Students 'voting with their feet' as council considers Mountain Ash Comprehensive sixth form closure

Students already seem to be voting with their feet as the council considers closing a sixth form in the Cynon Valley, a councillor has said. Councillor Jayne Brencher was speaking at a council committee about Rhondda Cynon Taf Council (RCT) proposals to close the sixth form at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School with students set to transfer to Aberdare Community School.

At a meeting of the council’s education committee on Tuesday, December 10 she said it seems as though young people are “already voting with their feet” with a dramatic drop in the number of students there. Following discussions with Mountain Ash Comprehensive School, the council agreed to review the school’s sixth form offer. Concerns were raised by the school about the viability of the sixth form due to an ongoing decline in sixth-form learners, restricted subject offer, and reliance upon other schools in the Cynon Valley to deliver some of the sixth form subjects.

The council says that around 75% of sixth form learners in Mountain Ash already access part of their education at other schools in the Cynon Valley, and that the proposal would address the sixth form’s unsustainable size and its limited subject choices. The council review has found the current sixth form offer in Mountain Ash restricts the subject choice for learners and class sizes are too small to be financially viable. To get all the latest daily Wales Online news straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

It also found that the school is having to redirect valuable resources intended for learners in years 7-11 to support a shrinking sixth form. Currently, the school needs an extra £125,000 over and above the post-16 allocation to operate the sixth form – which the council said is not sustainable in the longer term despite the school’s extensive efforts to work in partnership with other schools in the Cynon Valley, the council says.

If the proposals go ahead, no current sixth form students would be affected and the change would start from September 2026. In September 2025, no new Year 12 pupils would be admitted to Mountain Ash Comprehensive while Mountain Ash pupils due to enter year 13 would continue their studies at the school. Ater this, the sixth form at Mountain Ash will be closed.

Students who live three miles or further from their school or college qualify for home-to-school transport and the council said it is likely that all post-16 students living in Mountain Ash Comprehensive’s catchment area would be entitled to free transport to Aberdare Community School. Cllr Brencher asked if there was capacity at Coleg y Cymoedd and if pupils could visit there so they have a genuine choice. In regards to Mountain Ash, the councillor added that young people seem to be making this decision themselves.

Councillor Cathy Lisles asked for destination figures adding: “I am concerned about the sustainability moving forward and I want to be reassured that we think that by making these changes, sixth form education within the area is going to be sustainable across two schools working in conjunction rather than three.” She also said there is going to be a saving on school staffing costs but that there is going to be an increase in home to school transport costs which is not insignificant.

Cllr Lisles said she’d like to be reassured that there is enough parking for staff that may transfer to Aberdare and that there is adequate space for home to school transport to drop off young people. She also said she wanted to be reassured that there would be enough canteen space, teaching space and common room type spaces.

Councillor Sera Evans expressed concerns about declining numbers generally in sixth forms in RCT, adding it seems to be declining at a non commensurate rate to the declining birth rate. A report which went before cabinet in November shows that sixth form pupil numbers at Mountain Ash Comprehensive have decreased by 6.8% from 88 in 2019/2020 to 82 in 2023/2024.

Latest figures for October 2024 have shown a further decrease to just 72 learners. Of these 72 learners, only 18 (25%) receive all of their education at Mountain Ash Comprehensive. The remaining 54 learners (75%) travel to Aberdare Community School or St John Baptist Church in Wales High School for some of their lessons.

The report added 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. It said that only 16% of Year 11 pupils in 2023/24 chose to return to the school for sixth form. The equivalent figure in 2014/15 was 60%.

Aberdare Community School is a 11-19 school which opened in 2014 and is graded ‘A’ for suitability and condition (on a scale where ‘A’ is the highest and ‘D’ is the lowest). It has had major 21st Century Schools funding from Welsh Government and has 124 sixth form pupils which is projected to rise to 133 by 2028/29, according to the report.

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