DUFFRYN High School will be renamed from September 2016 honouring one of the city’s most famous sons.

Following a request from school governors, the school will change its name to John Frost School.

Newport City Council’s cabinet member for education and young people, councillor Debbie Wilcox, welcomed the news.

She said: “The new name for Duffryn School, John Frost School, builds on Newport’s heritage and in this 175th anniversary year it is apt that one of the city’s schools will have this new name.

“It is important that people who have played a key role in Newport’s history are honoured and this new name for the school does that.”

John Frost was the leader of the Chartist Rising in Newport in 1839, which saw 22 protestors shot dead for demanding the right to vote.

After the rising, Frost was arrested and charged with high treason.

Along with William Jones and Zephaniah Williams, he was found guilty and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered but the sentence was lowered to transportation for life following public outcry.

Last week, the creation of a Welsh language school on the site of Duffryn High School moved a step closer after Cllr Wilcox started the statutory process by agreeing for a formal consultation to be held.

The £17 million project will go ahead providing the Welsh Government agrees to match the council’s £8 million investment.

The proposal is for a Welsh-medium school to be created in one of three school blocks at the school by September 2016.

English-medium secondary education will continue for about 1,200 pupils in two of the school blocks with a third block catering for about 900 pupils in a separate Welsh-medium secondary school.

Consultation was carried out on the name change with pupils in the school before Newport City Council’s chief education officer approved the change.

The school will also adopt a new motto, Carpe Diem, seize the day, and pupils will get a new uniform.