MEMBERS of the public will have the chance to have their say on the proposal to build a new Welsh-medium secondary school in Newport at consultation meetings in March.

The proposed new school will be located on the Duffryn High School site and have provision for pupils from Newport and south Monmouthshire, as part of £17 million development.

The existing Duffryn High School is to change its name to John Frost School, after the Chartist leader transported to Australia following the 1839 Rising.

That will see the beginning of “another phase in its history” according to Duffryn High’s Head Teacher Jon Wilson.

Newport City Council will begin a formal consultation period, lasting six weeks, beginning Sunday (March 1) and concluding at midnight on Tuesday, April 14.

Six meetings will be held throughout March to give parents the opportunity to voice their opinions.

The first full consultation session is to be held at Duffryn High School in the lower school block – the proposed site of the new school – on March 3, from 5-7pm.

Drop-in sessions are being held at Ysgol Gymraeg Casnewydd on March 4 from 3.30pm to 6pm, Ysgol Gymraeg Ifor Hael on March 5 from 3-5.30pm, Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Teyrnon on March 11 from 3.20-6pm and Ysgol Gymraeg y Ffin in Caldicot on March 16 from 3- 6pm.

A second drop-in session will be held at Duffryn High on March 19 from 10am to noon.

The new school will support Newport’s three Welsh-medium primary schools and Monmouthshire’s Ysgol Y Ffin and is part of the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools Programme.

The Welsh Government has approved Newport City Council’s outline business case for the school and the council will now be looking to compile and submit a full business case for review and approval going forward.

A consultation pack will be available to download on Friday, February 27 from newport.gov.uk and the consultation response form from Sunday, March 1.

A report will be published within 13 weeks of the consultation period ending, after which the cabinet member for children and young people, Councillor Debbie Wilcox, will give her decision on whether to proceed with the proposal.