ST, R (on the application of) v Carmarthenshire County Council

Facts

The claimant, ST, is a pupil at Ysgol Llansteffan, a small Welsh-medium rural primary school in Carmarthenshire, and brought this claim through her litigation friend and mother, KT. Carmarthenshire County Council is the defendant; the governing bodies of the School and of Ysgol Llangain were interested parties but took no part in the proceedings. The Council's Cabinet resolved on 17 November 2025 to proceed with a Statutory Notice to discontinue the School under Part 3 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013 and the accompanying School Organisation Code, and, following an objection period in which 198 of 201 responses opposed closure, the full Council resolved on 4 March 2026 to close the School from 31 August 2026 and redesignate its catchment area to Ysgol Llangain from 1 September 2026. The claimant challenged that decision on three grounds: that the Council had unreasonably relied on outdated financial information; that it had failed to recognise that a "strong case" was required to close a rural school under the Code; and that it had breached the socio-economic duty in section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. His Honour Judge Jarman KC made an anonymity order, appointed the litigation friend, and directed an expedited rolled-up hearing on 16 June 2026, which came before His Honour Judge Keyser KC on 23 July 2026.