Bridgend Council’s Cabinet is set to authorise preparatory work for a replacement Ysgol Bro Ogwr near Brackla, with responses to a statutory notice being discussed this week (pdf).
No objections were received, though there was a comment about transport arrangements.
The new 2.5-form-entry Welsh-medium primary school will be built a few hundred metres from the existing Ysgol Bro Ogwr on land at Ffordd Cadfan near Brackla Industrial Estate (pictured above). The new school will also have a 90-place nursery and an 8-place observation unit.
A budget of £12.6million was originally allocated for the new school. Due to inflation and Brexit, the final cost is expected to be higher. An exact figure isn’t given in the report as this will require further work.
The new school is expected to open in September 2025.
New Ysgol Bro Ogwr will host a Welsh-medium childcare facility for Bridgend town (pdf)
In a separate report (linked above), Bridgend Council has selected the new Ysgol Bro Ogwr school to host a Welsh-medium childcare facility to serve Bridgend town itself.
The facility would be one of four being provided around the county and will be funded by the Welsh Government.
If – for whatever reason – the new Ysgol Bro Ogwr doesn’t go ahead, the childcare facility would be provided in a separate building at the current Bro Ogwr school at Meadow Rise in Brackla.
The report states that 18 other locations in and around Bridgend town centre were considered and discounted for different reasons.
These rejected sites include land at the former YMCA building on Angel Street, Penybont Primary School, the former post office on Court Road, Bridgend College, Bridgend Life Centre/The Rec, land at the former Pendre Hall and the current Ashfield Surgery site on Merthyr Mawr Road.
In a report on childcare gaps – also due to be discussed by the Cabinet this week (pdf) – a survey of parents in Bridgend (note – with a small sample size) revealed around 30% would either definitely or would consider sending their children to Welsh-medium childcare. 66% said they wouldn’t and 4% didn’t know.
