A HUGE effort to save a beloved Pembrokeshire village school looks to have paid off.

Parents, residents and community leaders in Solva have waged a huge campaign to save the school since Pembrokeshire County Council proposals to shake-up education in the area threatened its future.

Ribbons were tied around the village, banners created and even a video filmed with local people explaining how important the school is to local life.

But plans to go before an extraordinary meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council next week (Thursday November 26) look to have offered a reprieve.

The recommendation to councillors is to press ahead with a plan to discontinue Solva along with Ysgol Dewi Sant and Ysgol Bro Dewi to create a new 3-16 Church in Wales Voluntary Aided school.

But - unlike the previous proposal which said it was likely to declare the Solva site surplus to requirement – the latest plan is to utilise all three sites as bases for the new 3-16 school, meaning education would continue in the village.

The findings of the statutory consultation into the review of secondary education provision in the (Fishguard and St Davids area) will be presented in a report by the Director for Children and Schools, Kate Evan-Hughes.

The decision to retain primary provision at the Solva CP School site, albeit a part of a 3-16 school, would ‘mitigate some of the concerns raised in the consultation regarding Solva CP School’, says the report.

The proposals also include providing post 16 provision for the above schools in a new sixth form centre as part of a formal collaboration between the County Council and Pembrokeshire College.

The Councillors will be recommended that the Director for Children and Schools be authorised to publish a Statutory Notice on the proposals.

The proposals in full are:

a) * Designate Ysgol Bro Gwaun as a 11-16 school and to provide additional ALN provision for pupils with complex learning needs

* Discontinue Ysgol Dewi Sant, Ysgol Bro Dewi VA, and Solva CP School and establish a new 3-16 Church in Wales Voluntary Aided School utilising each of the existing school sites

* Provide post 16 provision for the above schools in a new sixth form centre as part of a formal collaboration between the County Council and Pembrokeshire College b) that the school catchment area changes proposed be included as part of the Authority’s school admission arrangements for 2017/18.

The Extraordinary meeting will also discuss the review of secondary education in the Haverfordwest area.

The meeting will be held at County Hall on Thursday, 26th November at 10am and will be webcast live on Pembrokeshire County Council’s website: www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk