Diggers signal the start of school development
By Aura McMenamin
Building has officially begun at Kingswood Community College in Tallaght, to the excitement of staff at the long-awaited post-primary school.
Kingswood Community College opened in September 2016 and is currently operating in prefabs accomodating first and second year students only, as the new school building is being constructed.
The new building was due to open in September 2018, but earlier this year it was reported that this had been pushed back a year due to a delay in the tendering process.
Deborah Dunne is the principal at the multi-denominational school. Speaking to The Echo, she said that progress on the building was ‘exciting’.
Ms Dunne said: “I’m super-excited. We could see the diggers on site from the staff room yesterday and it’s wonderful.
“It’s going to be the best in student facilities – we’ll have some of the biggest classrooms in Europe.”
Ms Dunne said there was a focus on technology in the school: “The digital facilities will be excellent. We’re an iPad school – students learn through iPads, and teachers create their own iBooks.
“We do use traditional pen and paper too, of course.”
It’s expected that the school will accept a large intake of students in September 2018, meaning that as well as a permanent building, additional temporary buildings will have to be constructed.
Ms Dunne explained: “We’re expecting a huge intake of students. We’ve already allocated places for 2018 and we will open up allocations for 2019 in November.
“We currently have over 180 students. We have two classes of 32 pupils and four classes of 20 pupils.
Staff, students and parents hope to get temporary accommodation for the 2018 intake and then move into the new building by 2019, allowing them to have their first Junior Cert cycle students that year.
According to Ms Dunne, who could only give a cost estimate before the time of publication, the new school will cost approximately €14m.
Glasgiven Contractors are the builders for the secondary school’s Permanent Building Programme.
She said that progress on the ‘extensive’ site currently only consisted of diggings and said there would be a sod-turning event to mark progress on the site on September 20.
