Set to provide 21st century modern learning facilities for over 300 pupils, including Additional Learning Needs provision, the school will replace Bryngwyn Road and Queen Street campuses and be a part of the Abertillery Learning Community which opened in September 2016. The £7 million build is being supported by funding from the Council and the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools Programme. The first works on site will be exploratory work comprising further site investigations - with the main works commencing after this work is complete. Full planning permission for the school has been granted and the appointed pre-construction phase contractor, Morgan Sindall, has been working with the Council on a design for the building which will be in keeping with the environment of the local area. A contractor for the main construction phase of the work will be appointed before Christmas. The Council’s Education Transformation team have worked with members of the local community to looks at views that were raised by local people, including access to the Guardian memorial and parking and highway issues. This resulted in several aspects of the original planning application being amended. The Council’s Executive Member for Education, Cllr Clive Meredith says:
“The former colliery site in Six Bells has been earmarked for educational use since the 1990’s, so it is good to see this project continuing, at this developmental stage. We have acknowledged previously that progress on the build has been a little slower than first indicated but this is not unusual with projects of this size and complexity, and our promise to deliver the school has remained.
“It’s wonderful to think that when the school is ready, pupils will transfer from their outdated Victorian schools and move into a brand new modern educational facility that they thoroughly deserve. Raising the aspirations and achievements of all our learners remains a top priority for the Council and being able to provide our children and young people with state-of-the-art environments in which to thrive and learn is an important part of this.
“The new Six Bells Primary build will join the ever growing number of success stories under the 21st Century Schools banner which is being supported by the Welsh Government and aims to modernise the school estate to continue to fulfil our commitment to improving school standards and education performance.”
The Abertillery Learning Community opened in September 2016 and saw five schools in the Abertillery come together as one 3 - 16 learning community, but retaining existing sites. The schools that came together are: Abertillery Comprehensive (now secondary campus); Abertillery Primary (now Tillery St Campus); Bryngwyn Primary (now Bryngwyn Rd Campus); Queen Street Primary (now Queen St Campus) and Roseheyworth Millennium School (now Roseheyworth Rd Campus).