REGARDING my letter of January 14, having looked into the change of name from Duffryn school to John Frost, it would seem the Newport education authority have power to change school names after a request from school governors and consultation.

The extent of consultation is not specified according to the regulations. In Newport, this power is delegated to the Director of Education. To me, this seems a lot of power for one person to have.

Having read the headmaster’s praise of the name change to John Frost, I am still not convinced the costly change is needed. He says the cost of the new Welsh school on the site and refurbishment of the rest is £17m. I bet most of this is for the conversion of one building to the Welsh school.

Even so, why is a complete name change needed? Surely the new Welsh building could be named John Frost without the needless cost of change.

The school has achieved pleasing results from ESTYN and calling it John Frost has no connection with Duffryn. The argument for a new start with a new name does not hold water. The Welsh Government education section had never heard of John Frost as a local hero.

I suspect this is a ploy by the council to obviate their criticism of demolishing the Chartist mural. Given the progress on the name change, it would seem that the decision is now set in stone.

It is a pity that consultation wasn’t wider, and let’s hope the school continues to bring glorifying success.

Jim Dyer.

Stockton Road, Newport