School governors accuse council of waging malicious campaign against it

Martin Shipton

Members of a school governing body have written an astonishing open letter, accusing Flintshire County Council of waging a malicious campaign against the school with the intention of closing it down.

The letter follows confirmation by the council that it proposes removing the governing body at St David’s High School in Saltney, close to the border with England.

In July an Estyn report raised concerns about the quality of teaching at the school and the performance of pupils.

‘Dismay’

The open letter, signed by Mrs Christie Jenkins, the Chair of governors, on behalf of the governing body as a whole states: “[We] now feel compelled to record our profound concern and dismay at the sustained pattern of unfair, unjustified, and discriminatory conduct by Flintshire County Council (FCC) towards our school.

“The actions of FCC over the past three years have, in our opinion, demonstrated not only poor judgement but also a failure to discharge its statutory duties. They highlight a disregard for natural justice, and a breach of its duty of care to the pupils, staff, headteacher, and governing body.”

The letter continues: “For over three years we, as a governing body, have sought to resolve a number of concerning matters through the appropriate internal channels, seeking to engage in meaningful dialogue with FCC in good faith and with a commitment to professionalism and discretion. However, the persistent lack of transparency and the refusal of FCC to engage constructively, has resulted in a breakdown of trust that compromised what should be a constructive and mutually supportive relationship.

“It is our view that the wellbeing of our pupils, staff, the headteacher, and the governing body is being compromised; that the integrity of the headteacher and the governing body is being questioned; and that St. David’s High School is under threat. We believe the public has a right to be informed of the conduct of FCC, a public body that is entrusted with the education and welfare of its communities. We believe that this open letter is, therefore, a necessary step to protect our school, ensure accountability and uphold the principles of fairness and justice.”

Behaviour

The letter goes on to list a range of concerns relating to FCC’s alleged behaviour towards the school:

2021 – The school challenged FCC regarding its provision of free school transport to a Cheshire faith school at the Flintshire taxpayers’ expense. The decision at the time was justified by FCC stating the provision was being provided to the nearest faith school. However, the legislation on this is clear: it is neither a legal requirement nor an appropriate decision in terms of protecting the Welsh language and the Curriculum for Wales. This decision has not only cost Flintshire taxpayers thousands of pounds but it also had an adverse effect on pupils attending St. David’s High School. This practice is still ongoing and the Cheshire buses collect from more convenient places than those offered to actual St. David’s pupils.

2023 – On January 17 2023, FCC issued a Warning Notice against St. David’s High School. At this time, the school was not in an Estyn category and performing above modelled outcomes in almost all categories. This notice was wholly unjustified and, when challenged by the school governing body, FCC failed to provide any evidence to support issuing the Warning Notice. Only after an appeal to the Minister for Education was the FCC forced to withdraw the notice. Evidence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act confirmed that no other school outside an Estyn category has ever been issued with such a notice.

2023 – On April 25 2023 an article appeared in the Leader [newspaper] where the chief executive of FCC publicly accused St. David’s of financial mismanagement in relation to building maintenance and repairs. This accusation was made despite FCC being fully aware of the budgetary constraints that made such works impossible. The remarks were defamatory, misleading the public and causing reputational damage to the school and its leadership.

2023 – On May 9 2023, FCC sent a letter to the Welsh Government and Estyn containing allegations about the headteacher’s integrity. The letter to the Welsh Government and Estyn also raised concerns about the competency of the headteacher and the governing body. However, these concerns were not communicated to the governing body and FCC did not act upon any concerns at the time. They did, however, feel it necessary to write to Estyn. This contact had the effect of potentially compromising any future inspection of [St David’s] when FCC had been briefing against the school. This information only became known following a Freedom of Information request. In our view this constituted a serious unsubstantiated professional attack against the headteacher and governing body.

2023 – On June 6 2023, FCC commenced an Early Engagement Survey with one of the options being to close St. David’s High School. This option was not discussed with the headteacher or governing body before being presented to the headteacher and primary school colleagues in a meeting at Ty Dewi Sant. Fortunately, the strength of positive community action and feeling towards the school and concerns around the council’s lack of investment meant that FCC could not continue on one of its proposals to close the school.

2023 – By December 18 2023, during the Local Authority Link Inspector (LALI) meeting, Flintshire County Council itself admitted to Estyn and the Welsh Government that St. David’s was in the top 25% of Welsh schools across every major performance measure. Despite knowing this information for a considerable time, FCC continued to pursue the Warning Notice, thereby undermining both the credibility and the integrity of its oversight. Again, this information was not shared with the school or governing body and only acquired under a Freedom of Information request.

Significant investment

2024 – On October 1 2024, FCC announced significant investment in St. David’s High School. Over a year later, this commitment remains unfulfilled, with no tangible progress. The failure to act on a public commitment has created legitimate mistrust among parents, pupils and staff regarding FCC’s intentions and good faith.

2025 – On September 23 2025, FCC began a consultation to remove the governing body, despite the latest Estyn inspection report praising aspects of governorship and the report containing only one minor comment for improvement. It is also worth stating that governance was not an Estyn recommendation. At this time, the headteacher, Chair of governors or any individual governor have not received any communication evidencing any suggestion that the governing body has not acted effectively or appropriately.

