Ysgol St Baruc: Plans to move school to Barry Waterfront

Ysgol St Baruc is outgrowing its Victorian premises, the council says

A Welsh-medium primary school could double in size under plans to move to a new £7.4m waterfront building.

Ysgol St Baruc in Barry has no room to expand at its current site, Vale of Glamorgan council leaders said.

Under the relocation plan, the school's capacity would double from 210 to 420 pupils, with 96 nursery places.

Council leader John Thomas said Welsh-medium education was increasing in popularity and the authority had to respond.

The current Ysgol St Baruc operates from a Victorian building and a two-classroom block built in the 1980s.

The plans would see it move to a new building at Barry Waterfront.

The council said there was no room for expansion at the current site, where the classrooms were too small for the number of pupils, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It also has no catering facilities, so youngsters have their meals next door at High Street Primary School.

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Mr Thomas said: "A new Welsh-medium primary school on the waterfront will remove the need for many pupils and parents to travel across the town to school each day.

"Alongside a remodelling of school catchment areas elsewhere in Barry this will lead to an increase in spaces at other schools."

The new school building is dependent on funding from Welsh Government and approval of a business case.

Council leaders have been in dispute with developers at the Waterfront over delays in building shops, cafes and restaurants which were supposed to be ready before the new housing was occupied.