DISGRUNTLED parents, pupils, teachers and residents in Builth Wells have condemned a council proposal to remove English medium education from its high school's sixth form.

As part of its reorganisation of secondary school education in Mid Wales, Powys County Council (PCC) has proposed to strip all post-16 English provision at Builth High School (BHS) in favour of transforming its sixth form into one of two exclusive Welsh medium sixth form schools in Powys - the other being Caereinion High School in Montgomeryshire.

Over 100 people gathered at the school on Wednesday evening, November 16, to voice their concerns at the proposals, which are due to be rubber-stamped at the county council's cabinet meeting in Llandrindod Wells next Tuesday, November 22.

Since establishing Welsh medium education in Builth 20 years ago, BHS headteacher Shan Davies said 'something special' had been set up in the area and claimed PCC proposals will 'secure' the future of the school, although she did say the school had been treated unfairly as it had not been consulted on keeping English medium education on campus.

Radical proposals had been expected from PCC for all of Powys' 13 high schools but a meeting earlier this month declared that none of the them would be closed.

Many at Wednesday's meeting were baffled as to why Builth was being treated differently to other schools.

As part of it's proposals, Builth is set to become part of a new family set-up with Llandrindod Wells High School and John Beddoes School near Presteigne, although it is unclear as yet as to whether the establishment of a new commissioning body will mean that English medium education will be available to pupils in the BHS catchment area at these two schools or whether they would be forced to travel to any of the other 10 high schools in Powys.

For more on this story, buy next week's B&R, which will also feature the cabinet's decision on BHS.