Neath Port Talbot Council has agreed to move forward with plans to open the borough's first ever Welsh medium primary starter school at Neath Abbey this year. The new starter school would be based on the site that was previously home to Abbey Primary School, and could welcome its first pupils as soon as next January if fully approved.
A starter school model is used when establishing a new school, gradually allowing the facilities and staff to be used efficiently while the school grows to its full potential. Council bosses heard how there were a number of benefits to the starter school model, including the ability to effectively manage class sizes and the school budget, as well as reducing the mass movement of pupils from other schools. Disadvantages, however, focused on the fact it could take a number of years to deliver growth.
If given the go-ahead, the school would provide places for up to 210 full-time primary age pupils and 45 part-time nursery age pupils by September 2029. The school would not be fully occupied on opening but would instead grow year on year, with full occupancy not expected until that date. In the meantime it is understood that work would be needed to refurbish and modernise the building to make it suitable for childcare and younger primary aged children.
