Britain's smallest primary school with only two pupils to shut its doors after more than half a century

By PATRICK HARRINGTON, UK NEWS REPORTER Published: 11:08, 15 June 2026 | Updated: 11:12, 15 June 2026 Britain's smallest school that has just two pupils will close down at the end of the year after more than half a century at the centre of the community. Councillors made the 'painful' decision to shut the school in Gwynedd, north Wales, in the face of dwindling student numbers and unaffordable costs. The Ysgol Y Garreg school in the village of Penrhyndeudraeth has lost almost 90 per cent of its pupils over the past two years, plummeting from 17 to just the two. There are no pupils lined up to enroll, and the two ten-year-olds are set to leave for secondary school in the summer. Council officials recognised that, with no pupils, the school simply could not go on - and the 'seriousness of the situation' must be admitted. A report showed it is expensive to operate with so few pupils, with a cost per head of £21,471, compared with the country average of £5,998. Cabinet members in Cyngor Gwynedd, North Wales, voted unanimously to close the school on August 31. Dewi Jones, cabinet member for education, said: 'Nobody goes into education in order to close schools. Ysgol Y Garreg school in Garreg, Gwynedd, north Wales, will close at the end of the school year The school has just two pupils after losing almost 90 per cent over the past two years 'Our ambition is to see schools thriving, children succeeding and communities staying strong.' Mr Jones said closing the school had been incredibly 'difficult' and paid tribute to the staff, governors, and parents for serving the community for more than half a century. 'The demographic challenges facing some of our rural communities are real,' he said. 'However painful it is to acknowledge that, we cannot ignore the facts before us, and in the specific position of Ysgol Y Garreg, it is impossible to ignore the seriousness of the situation. 'This is not a decision the cabinet wants to make, but it's a decision that certain circumstances have led us to.' The councillor said Gwynedd had experienced a significant reduction in the number of children over the past decade and that the authority had a duty to make responsible long-term decisions. Supporting the recommendation, councillor June Jones said it was sad to be losing the school that had been 'a key part of the community'. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.