School amalgamation plans paused

School amalgamation plans paused

PLANS for the amalgamation of three Ballyfermot secondary schools have been paused for a year.

Caritas College, St Dominic’s College and St John’s College, were due to amalgamate into the new St Seton’s Secondary School, in September 2022, but this has been postponed for 12 months.

A “lack of progress” with the building programme on site, which is required to accommodate up to 800 pupils at the new school, meant the students were initially going to be split up amongst the three schools, until such time as the work was to be completed.

This met with significant opposition in the community.

Ballyfermot Parents United, who are made up of parents, residents and staff across the three schools, believed it would cause a “lot of upheaval” for students, and that it was “not the vision of a state of the art centre of excellence that was sold to us back in 2019”.

Le Chéile and CEIST, the trustees of the three schools, said they conducted “extensive consultation” with all stakeholders involved and “despite best efforts, the impact of Covid and the lack of progress with the building programme has meant that alternate solutions are not viable at this time”.

The trustees and Sarah Green, St Seton’s Principal, reached an agreement with the Dept Education to extend the timeline for opening the new school which will allow for “greater planning”.

A member of the parent’s group said the majority are “really happy” and are backing Sarah Green.

“She is very dedicated to Ballyfermot and making this work really well for the young people. There are still lots of questions to be answered, and the trustees still have a lot to answer for causing such upset.

“But everyone is very hopeful that this is going to be a much more positive soft opening to the new school to allow everyone to get all the important things right.”

Cllrs Vincent Jackson (Ind) and Hazel de Nortiún (PBP) put forward a Motion at the area meeting on Wednesday, requesting Dublin City Council write to the Minister for Education and Minister for Housing, urging them to look into the matter.

Local representatives support the parent’s group, saying the youth of Ballyfermot deserve a “proper fit for purpose school campus”.

A public meeting took place on Tuesday night at the Civic Centre in Ballyfermot.

A key question in the community is around facilities as the new design makes no immediate allowance for PE hall or canteen, and population increase in the wider community.

“There are major housing developments happening over the next few years which we anticipate will increase the youth population so there are also concerns around the capacity of the planned school,” said a parent.

Another parent said the pause, allows some “breathing space” and provides an “opportunity for all involved to make the initial vision of a state of the art education facility in the heart of Ballyfermot become a reality.”

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