Monmouthshire County Council has confirmed that fire fighters are at the scene and a full assessment will be made in the morning.

For further details, please follow Monmouthshire County Council on Twitter.

Update: 5th November 2010

• Monmouthshire County Council has released a statement on the fire.
• South Wales Argus has reported on the blaze.
• A Govilon Resident recorded this footage during the height of the fire.

Parents have been upset by this botched process; some have moved their children because they are afraid that MCC has got their sums wrong & they may not be able to get their children into nearby schools. We all understand the concern of parents but Please Don’t Panic. Inspection Reports say that Govilon is a very good school and we know the case for keeping it open is good.  Nothing can possibly happen to Govilon School until (at the very earliest) the Winter of 2010/11.

DON’T PANIC THE FINAL DECISION WILL BE MADE BY THE MINISTER IN THE WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT AND NOT MCC AND WE HAVE A VERY GOOD CASE

1 May 2009

Dear Parents/Resident of Govilon

We have just discovered that we are one of three schools in the Abergavenny Area which are under threat of closure.  There is a Cabinet meeting during the afternoon of Wednesday 6th May at which the proposal to close Govilon Primary will be considered and it will be decided if the proposal should be taken forward into the formal consideration process.

We are writing to you because we know that as a parent or resident you will be concerned about the future of the school and how its closure would affect the village community.  We may have a lengthy period of consultation to go through, during which your support will be much needed and appreciated.  Today, we are perhaps at the most crucial stage, in that we need to make Cabinet members aware of the strength of your support in our community.

What we would like is for you to write to as many of the seven Cabinet members as possible, as soon as possible. Ideally, these letters need to be with them by Tuesday, which means posting first class on Saturday with the bank holiday (we have attached one stamped envelope to assist you).

Points you may like to put in your letter are:

• Children will no longer be able to walk to school. Their nearest school would be Llanfoist or Gilwern, and recent road development has made this an unsafe route to walk, as well as being too far.
• The impact on village life. The school is well integrated in the village and we have a mutually supportive relationship.
• Estyn inspection says, “Govilon Primary School is a good school with many outstanding features.”
• The timetable for consultation is unfair – consultation with parents would take place just as the Summer holidays start.
• This school is not too small to be viable.
• Any money saved in closing the school would be marginal when offset by the cost of redundancies. Also, the recession impacts on the amount of income received from the sale of land – the land would be used for housing.

The people to contact are:

• Councillor P A Fox
• Councillor R J W Greenland
• Councillor E J Hacket Pain
• Councillor B R Hood
• Councillor S B Jones
• Councillor P Murphy
• Councillor E Saxon

Yours sincerely

Verona Nelmes
Chair of Governors 01873 855974

I mentioned this in the last Newsletter and it has now started. As you know the child population has reduced over the years and there is a view that some schools may become too small to be educationally viable. All the Primary Schools in the Bryn y Cwm area (including ours) are now under review to consider what if anything needs to be done about large numbers of vacant places and educational viability.

Schools need to be of a size which is sufficient to deliver the whole curriculum properly. At the same time we must be mindful of a child’s social needs. Travel time to and from school for young children must not be too long; a child needs to be able to socialise with school friends after school; parents need to be able to easily maintain contact with school and participate in school based activities; and teachers need to have knowledge of the community the child comes from.

We also need to be mindful of traffic congestion and pollution if we have too few schools and too many people travelling; I have asked for a cost/benefit analysis of the environmental aspect of transporting increasing numbers of children to school and have been assured that this will be investigated as part of the Review.

It is also important that children feel a part of their own community as so much of their social development takes place outside school. The view of the Council is that these reviews should be carried out initially on a confidential basis until the Council has decided what options should be consulted upon. My concern about this approach is that it prevents me and other Councillors from sharing information openly. I believe that confidentiality can go too far and I have challenged the approach on the basis that it is widely known that a review is taking place and why. If my view is upheld I can share more detailed information with you about the process. In any event I will keep our school Governors and Staff well informed and there will at a later stage be public consultation by the Council.

Affordable Housing:

There is a County Council Task & Finish Group on this which is looking at getting more “affordable housing” into the County. If you look at the Brecon Beacons National Park Development Plans which affect us (see www.breconbeacons.org.uk) you can see what possibilities there might be in our area

Waste Disposal:

MCC is part of a consortium with other Councils which is looking at options for disposing of rubbish which is not recyclable and will not in future be able to go to landfill. I have asked several questions of the Cabinet member responsible and have taken expert advice. My concern at the moment is that the process is leading to a large incinerator in the Cardiff area although I have been assured that other technologies will be looked at. I would appreciate comments from anyone with knowledge and expertise on this subject

Safeguarding Children:

As a former Director of Social services this issue is close to my heart and I have asked several questions in Council about the safety of our own services following the “Baby P” case. I am also leading a Select Committee review on the effectiveness of safeguarding children and young people in Monmouthshire.

County Council Budget:

The difficult process of setting the budget and the Council Tax has now started and I will keep you informed as it progresses.

Many Congratulations to Rob Lewis the Head and all the staff and Governors who were involved.

The Monmouthshire Children and Young People’s Partnership involves all local authority services such as education, social services, youth and community services, leisure, sport, road safety and anything which involves or affects children and young people. This Partnership has recently produced a Children and Young People’s Plan which was agreed by the County Council in July. This sets out what the County Council intends to achieve for children and young people between 2008 and 2011 and, most importantly, who is responsible for making things happen!

If you want to see the plan it is available on the County Council website www.monmouthshire.gov.uk and in Libraries. Also I have a copy and a copy will be available to see in the One Stop Shop.

This is one of 7 Plans or Strategies which the Council must produce in partnership with other major organisations Like the Health & Police services and the Voluntary Sector. It should give a clear direction to the development of all services. Most importantly the Council must work closely with other services to try and make sure that the services work together. We know this doesn’t always happen so please let me know about any problems or gaps in services or where you think there could be better working together.

The 7 County Council Plans or Strategies are:

Health Social Care & Well Being Strategy
Environment Strategy
Local Development Plan
Community Safety Strategy
Older People’s Strategy
Community Strategy
Children and Young People’s Plan

As well as the various plans and strategies there is also a Local Safeguarding Children Board which monitors local services to ensure that they take proper account of the need to safeguard children and young people as far as reasonably possible.

Review of Primary School Places:

I am very pleased to have been appointed to the Govilon School Governors. This is going to be an important time for our school because as some of you know there are too many primary school places in the North of the County. In the Autumn the County Council will be reviewing the need for primary school places and it seems certain that some smaller schools may close because it will not be economical to keep them all open.

I will be working hard together with staff, parents and other community supporters to argue the case effectively for a school in our community and I am very hopeful that we have a strong case for the continuation of our excellent school. We will keep you informed of progress.