Call to visit neighbouring authority’s super-school branded ‘outrageous’

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

Opponents of the Flintshire Catholic super-school plans have failed to win a notice of motion calling for a site visit to Christ The Word school in Rhyl.

Cllr David Coggins Cogan brought the motion to a meeting of Flintshire  County Council convened to complete an agenda originally tabled on December 3.

He argued that councillors should be prepared to visit schools they intend to close before opening consultations to speak to parents, teachers and governors.

Cllr Coggins Cogan’s motion was in relation to proposals to close three Catholic Primary Schools – St David’s in Mold, St Anthony’s in Saltney and St Mary’s in Flint along with St Richard Gwyn High School.

They would be replaced with a £55 million super-school funded partly by Welsh Government and partly by £8.5m that Flintshire County Council would borrow over 50 years.

Once that loan is repayed, the full cost of the school will be over £77 million.

Cllr Coggins Cogan also argued a suggestion made by Council Leader Cllr Dave Hughes that members visit Ysgol Croes Atti to see what the proposed new 3-18 super-school in Flint would be like was not a suitable comparison.

Instead, he suggested the council visit Christ the Word in Rhyl, a 3-16 through school which is – like the Flint super-school will be – run by the Diocese of Wrexham.

“This motion is about something quite simple,” he said. “If the Cabinet wants to close a child’s school, they should have the courtesy to visit it.

“It they want councillors to sign off a controversial new super-school, they should be shown the whole picture, not just a glossy sales trip to a model that suits the council’s case.

“Whole communities are begging Cabinet to listen. On the 3rd of December the Cabinet member visited Cardiff, why can’t she visit Mold, Saltney or Flint?”

Special measures

The Cllr continued: “At the same time the Leader of the council has proposed a taxpayer-funded coach trip to Ysgol Gymraeg Croes Atti in Flint. That is a welsh medium school, it is not a Catholic School, it is not a 3-18 all-through school. It is not the model that is being proposed.

“The closest comparator here is not Croes Atti but is Christ The Word in Denbighshire – a 3-16 Catholic all-through school and a school that has been in special measures every year since 2022.

“This is not an attack on Christ The Word, staff there are working incredibly hard in challenging circumstances. What this motion does say is that if we are serious about learning lessons from a similar school, we need to be learning from the real experience as well as the sales pitch.

“We must be prepared to look at where a similar school has struggled and ask why to understand what it means for our children in Flintshire.”

“There are three proposals – no trips to Ysgol Gymraeg Croes Atti to support these proposals. That is not scrutiny, it is marketing.

“Councillors should be offered the opportunity to visit Christ The Word to see how a similar model has performed after several years in operation – the good and the bad.

“Any programmed school visits linked to the school closure proposals must be balanced. It must include Christ the Word and it must include the schools proposed for closure. This is about fairness and respect. Parents and families are not asking for special treatment, but to be treated as human beings rather than numbers on a spreadsheet.

“Before Cabinet makes an irreversible decision affecting children of families across Flintshire it should at least be prepared to visit the affected schools and look honestly at both successful and struggling examples of the model being proposed.”

Succeed or struggle

Cabinet member for Education Cllr Mared Eastwood defended the idea of visiting Ysgol Croes Atti as an example of the standard of new school building Flintshire has been delivering in recent years.

“The invitation to visit Ysgol Croes Atti  or indeed the Mynydd Isa Campus would be to show the calibre of the new schools we are currently building rather than a model of what is being proposed in the Catholic School reorganisation,” she said.

“It is inappropriate to go to Christ The Word in Denbighshire because the reasons why schools succeed or struggle relies on a variety of factors. It’s not the school building its how the school is resourced, how the senior leadership team and board of governors works, there are so many reasons.

“We have some schools in Flintshire on the same model where some are in special categories and others are doing very well. It’s not down to the model, it’s down to the school.”

Cllr Eastwood confirmed that a visit would be scheduled to St David’s in Mold.

“Having been through all the emails and letters I have received I have only had one invitation to visit a school,” she said. “That is a far cry from the assertion in the notice of motion that I have refused ‘numerous’ invitations to visit these schools.”

The idea that councillors from Flintshire should go to visit Christ The Word was criticised by a number of members who claimed that bringing a school from another local authority into the conversation was unfair and ‘outrageous’.

‘Very unkind’

“The insinuation that we should go to visit Christ The Word school is very unkind,” said Cllr Chris Bithell. “I should imagine if we were to ask Denbighshire County Council, quite rightly, would refuse it automatically.

“We have 3-16 schools here already and they are successful – there’s one in Holywell that has been there for a number of years and it is doing well. So we can go there to have a look if you want.

“For us to go to Christ The Word and try to reach some form of assessment really is quite outrageous.”

“The other thing we fail to mention is where this request [Catholic Schools reorganisation] first came from. It is the Diocese of Wrexham. They have asked the county to look into this. This [notice of motion] is a load of nonsense and proposers know it.”

Cllr Sean Bibby said looking to Christ The Word was not necessary.

“I don’t see the connection between the Catholic Schools proposals and Ysgol Croes Atti,” he admitted. “I don’t think it’s fair for them to be brought into it.

“There has also been constant reference to Christ The Word and I think that is very unfair. I think there would be much indignation if those critical comments were being made about a school in Flintshire by Denbighshire county councillors.”

His view was supported by Cllrs Paul Cunningham and Allan Marshall.

Lessons to be learned

Cllr Coggins Cogan responded by repeating his assertion that Christ The Word was the closest comparator.

“The whole point of using Christ The Word as a comparator is that it is a through school and a Catholic school,” he said.

“It is fair to say, as I have, that we look at the positives and the negatives. There are lessons to be learned.”

Addressing the fact the authority is facilitating the process on the request of the Diocese of Wrexham he claimed the council needed to represent parents’ views as the Diocese would not.

“If you’ve spent any time speaking to parents, governors, pupils there is a hard dichotomy between what the diocese wants and what the Catholic community wants,” he said. “I am challenging the council here because I’m elected to be here. I don’t have a position with the diocese.”

The motion fell 10 votes short, with six abstentions.