Carmarthenshire’s only council-run nursery school is to close, after county councillors approved a shake-up of early years education in Ammanford.
Full council agreed on Wednesday to discontinue Ammanford Nursery School and extend the age range at Ysgol Bro Banw and Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman from 4-11 to 3-11, allowing both schools to take children from age three.
The change ends something unique in the county: the nursery school was Carmarthenshire’s only setting offering full-time nursery education, and under the plans children will instead receive part-time provision at the two primary schools.
All children in Wales are entitled to a minimum of 10 hours of nursery education a week from the term after their third birthday — which is what the two schools will now provide.
Around 81 children aged three to five were on the nursery school’s roll when the closure was first proposed last summer.
The school was set up by the former Dyfed County Council, alongside nursery schools in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion — and its most recent Estyn inspection, published in January, did not place it in any follow-up category.
The nursery occupies a wing of the larger Ysgol Bro Banw building and sits less than a minute’s walk from Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman — a point the council has used to argue children will not have far to go.
Cllr Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education, said the decision would “modernise education provision in Ammanford, enabling pupils to attend Ysgol Bro Banw and Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman from three years of age”.
“This will allow Carmarthenshire County Council to deliver a more balanced education provision in Ammanford, in line with other schools across Carmarthenshire,” he said.
The plan has not been without concern. When the proposal went before a scrutiny committee last June, Cllr Betsan Jones — a governor of the nursery school who lives in the area — said it worried parents and staff, though she understood the council’s reasoning.
The committee heard the schools’ headteachers and governing bodies were supportive in the main, and Cllr Davies promised the consultation process would be “very thorough”.
The change is tied to the council’s decision in March 2024 to scrap its “Rising 4s” policy, under which children started school full-time at the start of the year they turned four. Since September, children instead start the term after their fourth birthday.
The council’s own consultation document acknowledged that change means children stay in nursery and childcare settings for a term longer than before — potentially increasing demand for early years places even as the county’s only dedicated nursery school closes.
The Ammanford changes are part of a wider reshaping of early years provision, with the council also having proposed extending the age range to 3-11 at four other primary schools — Ysgol Cwrt Henri, Ysgol Llanybydder, Ysgol Y Tymbl and Ysgol Y Ddwylan — as it grapples with declining pupil numbers across the county.
Discussing those plans last year, Cllr Davies admitted there was no guarantee parents would take up the new places, saying: “Sometimes you have to take a gamble and hope that it will prove its worth.”
The decision also lands while a bigger question about education in the town remains unanswered.
The council bought land in Ammanford for a new school back in 2023, with Welsh-medium provision described as a priority — but there has been no public update on when, or whether, it will be built, prompting Green Party councillor Rob James to demand answers earlier this year.
Ammanford Nursery School also runs a breakfast club each morning — the council says both Ysgol Bro Banw and Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman offer breakfast clubs and after-school provision.
When the plans went before councillors last year, implementation was planned for September 2026 — though Wednesday’s announcement did not confirm the date the nursery school will close its doors.
