Overview
天美传媒 reviews the capacity of its schools on an annual basis. As such, the Council is responding to the increased demand and growth noted over the course of the last 3 years, in line with pupil placement requests for Pen y Cwm Special School. Pen y Cwm Special School caters for pupils (aged between 3-19 years) with a broad spectrum of complex special educational and medical needs, including profound and multiple learning difficulties. The school currently caters for 天美传媒 pupils, along with pupils from Out of County (OOC).
The school mission is: 鈥楾o empower and support individuals to be resilient and independent and to develop skills to reach their potential鈥�.
The Proposal
This consultation builds on the consultation undertaken in 2021 to increase capacity in Pen y Cwm Special School from 175 to 205 learners in 2026 which is more than 10% of the overall capacity of the school. It also progresses elements of Part 2 of the 2021 proposal. 天美传媒 propose to extend the capacity at Pen y Cwm Special School from 205 to 250 places, in the long term as detailed in part 2 below. In order to facilitate the extended capacity, the Council remodelled the existing learning environment to create additional classroom spaces and associated facilities i.e. toilets. In addition, and alongside this, the Council identified that post 16 provision would need to be removed from its current location on site and housed in Vision House Ebbw Vale which creates a more sustained provision less than half a mile from the existing building. The Council are committed to keep working with the school to develop a long-term plan to support sustained growth and development. Therefore, this proposal will be delivered in 2 parts:
- Part 1, to increase the capacity of Pen y Cwm Special School from 175 to 205 places in preparation for the 2026/27 academic year. This will also involve:
o Retrospectively acknowledging the Post 16 provision at Unit 4 Festival Site in Ebbw Vale (including 3 classrooms, sensory room, common room, life skills room, meeting room, catering/dining area, toilets and hygiene facilities)
o Retrospective acknowledgement of additional classrooms developed in the main school building.
- Part 2, to further increase the capacity of Pen y Cwm Special School from 205 to 250 places in preparation for the 2030/31 academic year. This will involve continuing with the development of the long-term plan to secure additional capacity including either a new build provision on the land adjacent to the school or remodelling the existing school building to accommodate the increased capacity.
The proposal would support the 天美传媒鈥檚 Vision for Education as follows:
'Empowering our communities to be ambitious, ethically informed, life-long learners who lead full and healthy lives.
Consultation
This consultation, will provide consultees with the opportunity to learn more about, understand and express their views on the Council鈥檚 proposal, which will inform the final decision as to how the proposal is taken forward.
The consultation period for this proposal will commence on Monday 8th December 2025, concluding on Sunday 18th January 2026.
Consultees can submit their views on the proposal; however, it should be noted that responses received during this period will not be counted as objections to the proposal. Objections can only be registered following publication of the notice.
The Education Resources and Planning Team has planned virtual meetings with Trade Union and drop-in sessions below for all affected School Governing Bodies, Staff, Pupils parents and the wider community throughout the consultation period.
Wednesday 10th December 2025, 3:00pm 鈥� 6:30pm
Ebbw Vale Learning Action Centre James St, Ebbw Vale, NP23 6JG
The Council would like you to consider the information set out in the consultation booklet and provide your views on the proposal.
If you have any questions or queries on the information contained within this document, please contact us either by using the email address 21stcenturyschools@blaenau-gwent.gov.uk, or by calling us on (01495) 355116.
Consultation Outcome and Next Steps
Consultation Report
Feedback from the consultation will be collated, analysed and presented in a Consultation Out-turn Report to the Council鈥檚 Cabinet on the 23rd of February 2026. The report will be available on the Council鈥檚 website 2 weeks prior to a decision being made to proceed or not to proceed to statutory notice. Hard copies can be obtained on request via the email addresses detailed above. Consultees can also register their wish to be notified of publication of the consultation report by the email address above.
Statutory Notice
Should this proposal be approved at Cabinet; the Council will then go out to statutory notice in January 2026. The statutory notice period will run for 28 days, during this time, you will be able to make formal objections should you wish to do so, via the email address provided in this consultation booklet. Any issues raised by interested parties will then be summarised and presented to the Cabinet for a final decision to be made. Should the proposal proceed, a copy of the Statutory Notice will be displayed on the Council鈥檚 website and at Pen y Cwm Special School. Hard copies of the statutory notice will be available upon request.
Determination of Proposal
天美传媒 will determine the proposal taken into account the responses received to the statutory notice. This may lead to the approval, rejection or approval of the proposal with modifications.
Decision Notification
Once a decision has been made, an electronic copy of determination will be sent out to all interested parties and published on 天美传媒鈥檚 County Borough Council鈥檚 website within 7 days of the decision.
All Enquiries
If you have any questions or queries, please contact us either by using the email address below, or by calling us on (01495) 355116.
Email: 21stcenturyschools@blaenau-gwent.gov.uk
You are also welcome to complete the on line survey using the following link
All consultation responses should be received by 5pm on Sunday 18th January 2026 at the latest.