2025 – On September 24 2025, the headteacher was instructed by FCC to include a statement in the school’s Post Inspection Action Plan regarding the consultation which strongly suggested that the decision had already been predetermined. Such conduct amounts to a breach of procedural fairness and undermines the principles of natural justice. We are aware of other concerning developments but we have only included factual information that can be proven. However, we are awaiting confirmation and proof on a number of other concerns. Once we have received the information we will share these concerns publicly.

Lack of engagement

The governing body states: “Given the actions outlined above we find it deeply concerning that no senior education leaders from FCC have attended a single meeting of the governing body in the past five years, despite being invited on multiple occasions. This absence reflects a troubling lack of engagement and accountability from those charged with overseeing educational standards and supporting school leadership. Equally, the cabinet member for education has failed to attend any governing body meetings, despite repeated invitations from both the school and elected members. This consistent refusal to engage directly with governors undermines the principles of collaborative working and demonstrates a disregard for the voices of those who represent the school community.

“We, the governing body, believe that St. David’s High School has been the subject of selective and disproportionate use of statutory powers by FCC without the provision of any substantial supporting evidence and this strongly suggests that the ultimate aim is the closure of St. David’s High School.

“In our view this behaviour is particularly grievous in light of the fact that, over the last 18 months, the headteacher has been undergoing treatment for Stage 3 prostate cancer and Stage 1 skin cancer. The repeated unfounded accusations, defamatory statements and secretive consultations have inflicted significant stress and reputational harm on the headteacher, staff, and governors. In our opinion FCC demonstrated no due regard to its statutory duty of care to protect the wellbeing of those involved.

“In light of this sustained pattern of conduct, the Governing Body expresses its complete lack of confidence in FCC’s ability to act fairly, transparently or lawfully in its dealings with St. David’s High School. We therefore demand that FCC:

1. Provide evidence that the governing body is unfit for purpose. This evidence should include any and all communications containing concerns about the school, Chair of governors or individual governors. They should also provide any guidance and support that was offered to the governing body to address perceived failings.

2. Issue a full public correction and written apology for defamatory and damaging statements made about the school and its leadership.

3. Provide written clarification, with timelines, on the status of the promised investment announced in October 2024.

4. Immediately suspend any further action to undermine or dissolve the governing body and commit instead to genuine partnership working in the best interests of pupils.

5. Commission an independent review into FCC’s decision-making processes and governance culture to ensure compliance with statutory duties, the principles of natural justice, and the protection of health and wellbeing.

‘Best practice’

In response, an FCC spokesperson said: “As a council, we wish all our Flintshire pupils to get the best education possible. We monitor and support all our schools with the aim of working with them to promote best practice and deliver a quality education for all our learners.

“St David’s High School has recently been inspected by Estyn, an independent body, and has been placed in the category of Special Measures. Estyn’s report was published in July 2025 and the council has taken appropriate action to provide support to St David’s High School, to implement effective measures in relation to Estyn’s recommendations and improve outcomes for learners. As a result, the council has started the necessary statutory processes.

“We will not be making further comment until these processes are concluded.”

The inspection report stated: “The majority of teachers establish effective classroom routines and offer pupils suitable learning activities. In a very few lessons, pupils make strong progress, and teachers include skilfully planned activities that capture pupils’ imagination and use probing questions that encourage independent thinking. In a significant minority of cases, there are shortcomings in teaching that mean pupils make limited progress and often become passive in their learning. Too often, teachers accept brief and underdeveloped verbal responses to questions and these lessons lack challenge.

“A few pupils display negative attitudes towards learning, talking over the teacher and failing to listen respectfully. The school has recognised the importance of improving pupils’ writing skills and made it a whole-school priority. Overall, opportunities for extended writing are purposeful. However, the school’s provision for developing pupils’ speaking and advanced reading skills is underdeveloped. More than a half of pupils have weak numeracy skills, and they do not receive enough opportunities to develop these skills in mathematics and other relevant subjects. Too often, numeracy tasks lack sufficient challenge, limiting pupils’ skill development. In addition, there are insufficient opportunities for pupils to develop their Welsh-speaking skills in lessons and across the school.

“The headteacher has developed a strong sense of teamwork amongst staff and considers pupil and staff well-being carefully. Although leaders work well together, there is a lack of clear, strategic leadership and they do not hold staff to account fully. They do not have a sufficiently rigorous approach to gathering evidence from activities such as learning walks and book reviews and are therefore unable to plan for improvement effectively. While leadership has had a positive impact on communication with parents and pupils’ wellbeing, it has not had enough impact on the quality of teaching, the development of pupils’ skills and curriculum design.”

Estyn made six recommendations:

Strengthen leadership to ensure that leaders at all levels are able to carry out their roles more strategically and be held to account for securing improvement;

Strengthen self-evaluation processes so that leaders have an accurate view of the school’s areas for development and plan for improvement precisely;

Improve the quality of teaching;

Improve provision to develop pupils’ numeracy skills progressively;

Increase opportunities for pupils to practise and develop their speaking, advanced reading and Welsh language skills across the curriculum;

Strengthen curriculum provision and strategic planning for the Curriculum for Wales, mathematics and Welsh.

Estyn also recommended that the school should be placed in Special Measures.