THE chairman of governors at Deri View School has hit back at suggestions that Monmouthshire County Council's attempts to fill vacant places at the school is contributing to falling numbers at neigbouring Llantilio Pertholey Church in Wales School.

Former councillor Verona Nelmes told The Chronicle she was 'surprised and shocked' at comments made by former Llantilio Pertholey governor Lesley Flynn adding that staff at Deri View School had been upset to see the school described as a 'white elephant'.

"Their energy,enthusiasm and commitment has produced an exciting and innovative enviroment for pupils and parents may find it a strange and somewhat vindictive comment," said Mrs Nelmes.

"Abergavenny is fortunate that it has very good schools. Deri View had an excellent inspection report as did Cantref and Govilon and I am sure when other schools in the area are inspected high standards will be the attained," she said.

"They also offer similar extra curricular activities, breakfast clubs and choirs. Deri Vew and Cantref also have an orchestra. Parents however, place their children in different schools for a variety of reasons which may be religion or keeping siblings together or geographical convenience.

"Deri View Nursery staff were particularly up set by the accusation they direct children away from Llantillio Pertholey. They are used to children dispersing to other schools. They accept and respect the choice of parents," said Mrs Nelmes.

"Staff were disappointed by the comments because their aim has always been to work with other schools. Leslie Flynn talked about Llantilio obtaining "the prestigious eco school Green Flag" but she is probably not aware that after it was obtained by Deri View they shared their experience with Llantilio Staff - a perfect example of working together.

"Some of Mrs Flynn's comments were also factually incorrect. Llantilio Pertholey is a Voluntary Controlled Church school and therefore does not have a catchment area.

"The LEA has no record of a child being told to go to Deri View instead of Llantillio Pertholey and there has been no appeal.

"The LEA cannot refuse a place in a school if there are surplus places and since the school is as she states "half full" there would be no problem.

"No pupils have transferred from Llanover or Govilon to Deri View. However a child has transferred from Govilon to Llantilio Pertholey," she added.

"It is ironic that by highlighting the falling numbers and stating the school is only half full will not help the school. Parents will wonder why," added Mrs Nelmes.

After failing to comment on last week's front page story in The Abergavenny Chronicle, Monmouthshire County Council has now issued a statement from Andrew Keep, Corporate Director of lifelong Learning and Leisure who said: "We are very proud of both Llantillio Pertholy (sic) and Deri View – they are excellent and we get positive feedback from parents, pupils and teachers about both schools.

The education and training inspectorate for Wales, Estyn, also judge both schools to be of a very high standard.

"Staff at both schools have a very close working relationship and, although there are some surplus places in each school, the future of both schools is secure."