PEMBROKESHIRE parents are being urged to check school messages as neighbouring Carmarthenshire prepares to close all secondary schools on Wednesday and Thursday because of extreme heat.

The move in Carmarthenshire has raised questions across west Wales about whether schools in Pembrokeshire could also be affected as temperatures continue to rise.

All secondary schools in Carmarthenshire are set to close for two days, with some primary schools also deciding to shut. There has been no blanket closure decision for primary schools in that county.

In Pembrokeshire, no county-wide secondary school closure announcement has been made at this stage.

Parents should check directly with their child’s school for the latest information, including texts, emails, school apps, websites and social media pages.

The situation may vary from school to school, depending on building conditions, ventilation, classroom temperatures and local circumstances.

The closures in Carmarthenshire come as Wales faces exceptional weather conditions, with concerns about pupil and staff welfare during the heatwave.

Many school buildings, particularly older sites, can become extremely hot during prolonged periods of high temperature.

A Wales-wide picture is now emerging, with schools in several counties considering closures, early finishes or remote learning.

For Pembrokeshire families, the key message is not to assume schools are closed unless official confirmation has been received.

The Herald will continue to monitor updates from Pembrokeshire schools and the county council.

CHURCH education in Pembrokeshire, the birthplace of Wales’s Patron Saint, is under threat from a series of actions by the council which could amount to religious discrimination, the Church in Wales has said.

The Church in Wales has issued a formal notice that it will take legal action against Pembrokeshire County Council if it presses ahead with plans to remove church status from Cilgerran Voluntary Controlled Primary School.

Back in May, the council voted to remove the Voluntary Controlled status of the Welsh-speaking rural school and to establish it as a 3-11 community school despite 97 per cent of the responses to a consultation about its potential discontinuation opposing it.

That consultation followed a review which “considered the extent of surplus school places in the area, set against a significant decline in the pupil population,” the council has previously said.

Hundreds opposed the proposed changes, with a petition on the council’s own website gaining 391 signatures.

During the consultation, 203 responses were received; 97 per cent (197 responses) against the proposal, with just 1.5 per cent (three) in favour.

Earlier this year, councillors heard from vice-chair of the school governors Gary Fieldhouse who said the loss of the Church in Wales status would be “a profound mistake,” the school’s association with the church “not symbolic but fundamental”.

Reverend John Cecil had told councillors the proposals were “fundamentally flawed,” with the school’s land legally in trust as a Church of Wales school, and change “essentially creating a new school with no premises to occupy”.

A letter has now been sent to council officers on behalf of the Diocese of St Davids and the Church in Wales saying that, if the council persists with this course, the Church will take legal action on the grounds of claims of “public misrepresentation and unqualified legal assertions made by Pembrokeshire County Council officers,” and “discrimination against faith schooling”.

The letter also says that, if the council removes VC status from the school, the Church will not make the site available for a successor school, which it says will render “the case on which the proposed removal of VC status is based untenable”.

The legal warning follows Pembrokeshire County Council’s decision earlier this month to close Manorbier Church in Wales Voluntary Controlled School, which was damaged by a fire in 2022.

The church says that despite repeated assurances from Cabinet Members and senior officers that it would be rebuilt, it has been allowed to sit empty while the number of children, forced for years to learn in temporary accommodation, has declined.

A spokesperson for the Church in Wales said: “Pembrokeshire County Council’s behaviour in the case of Manorbier VC School has been utterly unconscionable.

“The council has presided over a catalogue of delay, incompetence and broken promises resulting in the literal destruction of a thriving school which has served its community for more than 150 years.

“Taken together with the gratuitous attack on the church status of Ysgol Cilgerran, this amounts to a targeted assault on the inclusive Christian education which Church in Wales schools have provided to their communities for generations.

“That the council should be pursuing this potentially discriminatory action against Church schools in the county which is the cradle of Christianity in Wales, and which takes pride in being the birthplace and shrine of our nation’s Patron Saint, is a bitter irony.

“We are not prepared to allow it to happen, and we look to the county’s elected representatives to halt this destructive course of action.”

Pembrokeshire County Council has been contacted for a response.

SCHOOL leaders have accused the Welsh Government of missing a major opportunity to support children with additional learning needs after ministers declined to ring-fence more than £500 million for ALN provision.

NAHT Cymru said more than 5,000 letters were sent to ministers in less than a week urging them to protect funding linked to increased Special Educational Needs and Disabilities spending in England.

The union said the money amounts to £322 million in 2026-27 and a further £197 million recurrently from 2028-29.

However, the Welsh Government has not agreed to allocate the full amount specifically to ALN, instead choosing to distribute resources across a range of priorities in its supplementary budget.

Funding pressure

NAHT Cymru, which represents school leaders across Wales, said the decision would disappoint schools already struggling with rising demand for support.

Laura Doel, National Secretary of NAHT Cymru, said: “We recognise the very real challenges facing Welsh Government and the difficult decisions ministers must make when allocating funding across public services.

“However, school leaders across Wales will be extremely disappointed that this funding has not been directed specifically to Additional Learning Needs provision, particularly given the scale of demand and the pressures currently facing schools and local authorities.

“The response over the past week has been remarkable. More than 5,000 people took the time to write directly to ministers to highlight the importance of this investment.”

The union said demand for ALN support had increased significantly in recent years, with costs more than doubling over the last decade.

It warned that without further investment, schools could face further pressure on staffing, including teachers and teaching assistants who deliver support to pupils.

Welsh Government position

The issue centres on consequential funding received by Wales following spending decisions in England.

While NAHT Cymru argues the money arose from SEND spending and should therefore be used for ALN in Wales, Welsh ministers are not required to spend Barnett consequential funding in the same policy area.

The union had called for the full funding to be allocated to ALN, passed to local authorities and schools, and ring-fenced so it could not be diverted to other areas.

Those calls have not been met.

Ms Doel added: “If education is a key priority for this government, it needs to demonstrate it through action not just warm words.”