PARENTS fear a questionnaire about a Catholic school merger will have misleading results.
The St Brigid's School Action Group is concerned the questionnaire used in an informal consultation process over the future of faith education in Denbigh will give misleading results.
As part of the consultation process, parents of students from St Brigid's and Blessed Edward Jones in Rhyl were asked about the distance they would be willing to let their children travel to school.
This information is expected to help Denbighshire County Council pinpoint possible locations should they decide to create a new combined faith school.
Anna Gresty of St Brigid's Action Group said that many parents found the question of distance a difficult one to answer.
“The quality of academic, spiritual and social education at St Brigid's is outstanding, which means the school is unusual in that some pupils travel significant distances to get there,” said Mrs Gresty.
“However, parents tell me they wouldn't be willing to do the same for a brand new school with no track record.
"Our concern is that the cabinet and our elected representatives may not get an accurate picture of how many children could be willing to attend any new school and that could have a significant impact on accurate forecasting of pupil numbers and indeed the sustainability of any new faith school,” she added.
Parents, who are creating their own survey, said they will be happy to share the information with councillors.
St Brigid’s School Action Group is also worried that the misleading results from the questionnaire will lead to needless costs to the public.
“I think the last thing that anyone wants to do in these times of austerity is to spend £28.8 million on a brand new school without enough pupils to fill it,” said Mrs Gresty.
“I know that any survey we produce will miss the window for the informal consultation process, but I hope cabinet and our elected representatives would be willing to consider any data we have in making their decision.
“At the end of the day we are all working to the same ends - the very best education for children of faith in and around Denbighshire.”
St Brigid's is currently oversubscribed, with a waiting list for places whereas Blessed Edward Jones has a deficit of places, but has shown significant progress in the past year.
The Rhyl school received a blow recently when both its deputy head and head teacher resigned within weeks of each other.