Amendments to Blaenau Gwent’s school admissions policy have been given the green light by senior councillors. During Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Labour cabinet session on Monday, April 13, members considered a document following a consultation on the proposed school admission arrangements for 2027/2028, which ran for a fortnight in February. This came after an earlier consultation held from December 12 to January 5, which sought opinions on defining attendance zones for Brynmawr Foundation secondary school and Ysgol Gymraeg Tredegar, the county’s new Welsh-language primary school. Education lead Councillor Sue Edmunds (Labour – Ebbw Vale South) explained that the report’s aim was to present the results of the yearly consultation process in accordance with the updated draft admission arrangements for nursery and secondary education for 2027/2028 prior to their release on April 15. She noted that Welsh Government mandates annual reviews of admissions policies during the academic year preceding implementation. Councillor Edmunds indicated that the consultation window opened on February 4 and closed on February 18, with no submissions received. She added that the cabinet had already established the attendance zones for both Brynmawr Foundation School and Ysgol Gymraeg Tredegar at an earlier gathering in February, which enabled the new draft policy to be progressed. The cabinet subsequently voted unanimously to adopt the document finalising the attendance boundaries for both institutions. In February, senior councillors had disregarded a scrutiny committee suggestion and confirmed the attendance zone for Brynmawr Foundation school without including Beaufort Hill primary school. This aligned with the decisive outcomes of the initial consultation phase, where 78.7 percent (311) of participants requested that Beaufort Hill remain outside Brynmawr school’s attendance zone. Beaufort is a community situated approximately midway between Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr. The previous month, Councillor Edmunds addressed members at a meeting of the Children, Young People and Families scrutiny committee regarding the cabinet’s departure from the committee’s recommendation. At that gathering, Councillor Edmunds clarified that there was a clear preference among the Beaufort Hill school community to maintain the primary school’s position within the Ebbw Fawr 3-16 Learning Community attendance area. However, Councillor John Hill (Opposition Independent) representing Brynmawr condemned the choice, describing it as wrong and suggesting it would require reconsideration later.