberdare under new proposals. If cabinet agrees on Wednesday, November 20, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council will consult on plans to close the sixth form at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School and place the school in the catchment of Aberdare Community School.

Under the plans, the sixth form at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School would close by no later than September, 2026, and to allow this, no new year 12 sixth form pupils would be admitted in September, 2025. Those pupils currently in the sixth form would continue their studies at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School under the existing arrangements.

The proposals come following discussions between the council and the school and concerns about the viability and sustainability of the sixth form provision at the school with a request for the council to carry out a review. The report said the delivery of post-16 education was currently inefficient, the curriculum choice for many learners was restricted and class sizes were too small. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter

It said that this led to valuable education funds being directed at additional staff costs and infrastructure within the school when they would be better directed at the students and their experience. Sixth form pupil numbers at Mountain Ash Comprehensive have been steadily decreasing from more than 140 in the 2015/2016 academic year to just 84 in September, 2023, with the latest figures for October, 2024, showing a further decrease to just 72 students.

Of these 72, only 18 (25%) receive all of their education at Mountain Ash Comprehensive with the remaining 54 (75%) travelling to Aberdare Community School or St John Baptist Church in Wales High School for some of their lessons. The report adds that the current offer in Mountain Ash is likely to be a barrier to engagement, having a negative effect on transition rates from Year 11 to Year 12 with only 16% of Year 11 pupils in 2023/24 choosing to return to the school for sixth form compared to 60% in 2014/2015. To get all the latest daily Wales Online news straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Aberdare Community School is a 11-19 school that opened in 2014 – graded ‘A’ for suitability and condition (on a scale where ‘A’ is the highest and ‘D’ is the lowest). It has had major 21^st Century Schools funding from Welsh Government and has 124 sixth form pupils which is projected to rise to 133 by 2028/2029.

The report says that it has sufficient capacity to accept Mountain Ash’s sixth form pupils. Under the proposals, the post-16 pupils would continue with Aberdare Community School and St John Baptist Church in Wales High School or they could also choose to attend Coleg y Cymoedd.

Around 75% of sixth form students in Mountain Ash already access part of their education at other schools in the Cynon Valley. Currently, Mountain Ash Comprehensive School needs an additional £125,000 over and above the post-16 allocation to operate the sixth form – which the council said was not sustainable in the longer term despite the school’s extensive efforts to work in partnership with other schools in the Cynon Valley.

The report said: “Essentially, funding provided to educate 11 to 16 year-old pupils is being redirected at sixth form learners, to subsidise the funding shortfall that results from small class sizes. It is acknowledged that the school has worked in close partnership with neighbouring schools in the Cynon Valley to extend the curriculum offer. However, despite everyone’s best efforts, this does result in a fragmented post-16 offer which in many cases is delivered across three educational settings. This results in lost study time and significant transport costs and travel times.”

The report said it was likely that all post-16 students living in Mountain Ash Comprehensive’s catchment area would be entitled to free transport to Aberdare Community School. The cabinet report said there would be no capital funding implications and any revenue implications resulting from the closure of the sixth form at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School, including the school’s delegated budget and any potential increases in home to school transport costs, would be identified as the proposal was developed

The report said that financial projections showed that progressing with the proposal would have a positive impact on the budgetary position of Mountain Ash Comprehensive School and Aberdare Community School.