Outrage of playtime 'shifts' at crowded school

A primary school is so short of space that children have to take their playtime in shifts and the staff room has been moved to a cupboard under the stairs.

There is not enough room in the playground at Ysgol Gymraeg Bryn-y-Mor school in Swansea for all 330 children to play at once.

And the staff room had to make way for another classroom. Teachers now take their breaks in a windowless, converted PE storage cupboard.

Head of infants at the school, Eldrydd Williams, said: "We are so short of space. The playground is very, very tiny. There are 330 children and they have to take their playtime in shifts. We can't let them play ball games as there is not enough space.

"And we have to put on a bus to take them to the local university to use their sports facilities so we can teach the full national curriculum."

The plight of the school was raised at the Welsh Assembly today.

Conservative Assembly member Alun Cairns (South Wales West) said: "On my recent visit to the school I was amazed at the cramped conditions. They are truly doing wonderful work but you must ask what they could achieve if they had adequate space and facilities.

"Playtimes are arranged into a shift system to accommodate all children in the school yard. There has been the need for another Welsh primary school in Swansea for a number of years and it is disgraceful that the Labour Party has done nothing to accommodate this."