Temporary reprieve proposed in Catholic school reorganisation

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

One of the schools identified for closure under a county’s controversial Catholic ‘super-school’ plans may be granted a temporary reprieve.

At a special meeting of Flintshire County Council’s Education, Youth and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee – which was joined by the Diocese of Wrexham’s Bishop Peter Brignall – members rejected calls to pause the Catholic Schools reorganisation process to ensure the data was accurate and review the financial, social and educational impact on pupils and communities.

But they did make one additional recommendation to Cabinet suggested by Labour rebel Cllr Fran Lister – that St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School in Saltney should not be shut down this September as proposed.

The proposal to close St David’s Catholic Primary School in Mold, St Anthony’s in Saltney and St Mary’s in Flint alongside St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School have been subject to a year-long battle between the the county council and diocese seeking to make education provision more efficient on one side and and parents and communities fighting to save their local schools on the other.

Cllr Lister – who has recently aligned with opponents of the Labour-led coalition Cabinet’s plans – said the executive should consider keeping St Anthony’s open for one more academic year to allow pupils to be given adequate transition time to prepare to move to a new school.

“September is seven months away,” she said. “At the moment no decision has been made. I know schools have a very thorough transition programme when a Year Six child goes to secondary school that starts in Year Five.

“As part of our ethos in Flintshire we make sure that children are very well prepared to go on to where they’re going next. I cannot see how we can possibly make a fair transition for St Anthony’s pupils to attend a new school from September this next academic year. I have real concerns over that.

“I don’t think that’s fair on the young people. I don’t think that’s fair on the families. I don’t think that’s fair on the receiving school that might take these children So I would like that looked at.

“It should be at least delayed for another academic year to give those children a chance to to see where they’re going and get on board with that decision.”

Councillors supported her recommendation and it will go to Cabinet to consider when it makes its final decision on the proposals.

But members rejected the overwhelmingly negative public response to the proposals as they refused to endorse a number of arguments to pause or rethink the plans.

Under the proposals the four schools  – two of which (St David’s and St Anthony’s) have significant numbers of pupil spaces – would be replaced by a Catholic super-school in Flint for pupils aged 3-18.

The reported cost of the new school, which would be funded 85% by Welsh Government and 15% by Flintshire County Council before ownership is transferred to the Diocese of Wrexham, is £55 million. But recent calculations have revealed the true cost will be over £77 million – the £8.5m Flintshire will borrow to pay its contribution will cost £30.9m to repay over 50 years.

​More than 95% of respondents opposed the plans in the initial consultation and Flintshire received 4,196 messages of opposition and petition signatures against the plans during the statutory objection period. After removing feedback that was deemed ‘duplication’, the authority’s accepted number of objections was 2,372.

Opposition councillors made a number of challenges in an attempt to get the committee to recommend Cabinet heed the groundswell of public opinion against the plans.

Flintshire People’s Voice Cllr Alasdair Ibbotson called for the decision to be deferred after it was revealed the report assumed St Anthony’s pupils would be transferred to Venerable Edward Morgan School in Shotton, without any reference to alternative Catholic schools across the border in Chester that were closer to St Anthony’s.

He argued that would leave families unable to secure local authority-funded school transport to the replacement school, which is around six miles from Saltney.

“Under the school transport policy at present, somebody wishing to attend an English‑medium Catholic primary school would only be entitled to school transport if that school was their nearest,” he said.

“Therefore, after St Anthony’s closes anyone who wishes their child to have a Catholic education will not be able to get school transport to the Venerable Edward Morgan school and will instead have to attend a nearer school in Cheshire – in the same way as parents of secondary school children in Saltney can get school transport to Chester Catholic High but cannot get it to St Richard Gwyn.

“Not only is this report wrong but the administration has no idea how it’s wrong, that it is wrong or has even bothered to check whether there are nearer Catholic primary schools,” he said.

“As a result of that children will not be entitled to school transport. So if you’re a child in in Saltney and you wish to have a Catholic education and you also wish to learn Welsh, you will no longer be able to get school transport.

“All of the commitments implied in this report that pupils will be able to continue with the Welsh curriculum are are straight up wrong unless parents fork out for for expensive school transport.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Andrew Parkhurst was the next to challenge the report, asking whether the diocese planned to make any financial contribution  to the capital project – perhaps through plans to sell off the school sites at St David’s and St Anthony’s once vacant. Flintshire People’s Voice Cllr Carolyn Preece also pressed the diocese on the matter, asking whether it would consider allowing the local authority to retain ownership of the new building that had been funded by council taxpayers.

Bishop Peter said there was currently no plan to sell off the land.

“There is no specific intention for land and its disposal on the closure of these schools,” he said. “Any architects, surveyors, civil engineers or others seen on or near the site I can assure you have got nothing to do with the site itself.

“I fear some of that may be rumour and gossip that does spread without foundation.”

Bishop Peter went on to make the case that declining numbers of catholic baptisms had meant that tough choices had to be made on how Catholic education was delivered.

He added that safeguarding the Catholic faith and teachings was the responsibility of parents and families primarily – faith schools were merely a support for that.

“The sad reality is that part of this situation as far as the Church is concerned, and my own strategic planning for the diocese, results in the fact we have got significantly declining numbers,” he said. “That is despite the fact that there is increased building and more housing and more families theoretically occupying that.

“They are not sending their children to the Catholic school. While it is part of the overall mission of the Catholic Church to use its faith schools for the purposes of proclaiming the gospel, we also have costs and if we cannot afford the mission, then sadly the mission will close.

“Catholic education can actually be provided out of school time. We can’t provide the same ethos and the same atmosphere that a Catholic school would provide, but in terms of provision of Catholic formation and information, that can be provided in other ways.

“It comes back in part to families. When Catholic families bring a child for baptism, the first question that is asked of them is: “You are undertaking to bring your child up in the practice of the faith in the Catholic Church. Do you understand what you are undertaking?” The schools are an added provision on top of familial responsibility in terms of Catholic education.”

Cllr David Healey argued that Flintshire could no longer delay this process for fear of losing out on significant investment from Welsh Government.

“I’d oppose any move to delay this whatsoever because I think we could miss the once‑in‑a‑generation lifetime of Welsh Government funding with the current situation that we’ve got,” he said.

The Committee agreed by a majority, voting to send the consultation report to Cabinet for a final decision on the proposals.