A MONMOUTHSHIRE mum has slammed her county council after her children were given just a day’s notice about them being educated at a different primary school.

Nicola Daley’s two children, aged six and eight, attend Llanfair Kilgeddin Church in Wales Primary School but from the start of next term they will be educated at Usk Primary School, nearly five miles away.

Monmouthshire council has put the plan in place for the school’s 29 pupils after a turbulent year.

Its former headteacher resigned for personal reasons a day before the start of the new school year in September and a partnership agreement with three of the county's primary schools collapsed in March.

But Mrs Daley, who lives in Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern, said she felt the council was looking to wind the school down.

She said the school had “disintegrated” since September and that parents were given only one week’s notice its partnership arrangement had ended and the day’s notice that the children would be sent to Usk.

She added: “I am very concerned that it is closure by the back door and I would love the authority to say that was not the case.

“If I had wanted to send my children to Usk that is where I would have sent them.

“There are advantages in large schools and small schools and they’re different. But I am now in the process of preparing my children to go to a different school.

“They are expected to go into classrooms with children they’ve never met [at the start of next term]. I am sure the children will be fine eventually but it will be intimidating.”

The school’s chairman of governors, Will McLean, said of the arrangements put in place in September: “We were in a difficult position and we put in place arrangements. Unfortunately they have come to an end.”

Mr McLean said governors will meet on April 16 to work out what will happen next.

In January, the school was graded red by the Welsh Government, its lowest category. As part of that, it was found to be experiencing a decline in key aspects of their performance and would receive intensive support.

The council’s chief officer for children and young people, Sarah McGuinness, said: “The local authority has been informed by the governing body of Llanfair Kilgeddin VA Primary School that it has agreed pupils and staff will be relocated to the Usk VC Primary School building from April 13, 2015, under the executive headship of Victoria Evans. This arrangement will be in place until the end of the academic year.

“The local authority is keen to emphasise that the school has not closed and this is simply two schools sharing a building and facilities with the support and direction of an executive headteacher.

“The local authority will be arranging home to school transport for those pupils who require it.”