EXTRA financial support should be in place to help councils keep rural schools open, says a Plaid leadership hopeful.

During the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff, a 5,000-strong petition was presented at the Senedd, urging Anglesey council to reconsider its ‘super school’ plans which would see Ysgol Bodffordd merge with Ysgol Corn Hir as part of a new multi-million-pound facility in the Llangefni area.

According to the council, the decision to close Ysgol Bodffordd was made “with a heavy heart” due to financial constraints. Several schools have been shut on the island in recent years, with new “super schools” already built in Holyhead and Llanfaethlu and another is being built in Newborough.

Plans to merge Ysgol Llangoed and Ysgol Beaumaris were also rubber stamped last month. Rhun ap Iorwerth, the island’s AM, said: “The Welsh Government wants to give the impression that it is protecting rural schools by devising a new ‘code’ that councils will have to follow before closing schools,” he said.

“I welcome any genuine attempts to help smaller schools, but at the same time as this code is being developed, Government policy is urging moves towards larger schools, and crucially a code not backed by additional resource is a smokescreen.”

Mr ap Iorwerth, who is challenging Leanne Wood for the Plaid Cymru leadership along with Adam Price, said he wants councils helped to ensure closures become a last resort.

“I particularly favour the creation of multi-site ‘Area Schools’, with one head and one governing body sharing costs and setting common goals and standards across the different sites, but crucially allowing more communities to keep their primary schools,” he said.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Our revised School Organisation Code – to be laid before the National Assembly for Wales in September – will introduce a presumption against the closure of rural schools.

“This will ensure that councils and other proposers do everything they can to keep a rural school open before deciding to consult on closure.

“There is very little difference between the current code and the proposals Rhun ap Iorwerth sets out. The code already includes options such as establishing multi-site schools and alternatives to closure, such as federation with other schools. This involves a single governing body and, in some cases, a shared headteacher. We’re also providing; £2.5m a year."