THE acting head of a Rhyl school in special measures has said staff morale has improved considerably, having been “really, really poor” when she arrived late last year.

Bernadette Thomas, who took on the role at Christ the Word Catholic School after previous head, Amanda Preston, was confirmed as absent in November, said staff are “100 per cent committed” to making the improvements necessary.

Mrs Preston has since resigned as headteacher.

Christ the Word was placed in special measures following an Estyn report published in July 2022; a core inspection had taken place two months earlier.

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Mrs Thomas was speaking at a meeting of Denbighshire County Council’s Performance Scrutiny Committee today (September 28), where an inspection report from the local authority regarding the school’s progress was discussed.

Extracts from the report stated “real progress has been made” in strengthening the school’s safeguarding arrangements, and that “considerable work” has been undertaken in improving leadership.

She told the committee that new expectations have been made of staff including:

  • Meet and greet students at the classroom door.
  • Treat all learners with respect.
  • Provide clear instructions for all pupils.
  • Deliver engaging, stimulating lessons.
  • Activate prior knowledge at the start of the lesson, and signpost future learning at the end.
  • Build positive relationships with learners.

There are now set processes in place to monitor these expectations within the school, while a “behaviour committee” has also been formed, she said.

Mrs Thomas added: “When I first started last year, staff were very disengaged in anything after school.

“We had our open evening last night, and every member of staff was present, was smiling, and had activities going on in their classrooms.

“It was so lovely to see such a happy, family atmosphere within the school.”

Geraint Davies, the council’s head of education service, added that any additional support put in place for Christ the Word is not at the expense of other schools in the county.

Denbighshire County Council is “not stripping budgets off other schools to support Christ the Word”, he said.

Mr Davies added that there has been “considerable improvement” in the systems in place to track pupils’ attendance, and that there are plans to “develop a range of support that will improve attendance across the school”.

He said: “We are not paying additional monies into the regional school improvement service (GwE) to support Christ the Word; it’s part of the package that we get.

“But any school in special measures does require additional time, with regards to support.”

Additional external training was provided to the school’s governing body from Governors Cymru, which came at an “additional cost that the local authority picked up”, Mr Davies added.

But, he said, “we are not denying budgets from other schools to be able to support Christ the Word - we are using existing resources to provide that support”.

Mr Davies said he does not know exactly when Estyn’s next visit to the school will be, but that it will be “some time before Christmas”.

The £23million school opened in September 2019 and caters for children between three and 16 years old.

It replaced secondary school, Blessed Edward Jones Catholic School, and primary school, Ysgol Mair.

Kathleen Jones, Catholic Church education scrutiny member, urged Christ the Word not to “stand alone as a Catholic school”.

She said: “I don’t ever want Christ the Word to be in a situation where they say: ‘We’re a Catholic school, and so we’re alright now’, because I think that’s what happened at the beginning.

“That Catholic school provides education for children in Denbighshire; (but) even if every single child in that school is Catholic, they are still Denbighshire pupils.

“Denbighshire County Council, with all of their expertise, should be allowed to go in whenever they feel that there’s an issue, and I need that to be recognised by the school because that is essential.

“It can’t stand alone as a Catholic school, with the head deciding not to allow people in to support it.”

Though, Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts (Ruthin ward) added that the state of affairs at Christ the Word “can happen at any school”.

Colette Owen, from the Diocese of Wrexham, added that the school should have a “full complement” of governors by the end of the current term.

The “invaluable” support of Claire Armitstead, head of Rhyl High School, was also praised at the meeting, with the report stating that she has been offering Christ the Word “secondary expertise”.

The Performance Scrutiny Committee will next discuss Christ the Word at its July 2024 meeting.