THE fate of two Torfaen schools marked for closure will be decided this week.

Plans by Torfaen County Borough Council to close Victoria Primary School and Abersychan Brynteg Nursery School – which have proven deeply unpopular with parents and children alike – will be decided ay a meeting of the authority’s cabinet on Tuesday, February 9.

If the plans go ahead all of Victoria Primary’s 215 pupils will be moved to Garnteg Primary School about one mile away, while youngsters at Abersychan Brynteg will relocate 1.5 miles to Cwmffrdoer Primary School in September 2017.

The proposal will also see Garnteg Primary expand by 420 places and Cwmffrdoer by 315.

A 65-page report on a consultation into the plan – which can be viewed at moderngov.torfaen.gov.uk – shows a petition against the proposal has been signed by more than 2,000 people, while the council received 113 letters and emails hitting out at the plans, including 27 from pupils at Victoria Primary, during a consultation into the scheme.

A response by schools regulator Estyn said it believed the proposal would “at least maintain the current standards of education and provision in the area”.

In its written response it said: “It is Estyn’s opinion that impact of revised admission arrangements will lead to very little disruption to pupils’ learning.

“The proposal identifies the support that pupils and their families will receive to transfer from the discontinued schools to the extended schools appropriately.

“The proposal contains a suitable evaluation of the implications for pre-school educational providers in the locality.”

The plans are part of the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools project. Last week finance minister Jane Hutt announced an extra £23 million would be invested into the project, although it is not currently clear how the cash will be distributed.

Tuesday’s meeting at the Civic Centre in Hanbury Road, Pontypool, will begin at 10.30am and is open to the public. It will also be broadcast live at torfaen.public-i.tv.