Consultation on Flintshire Catholic super-school delayed again

A public consultation over plans to close four Flintshire Catholic schools to create one single super-school in Flint has been delayed.

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet was expected to formally launch the consultation – which has already been delayed by a month – at a meeting on Tuesday.

But the decision to postpone the start of the consultation has been welcomed by governors at one affected school, despite leaving parents in limbo to formally raise their concerns.

Wrexham Diocese and Flintshire Council are proposing the closure of four schools – St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School in Saltney, St David’s Primary School in Mold and Flint’s St Mary’s Catholic Primary School and St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School.

They will be replaced with an all through Catholic super-school on the site of St Richard Gwyn for pupils aged 3-18.

The consultation was due to launch in February but was deferred for further consultation with local members. Now it has been deferred again as council officers continue to liaise with councillors in the three areas affected.

In a statement Flintshire County Council said: “Consultation with members is still ongoing and a report will be presented to Cabinet at a later date.”

The timetable for the consultation process has identified December this year as the date for a final decision on the plans to be made.

Last week frustrated parents from St David’s School held a public meeting with their local county councillor – Chris Bithell – to seek his support for their campaign against the super-school.

They argued they had not been consulted on the proposals before the plans were communicated to all affected schools last month.

The Diocese of Wrexham says all schools were consulted.

“The initial plans were drawn up after a full process of discussions with the chairs of governors and headteachers at the six Catholic schools in Flintshire in liaison with the Diocese and local authority,” said the Diocese in a statement.  “There was no disagreement from any of these parties regarding the proposed plans.”

Governors at St David’s have welcomed the decision to defer the consultation again – in the hope it will allow Cllr Bithell and other concerned councillors the opportunity to present their case.

“We are very pleased with the decision made by the Cabinet and view it as a positive development,” said a statement by St David’s school governors.

“However, we recognise that our efforts are only just beginning. Neither our current headteacher nor the chair of governors were involved in any of the meetings leading up to the decision regarding the proposal’s contents.

“At the time of these decisions, St David’s did not have a substantive Headteacher, and several caretaker headteachers were appointed by the Diocese. These individuals were all headteachers from other Catholic schools in Flintshire. We believe that, as a result, our school did not have unbiased representation during this process.”

By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter