A packed Clarence Hall erupted into applause time and again on Monday evening as local people gathered in defiance of Powys County Council’s proposal to close the sixth form at Crickhowell High School.

Chairs were full, a petition was at the door, and a sense of urgency hung thick in the air.

At the centre of the storm is Option 3 of the council’s post-16 education review, which would see all English-medium sixth forms in the county shut and replaced with two centralised post-16 centres – one in Newtown and the other in Brecon. Crickhowell Town Council, which hosted the meeting, has branded the plan “devastating” and is now calling on the community to help remove the option from consideration before the autumn.

“We believe closing Crickhowell High School’s sixth form would be a big mistake – for the school and for the whole community,” said Cllr Paul Evans, Mayor of Crickhowell.

“We’re here to defend the best-performing school in the area. We are the collateral damage of this.”

He stressed the importance of acting now, during what Powys County Council calls a "first stage engagement" process, ahead of engagement with the community later this year.

“We want our communities to be aware and have a voice,” he said. “The purpose of this campaign is to ensure Option 3 doesn’t even make it to the table in the autumn.”

Speakers from across generations - teachers, pupils, parents, business owners and alumni - shared deeply personal stories of what the sixth form means to them.

Cllr Ann Jeremiah outlined the history of Crickhowell High School and the campaign to bring secondary education back to Crickhowell in the 1980s.

She said she believes the closure of the sixth form could eventually lead to the closure of the school.

“Our school is not just for education, but a hub for community life,” she said. “We cannot let this happen. Our children deserve their future here.”

Clare Jones, Crickhowell High School’s headteacher, has led the school for the past four years. She painted a picture of a thriving sixth form that bucks the county trend.

“We’re the anomaly,” she said. “While Powys has a post-16 retention rate of around 36 per cent, Crickhowell’s is 85 per cent. “We’ve grown — this year we have 252 students in Years 12 and 13, with 292 projected next year.”

In recent years, the school has ranked among the top-performing sixth forms in the UK: top 5 per cent in 2022, top 20 per cent in 2023, and top 10 per cent in 2024. “This is about UK benchmarking and quality," she said.

The sixth form offers 31 courses in Year 12 and 32 in Year 13.

“We’ve got a model that is working well," said Ms Jones.

And the sixth form brings money to the town. “One local business recently told me they estimate £100,000 in revenue from sixth form students coming in at lunchtime,” she said, to the amusement of the room.

Gwennan Jeremiah, a former pupil of Crickhowell and now a secondary headteacher in Gloucestershire, delivered an impassioned address.

"I can be quite frank about what the potential closure of the sixth form means for the school," she said.

She spoke passionately about how sixth formers help set the tone and aspirations for the entire school, and emphasised the value of continuity - where teachers know their pupils as they progress from GCSEs to A-levels, rather than risking students becoming "anonymous" in a college setting.

She also raised serious concerns about staff retention, warning that closing the sixth form would inevitably lead to the loss of key teachers - and make it far harder to attract staff in the future.

For head student Will Jones, the sixth form is a place where potential is nurtured. “It’s not a sixth form and a secondary school – it’s one big community,” he said.

A Year 11 transfer from Blackwood, he spoke of the support he’s received applying to Cambridge University, of clubs and mentoring schemes that connect younger pupils with sixth formers, and of the sense of belonging that has shaped him.

“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” he said. “And we know Crickhowell sixth form is not broken.”

Frank Ady, owner of Treebeards Bar, said the proposed closure would affect more than education.

"We would hate to lose that lovely vibe in the high street when the pupils come out - they're great people," he said.

As well as students spending money in the town, Mr Ady also explained how many businesses in Crickhowell employ sixth formers on a part-time basis and warned that closing the sixth form could change this.

Cllr Huw Morgans, a teacher and active community member, warned of the wider social cost.

“Every community group in Crickhowell is trying to attract younger members,” he said. "The lifeblood of all the groups are the younger members. If the sixth form goes, those groups suffer. Who are the next doers?”

He added: “I fully support reforms to post-16 education… but when you have an institution that does exactly what you want, you don’t close that institution down."

As the meeting drew to a close, Cllr Evans summed up the mood: “We know we’re biased. But we hope what you’ve heard tonight will encourage you to help save Crickhowell’s sixth form. There is everything to fight for.”

Powys County Council has said the current system of maintaining sixth forms at every school is no longer financially sustainable, citing falling learner numbers, reduced subject choice, staffing challenges, and the need to meet national expectations for improved standards and equity. The council also points to rising transport costs and difficulties in delivering a broad, balanced curriculum across small sixth forms.

But for those in Clarence Hall on Monday night, none of that justifies dismantling a model that - in Crickhowell - appears to be thriving.