The end of the school summer term came too quickly for the 42 children and staff of Llanbedr Church in Wales School, near Crickhowell.

Despite the best efforts of the governors, staff and parents, Powys County Council went through with their plans to close the school.

The closure brings to an end the provision of primary school education in the Vale of Grwyney.

The closure was signed off in January of this year by the Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet, who voted to close the school.

The decision had been delayed by a month to allow Swansea and Brecon diocese to speak to the council and schools on alternative proposals.

The closure had already been postponed from August 31, 2022 to August 31, 2023 to allow the catchment area review to take place.

Following the review education officers stood by their previous recommendation to go ahead with the closure.

There had been hope last year that the school, which was founded in 1728, could be saved from closure. During the run-up to the 2022 Powys County Council elections, the Lib Dems pledged to keep rural schools open.

Liberal Dem group leader, now council leader, Cllr James-Gibson Watt said in Apriul 2022 that the people of Powys should vote for his party if they wanted to see “village schools retained in the future” and said that all Lib Dem candidates were “committed to seeing our rural schools kept open within new clustering arrangements in each secondary school catchment area.”

Chair of Governors at Llanbedr, Elaine Lusted, said this week: “It is an extremely sad time for all those who have been involved with this excellent, high achieving small rural school. It has been my privilege to be Chair of Governors over this time but devastating that my time comes to an end in this way. The loss of the school is a big blow to the community as it has been the catalyst for many local events over the years.

“Unfortunately Powys County Council has not made this closure process easy and it was distressing, for example, when they tried to remove the plates etc. for the dinners on the Monday when there were still children having meals until the end of the week!

“This is only one example of the lack of compassion from this council during this process that we have grown to expect. Luckily the outstanding, hardworking staff of the school have always put the children’s education first and they have continued to do this through these difficult months, trying to make sure that the impending closure has not impacted on the children’s well-being and keeping things as normal as possible. A leavers service was held in the local church for all the school and the children showed their pride in what they have achieved with their presentations and poems.

“The Friends of the School provided the children and staff and parents with commemorative gifts. The last week began with a celebration party in the school grounds where, despite the terrible weather, over hundred people including former headteachers, teachers and pupils attended and ended on the last day of term with pupils and parents gathering at 3.15pm to say goodbye and sing a very emotional thank you to staff.”

Powys County Council has denied the claim that plates were removed.

A spokesperson said: “Llanbedr was an export school and flight trays used to transport meals to other schools were removed from the school as they were no longer in use. No plates or equipment needed during the week were taken from the school.

“The head was aware of the planned work.”