End of an era as three schools host closing ceremonies

BIG crowds turned out for special occasions this week as three Ballyfermot schools hosted closing ceremonies to mark the end of an era.

St Dominic’s College, Caritas College, and St John’s College, are amalgamating into the new St Seton’s Secondary School in September.

The three schools hosted events to mark their closure, one night after the other this week, inviting teachers and students, past and present, along for a celebration.

Large crowds showed up at the events to wistfully remember the good times they had at their respective schools.

St Dominic’s commemoration Mass on Friday marked the closure of a school that was open for 67 years.

St Dominic’s mass took place at the Church of the Assumption, and afterwards there was light refreshments and a walk down memory lane at the school campus.

It is a similar timeline for St Joseph’s College De la Salle which was also established in 1956.

Caritas first opened it’s doors to young girls in Ballyfermot back in 1967.

St Seton’s was due to open in September 2022, but it was postponed for 12 months due to “lack of progress” with the building programme on site.

The new secondary school will be required to accommodate up to 800 pupils.

The delay in opening the new school led to significant opposition in the community by a group of parents, residents, representatives and educators, who say St Seton’s is “not the vision of a state of the art centre of excellence that was sold to us back in 2019”.

Le Chéile and CEIST, are the trustees of the three schools and Sarah Green, is St Seton’s Principal.

Progression to third level education has been the big success story in Ballyfermot in recent years, a feature set to continue as the next chapter in education commences for the community this September.

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