ISLWYN’S AM Rhianon Passmore has praised work on the £24million Islwyn High school project after taking a tour with prospective students.

Joining pupils from the existing Oakdale and Pontllanfraith Comprehensive schools – who will use the facilities next year – the AM called for the school to commemorate the site’s mining heritage.

Built on the former Oakdale Colliery site, Islwyn High is scheduled to be finished next year and forms part of the Welsh Government's 21st Century Schools programme.

It will initially accommodate 1180 pupils, transferring from both schools, but will also partner with schools including Bryn, Cwmfelinfach, Penllwyn, Pontllanfraith, Rhiw Syr Dafydd, Trinant and Ynysddu.

Following the visit, Ms Passmore stated she was “struck by the desire of the children to ensure that their community’s heritage was not forgotten”.

“A school, however impressive, is always more than its bricks and mortar. A school is the soul of any community,” she said.

“For too long our children have been educated in poor and decaying school buildings. The Welsh Labour Government has committed itself to ensuring that the great Welsh tradition of valuing education as the greatest gift we can give our children is realised.”

Ms Passmore, a former teacher and lecturer, helped to green light the project as the former education cabinet member for Caerphilly County Borough Council.

She added: “I know that contractors Willmott Dixon were receptive to the children’s idea of incorporating into the physical fabric of the new school environment the fact that the school sits on the site of the former Oakdale Colliery.

“Our schools should be cathedrals of learning. Uplifting both in terms of the physical environment as well as the quality of the teaching and learning that takes place within them.”