Wales's first privately-funded school opens

Pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig will get a new school

Wales's first state school to be built and maintained by a private company officially opens.

The new Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig in Aberystwyth, west Wales, will replace existing school buildings which are more than 100 years old.

But the policy of allowing Private Finance Initiative contracts - in which private companies have a key stake in schools - is still causing controversy.

The need for new buildings at Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig goes back decades.

We have asked the question, who then runs the school?

Geraint Davies, NASUWT

But it was not until 1997 that Ceredigion Council had plans approved to involve a private company in the construction and management of a new school.

Teaching union leaders have said the concept of public-private partnership is a step in the wrong direction.

"We have asked the question, who then runs the school?" said Geraint Davies, of the NASUWT.

"You will have a landlord and tenant situation and, at the end of the day, we know the landlord is the crucial keyholder and the tenant will have to obey their instructions."

Geraint Davies, NASUWT: Union concern

The private company which built the new school will collect a rent from the education authority for the next 30 years.

It will not be until then that ownership of the buildings and contents will be transferred to the council.

The first state secondary school in Britain built with private capital was opened in September last year in Dorset.

Sir John Colfox Comprehensive in Bridport, was built under a Private Finance Initiative contract between Dorset County Council and construction and facilities-management company Jarvis.

Plans have been considered for PFI partnerships between the National Assembly and private partners for up to 10 schools, including Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen, in Pontypridd, south Wales.

The school is more than 30 years old and in need of replacement.