Ysgol Meidrim will close for good on 31 December after Carmarthenshire councillors voted it through on Wednesday.
Its pupils will move to Ysgol Hafodwenog or Ysgol Griffith Jones from 1 January 2027, depending on parents’ choices and admissions rules, Carmarthenshire County Council says.
The school was down to 24 pupils this term, after six children left for other schools in September.
Hafodwenog, Griffith Jones or Bancyfelin: where Meidrim children go from January
Children starting school after the closure will fall into the catchments of Hafodwenog, Griffith Jones or Ysgol Bancyfelin, which will split Meidrim’s catchment between them, the council says.
Which catchment a child is in will matter more from September 2027, under council plans to pay for free school buses to catchment schools only.
Griffith Jones in St Clears faces changes of its own. The council is consulting on making it Welsh-medium, and responses close on Tuesday.
“Incredibly difficult”: why the council says Meidrim had to close
The council says the school was picked out under its modernisation programme, adopted by cabinet in November 2024, for very low pupil numbers, lots of empty places and catchment children choosing other schools.
It also says numbers show no sign of recovering, and that the school is forecast to be in deficit by the end of this financial year.
Education cabinet member Cllr Glynog Davies said: “The decision taken by Full Council has been an incredibly difficult one, however the long term challenges facing Ysgol Meidrim could not be ignored.”
He said those challenges included “very low pupil numbers, substantial surplus capacity and the resulting financial pressures, with no evidence from the projections of sufficient growth to reverse that position”.
Cllr Davies left last week’s cabinet meeting for the Meidrim item on legal advice, having spoken for the council at the judicial review earlier this year.
“Closure is irreversible”: the fight to save Ysgol Meidrim
When the council issued closure notices for Meidrim and Llangyndeyrn in June, they drew 151 objections and nine responses in favour at Meidrim.
Its governors asked for time to prove a rescue plan could work, pointing out the school had come out of Estyn special measures in December 2025. Their case to councillors: “Closure is irreversible. Collaboration is not.”
Local councillor Jean Lewis told cabinet last week: “Once a school like this is closed, there’s no turning back the clock.”
Cymdeithas yr Iaith says the real saving is about £13,000 a year once extra transport is paid for, and warned that if Meidrim closed, “20 other Welsh-medium rural schools in Carmarthenshire are immediately under threat”.
Ysgol Y Fro in Llangyndeyrn closes too, with no pupils left
Full council also voted to close Ysgol Y Fro in Llangyndeyrn on the same date. Its pupils would have moved to Ysgol y Dderwen, but no children are currently registered there, the council says.
Its catchment will be shared out between Llangunnor, Llanddarog, Ferryside, Gwynfryn, Ysgol Gymraeg Gwenllian, Ysgol y Castell and Mynyddygarreg, whose own school was spared closure in 2021 after a campaign by the village.
Cllr Davies said: “We recognise the impact that this decision will have on the community, however the challenges faced by Ysgol Y Fro are considerable.”
He blamed low pupil numbers and empty places that showed “little likelihood of recovery due to a falling birth rate”, along with “an unsustainable financial situation”.
Three of the four schools on last year’s list are now closing
Meidrim and Y Fro were two of four rural primaries put under review in October 2025, when Meidrim had 31 pupils and Y Fro 15.
The third, Llansteffan, closed in August after a vote in March, and the Wales Greens counted it as the seventh Carmarthenshire school to shut since 2002. Pontiets, the fourth, was held back.
It is back on the list. Pontiets is one of four more village schools now facing closure at the end of 2027, with Carway, Bancffosfelen and Blaenau, and the council’s cabinet decides on 2 November whether to consult on them.
Discover more from Swansea Bay News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
