PUPILS from Pontnewynydd Primary School have handed a DVD to Torfaen cabinet members to explain why their school should remain open.

The move follows a previous trip that pupils made to the Civic Centre in Pontypool to hand in letters to the councillors showing their feelings towards the proposed school closure.

Pupils and parents also took part in a silent protest outside the building in September.

But having not had a reply to their letters from the council, the pupils decided to create a DVD to hand into cabinet members.

The DVD gives an insight into the school showing pupils enjoying lessons, using iPad computers to complete work and using their in-house TV studio.

It also includes comments from former pupils praising the school, which includes singer Demi Holborn.

A public consultation on the closure will run until December 16 with people invited to attend a public meeting at the school on December 3, from 9.30am-11.30am.

Officers from the council will be at the meeting to answer any questions and ensure that all comments will be recorded and included in the consultation process.

The proposals form part of Torfaen’s 21st Century Schools programme which aims to tackle the issues of ageing buildings and surplus places across the borough by creating schools that are of the right type and size in the right place.

The school building is now more than 100 years old and has been identified in an independent survey commissioned by the Welsh Government as a category C/D condition school, with A being good.

Approximately £746,000 is needed in terms of backlog maintenance, but the proposed closure will release revenue estimated to be £162,000 per annum.

The proposal sets out that child will be accommodated at Penygarn School, with the closure taking effect from September, 2015.

Further details and a copy of the Pontnewynydd Primary School Consultation Document are available by visiting https://mysay.torfaen.gov.uk