FURIOUS parents, teachers and students of a city high school made their voices heard after a decision to block plans for a new school left their improvement plans in tatters.

Newport City Council’s Planning Committee turned down the long-awaited application for a new Welsh-medium secondary to share Duffryn High School land on Lighthouse Road – a decision which was met with widespread dismay.

The refusal means a much-needed classroom block at Duffryn High will not go ahead, and an emergency meeting held at the school tonight, saw around 120 parents, teachers and current and former pupils grill the authority’s head of education James Harris and strategic director for people Mike Nicholson.

Headteacher Jon Wilson, clearly shellshocked, said he had been left “devastated” by the decision. 

“In 35 years, yesterday was the worst day of my career,” he said. 
“There was a sense of devastation as I sat and watched a group of politicians make a decision on our future on a whim.”

Yesterday's decision came following concerns around the possibility of flooding raised by Natural Resources Wales. It was revealed at tonight’s meeting that the council had been aware of the issue since November.
But it was also revealed the existing school, which was established in 1959, has never flooded.

It proved a bad-tempered meeting, with Mr Harris and Mr Nicholson left under no illusion about the sense of anger at the decision.

Ian McKim, whose 13-year-old daughter Elli is a pupil at Duffryn High, supported Mr Wilson, saying: “All the work he has put into this has just been ignored.”
“The reality is we are not getting a school that is fit for purpose and matches Mr Wilson’s drive for the children of this school,” he said.

“Surely there has to be something we can put in place?”

Maths teacher Robert Gregory described the situation as “not fair ”.

“Students and the community deserve far better,” he said.

Mr Harris said the council remained committed to investing in the school, but the refusal of the application, which also means a funding agreement made with the Welsh Government has been lost, meant it would have to go back to the drawing board.

But, as the council is legally required to provide Welsh-language education, he added Wednesday’s decision left the authority in “a difficult place”.

“The only other sites are at least twice as expensive,” he said.

“And the earliest availability is 2020.”
Although parents were keen to learn when alternative plans would be developed for Duffryn High, Mr Nicholson said it was too early to say, a statement which was not welcomed by attendees.

“This has come as a terrible blow to us as well as you and we need some time to reflect,” he said.

“We really do feel it bitterly.”

A public meeting on the next steps for establishing a Welsh language secondary school in Newport will be held at Newport Civic Centre from 4.30pm tomorrow.

 

Frosty reception for education chiefs as parents demand answers

NEWPORT council's planning committee may have got cold - or should that be wet? - feet about multi-million pound plans to revitalise the Duffryn High School site, tonight it was education chiefs who were feeling the chill.

In the aftermath of the committee's flood risk-fuelled decision to throw out the council's own plan to develop a Welsh medium secondary school and redevelop the existing high school, the atmosphere in which the luckless officers charged with placating parents, teachers and pupils had to operate was bound to be frosty.

The audience of parents, teachers and pupils came to demand answers, and the collective passion and eloquence displayed by those who asked questions or made statements was compelling.

Many of those questions would have been better answered however by planning experts, who were absent. 

Speakers included pupils from Year 9 to the sixth form, eager to tell council education boss James Harris and his team of their pride in their school despite the shortcomings of its buildings, and of how they feel let down at having their hopes of learning in a 21st Century environment dashed.

Teachers described their battles to teach, and their pupils' efforts to learn, in surroundings desperately in need of a radical revamp.

And parents - of past, current and future Duffryn High School pupils - spoke of their frustration and their anger at yet another promised upgrade falling by the wayside.

With an admitted lack of a Plan B, Mr Harris could only try, with little success, to reassure the audience that work has already begun on seeking a new way forward. 

This school hall resounds regularly throughout the year with the applause of parents and teachers for the achievements of their children, their pupils, at prizegiving evenings and special assemblies. The pride they all have in the school was evident throughout tonight's two-hour meeting.