THE renaming of Duffryn High School after the Chartist hero John Frost is something to be welcomed.

It will be a clear reminder of the importance of independent thought in this city's history, the importance of those who fought for their beliefs against overpowering odds.

It will also be the start of a new era for the school, as headteacher Jon Wilson told us last week, with a major refurbishment on the site.

And that, too, has to be welcomed.

The existing English-medium secondary school is to be refurbished and another building put up to replace the block which will now house the planned Welsh-medium school, he says.

Last month, Newport City Council submitted an outline business case to the Welsh Government to ask for its £8 million investment to be matched.

A Newport City Council spokeswoman said it is too early to say how much of the budget will be spent on refurbishment but said a “key strand of the project is to create new and additional accommodation for the existing 1,200 pupils of Duffryn High School”.

Mr Wilson said: “It’s very clear that this is a big building that’s going, it’s very clear that that capacity has to be replaced with a new building on that site. We’re at capacity with 1,200 students and growing. We’ve done very well in the last couple of years, we’re hoping it will launch another new phase in the school history. Estyn said we were a good school last year, we now want to be an excellent school.”

Mr Wilson added that he welcomed the name change, following a request from the governing body to the local authority. He said: “It was based on the fact that Duffryn High School will not exist in its current form from September 2016 because there will be two schools on this site. Duffryn will be getting a brand new building as part of the redevelopment.

“The governors thought this was an opportune moment to relaunch the school with a new name.”

Parents have been aware of the Welsh school plans and the fact refurbishments for the English-speaking side of the school are in the pipeline.

But it is clear that some felt that the name-change consultation of parents with pupils at the school, and with those on the Duffryn estate with which the school is historically linked, had been somewhat lacking.

One Argus letter writer said: "People seem to have been consulted thoroughly on the budget, so why has this little item been kept in the cupboard?"

A number of parents have told us they had no idea that a name-change was in the offing.

And their feeling that they are out of the loop is a crying shame, because this is positive stuff.

Communicating it and consulting on it is key.

There will be implications in terms of uniforms, for example, upon which which parents should have their say.

So from now on, I hope parents and pupils will feel they are a key part of the process.

What we must not lose sight of in all of that is how positive this can be for pupils, the area, and the school.

SOMETIMES, we at Argus Towers cannot do right for doing wrong.

I am thinking here in terms of the weather.

Some of our readers take it as an Argus-led conspiracy if snow is forecast by the Met Office, we report that, and then snow does not materialise on the forecasted day.

Or rather, as in last week, there's not enough snow.

While parts of Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Monmouthshire had enough for a little sledging and a smattering of school closures, the snowfall along the M4 corridor was, to put it mildly, a little disappointing.

A few moments of sleet, soon washed away by rain with attitude.

Flooding, while important for us to warn about, does not produce that reader frisson which accompanies the predicted fall of the white stuff.

Weather forecasters will tell you that theirs is not an exact science - particularly when it comes to long range forecasts.

But we're in the business of giving you as much information as we can, when he have it.

What you do with it is up to you. Though I would suggest there is never any reason to panic buy potatoes, as once happened a few years ago in Blaina during a snowy January.

So, we shall continue to report predicted 'weather bombs' and yellow snow and ice alerts to help you all be as organised as possible - even though you want to shoot the messenger when the snow doesn't come.