Pembrokeshire’s sixth form’s ‘failing’

COUNCILLORS still have concerns that Pembrokeshire’s sixth forms in schools will not survive and have made a call for answers from the Welsh Government about funding.

At full council on Thursday (Jul 18) a report of the ‘Memorandum of Understanding with Pembrokeshire College’ which had been discussed by scrutiny committee recently was presented.

It included figures for those taking A-Levels at the county’s schools with Cllr Mike Stoddart noting that they were below the prescribed level for viable courses in the MoU.

That states that 18 pupils are required, with a working number of 15 to be officially adopted, but some schools see nine to 10 pupils in a class.

Cllr Stoddart said that “as predicted at the time this MoU will be the death of sixth forms and unfortunately it’s true.

“The way things are going the die will be cast.”

Cllr Paul Rapi raised concerns about results at Pembrokeshire College saying he had received complaints from parents that previously high achieving GCSE students were seeing a “sharp fall” at AS level.

He asked that GCSE figures be included in the next MoU review, along with AS results, so they could be compared.

Cllr Rapi called on cabinet member Cllr Guy Woodham to get answers from Welsh Government about pressures on sixth form budgets.

“I’d like to know from Cardiff why they are squeezing the budget for our sixth forms in schools,” he said.