The fate of three under-threat schools will be decided on Monday amid plans to build a new £10m “super school” in central Anglesey.

Ysgol Henblas in Llangristiolus, Llangefni’s Ysgol Corn Hir, and Ysgol Bodffordd all face closure under the authority’s proposals for a brand new 450-pupil school in the Llangefni area.

There are also separate plans – set for another consultation – to shut Ysgol Talwrn and send its pupils to an enlarged Ysgol y Graig.

But campaigners who want to keep them open were given a boost on Monday when a scrutiny committee passed a motion calling for closures to be put on hold until changes to the Welsh Government’s School Organisation Code are published in the autumn.

It’s expected that the code will lead to rural schools being officially designated and listed, making closures a “last resort” scenario – a move that’s heartened parents determined to see Bodffordd and Henblas stay open.

Parents and governors at Ysgol Corn Hir support plans for a new school, as they say theirs is dilapidated and already full.

According to Anglesey council, delaying the new school plans would risk Welsh Government funding, which will pay for half of the new school costs.

During the corporate scrutiny committee meeting, officers also insisted that the Welsh Government would be “unlikely” to support plans to build a new school only to replace Ysgol Corn Hir.

But in another sting in the tail this week, Education Secretary Kirsty Williams confirmed that this would not necessarily be the case.

In the Senedd, Ynys Mon AM Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “We need a new school in Llangefni, but the conclusion that the council has come to is that as part of that, they would have to close other schools—Bodffordd, Henblas and Talwrn are being considered for closure.

“Are you in a position to tell the council that those two things, namely the availability of funding for a new school and the need to close existing rural schools, do not have to be linked together and that one isn’t dependent on the other?”

In response, Ms Williams said: “The (21st Century Schools) programme is available for school refurbishment of an existing site, replacement schools, as well as newly constituted schools, and there are examples across Wales of all three, where the money is being used to refurbish an existing school, to replace an existing school building, or in some cases—and I was in Anglesey opening some of them recently—where there has been an amalgamation of schools, to create an area school with new facilities.”

The recommendations presented to the executive on Monday will include options to shut all three schools or to only shut Corn Hir and Bodffordd and build a smaller 330-pupil school.

Ffred Ffransis, of Welsh-language pressure group Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, said the authority should concentrate on a new building for Ysgol Corn Hir only.

“The Education Minister has confirmed that Ynys Môn council doesn’t have to include any plan to close village schools in order to get funding from the [21st century schools] fund,” he said.

“We’re calling on the council executive to make an immediate application for funding to build a new school for the rising number of pupils from Llangefni, and also to upgrade the village school buildings in Bodffordd, Henblas and Talwrn.

“We’re grateful to the Minister for confirming that the new Code will come into force in the Autumn.

“That’s the time therefore for the Council Executive to consider the village schools and the possibility of money from the central fund in order to create a Llangefni Schools Area Federation.

“That federation would be a strong educational unit while also keeping education within those communities and retaining parental and local people’s support for children’s education.”

Anglesey council’s executive will discuss the plans when it meets in Llangefni on Monday, April 30.