THE head teacher of a Cwmbran secondary school has spoken about the issues it faces amidst cuts and the impending move to a new-build school.

Croesyceiliog School will move into a new £30 million home in September 2019 but Torfaen councillors have raised concerns about school standards in the interim.

An Estyn report released in January found that the school was “adequate and in need of improvement” in its standards, learning, teaching, care and support and leadership.

But head teacher David Taylor told the school standards monitoring sub-committee that cuts of £800,000 over the last three years has posed “significant challenges”.

“Trying to raise standards, which we must do, against the backdrop of having to make significant cuts is particularly challenging,” he added.

The school, along with Cwmbran High and St Alban’s RC High, will lose its sixth forms if the proposed £20 million sixth form centre in Cwmbran is approved.

But with the opening date put back until 2020, Croesyceiliog could be forced to put sixth formers in one of its older school buildings as there would be no room in the new school.

Mr Taylor said the school will lose funding without the sixth form and is expecting a “very significant loss”.

He added: “This will see a large reduction in our teaching staff we believe to be 15 or 17 teachers.”

Cllr Glyn Caron was concerned the council was “throwing an awful lot on the head in the long and short term.”

Cllr Caron and Cllr Colette Thomas discussed pupil discipline issues, with the 48 persistent absentees reported in 2016/17 being the second highest across Torfaen secondary schools.

In 2016/17 the number of fixed-term exclusions sat at 93, more than double the 42 recorded in the previous year.

Mr Taylor attributed attendance issues with the school losing a well-established education welfare officer.

The head also noted that there had been an increase in children with anxiety and mental health issues but the school had insufficient staffing to deal with it.

The committee has recommended to council the need to support the three new schools during the sixth form transition, while raising concerns about Croeyceiliog’s financial situation.