St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint

St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School
Address
Albert Ave Flint, Flintshire Wales, United Kingdom
Information
Type	Mixed Comprehensive Secondary
Motto	Welsh: Dysgu â'n gilydd yng Nghrist ("Learning together in Christ")
Established	1954
Oversight	Flintshire County Council
Headmaster	Mr. Paul Heitzman
Chaplain	Fr. Fretch Ballesteros
Grades	Year 7 - Year 13 (Years 12 & 13 are Sixth Form)
Gender	Mixed
Enrollment	861 (2016)[1]
Houses	Dewi, Beuno, Gwen
Nickname	SRG
Newspaper	Gwyn News[2]
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Website	www.strichardgwynflint.co.uk/

St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School is a Catholic comprehensive school serving the population of Flintshire in North Wales. It was founded in 1954 to serve the Catholic population of Flintshire.^[3]

It is one of three Catholic secondary schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrexham, the others being St Joseph's Catholic & Anglican High School, Wrexham^[4] and Blessed Edward Jones RC High School, Rhyl.^[5]

It is a mixed school, currently serving 861 pupils (2016)^[6] (including a mixed sixth form of over 120). It draws its pupils and students from the Roman Catholic parishes of Flint, Holywell, Queensferry, Mold, Saltney, Buckley, Connah's Quay, Hawarden and Pantasaph.

Its patron Saint, St. Richard Gwyn, was canonized in 1970; prior to this, the school was called "Blessed Richard Gwyn Roman Catholic High School". The school observes his feast day on 17 October with a whole school Mass; every year, this is preceded by a week of religious observance and themed lessons as part of a "whole school retreat" that is called a faith 'focus week'.

The school's current head teacher is Mr Paul Heitzman. Past headteachers include:

• the first headmaster, Mr Burrows (1954 to circa 1973)
• Tom Quinn (2002–2005)
• Derek Doran (2005-2011)
• Ronald Keating (2012-2016)
• Maria Rimmer, interim and first female headteacher (2016-2017)
• Mark Philpot
• Patrick Dominic Bryon OBE (For services to Education in Wales)

Since 2008 there has been a House System - Dewi, Gwen and Beuno, named after St. David, St. Winefride and St. Beuno respectively.

In the 2016 Welsh Government's National School Categorisation System, the school is placed in Standards Group '4' (1-4, with 1 being the highest group and 4 the lowest), Improvement Category 'D' (A-D, with schools with an improvement capacity of A showing the greatest capacity to improve and those with an improvement capacity of D showing the least capacity to improve). These two measures place the school in the 'Red' support category, meaning that the school requires the most intensive support.^[7][8]

Estyn Report 2016

The most recent 2016 Estyn report labeled the school “unsatisfactory” and placed the school into special measures. This contrasted with the 2008 Estyn Report which labeled the school as "Good". Multiple problems were raised in the report including that performance from 2012-2016 at GCSE level had been “poor” with leadership at the school also being criticised.

The 2016 report stated that GCSE results performance had been “inconsistent” and “well below” that of similar schools and the national average, with the number of students gaining five or more passes at grades A*/A “having “deteriorated” over the last two years. Estyn inspectors also stated that leadership at the school is “unsatisfactory” with “weaknesses at all levels”.

The report stated: “Leadership overall, but particularly at senior level, does not provide consistently clear direction or high enough expectations for key aspects of the school’s work. As a result, it has not been effective enough in improving key aspects of provision and the standards that pupils achieve.”

However, the report did praise the school for having above average A Level results for 2013-2016. Another positive included the school’s care, support and guidance, which inspectors said is “at the heart of the school’s ethos” and has a beneficial impact on pupils’ wellbeing and development.

A statement from the school at the time said: “We acknowledge the comments in the Estyn report published today [May 2016] which is critical about some areas of the school’s performance."

Ron Keating, Headteacher at the time of the report, is quoted as saying: “We have already started the work of addressing the findings of the Estyn report with the full support of staff, governors, parents and the local community. All these are working in partnership to make this a rapidly improving school."^[9][10]

Religious Discrimination

In February, 2016, the school and parents were embroiled in a row with Flintshire County Council with regard to the school bus policy. Flintshire County Council introduced a scheme where pupils at the school received a free bus pass if they live more than three miles from the school and are Catholic. However non-Catholics have to pay for the council-run bus, or for a more expensive pass on a school-run minibus.^[11]

The school's head teacher at the time, Ronald Keating, told BBC Radio Wales in February 2016 that he wished that the council would revert to its previous transport policy, saying: "In effect, I suppose I wish they would scrap it."

Flintshire council commented in February 2016: "The council has not recently changed its discretionary transport policies. Current policies are not unique to this authority or area.

"The council doesn't duplicate services and provides transport for eligible pupils. The passes used on routes do not distinguish between different forms of eligibility or payment for places."

"Others have since started to provide transport to the school not at a cost to the council.

"All discretionary transport provision and policies are currently subject to a review.

"This can include circumstances in which charging is legal and appropriate. Any recommendations from that review will also in turn need to be subject to the statutory consultation and decision making processes prior to implementation."

^[12]

Notable former pupils

• Michelle Brown, UK Independence Party, Member of the National Assembly for Wales
• Paul Draper, lead singer of the band Mansun^[13]
• Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas^[14]
• Fiona Fox, director of the Science Media Centre
• Simon Nixon, billionaire businessman, co-founder of Moneysupermarket.com^[15]
• Ian Rush, footballer^[16]

References

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 53°14′26″N 3°07′39″W / 53.240596°N 3.127563°W / 53.240596; -3.127563