Public protest to halt merger

Public protest to halt merger

11 January 2023

OPPONENTS of the proposed closure of St Patrick’s Grammar School in Downpatrick are to mount a protest tomorrow morning.

The school’s parents association, the Red High PFA, is organising a rally outside the Department of Education headquarters in Bangor at 10.30am.

The protest is being described as “an attempt to demonstrate the strength of feeling in the Red High family”.

Under the controversial scheme St Patrick’s is to be amalgamated with De La Salle High School and St Mary’s High School to form a new 1,600-pupil co-educational voluntary grammar school, which is scheduled to open in September 2024.

The merger plan was given the go-ahead by former Stormont Education Minister Michelle McIlveen last October.

It is supported by the Department of Education, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS), the De La Salle Congregation and the two other schools involved.

However, St Patrick’s has been strongly opposed to the merger ever since the plan was first unveiled some years ago.

In a text message sent to parents this week, the school said a survey over the closure was carried out before Christmas.

“While there are a range of views on this issue in the community, the overwhelming majority of responses indicated that our parents continue to oppose this and are prepared to attend events to make this known to the wider community,” the text reads.

Urging parents to support tomorrow’s protest rally in Bangor, the text continues: “Our survey shows that the majority of respondents were willing to attend a protest along with their child.

“We would like a sizeable crowd there to draw attention to the issue and to achieve this would ask you to attend and bring your child with you if you are willing to do so.”

Tomorrow’s rally is the latest step in the school’s campaign against the merger.

The Red High PFA, which represents more than 500 parents, has called on the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education to put a halt overturn the decision in the absence of a minister.

It has also raised £5,000, which will go towards the cost of a judicial review being sought by a local primary school parent who is opposed to the amalgamation.

Last month the PFA described approval of the merger as an “utter disgrace”.

It accused Ms McIlveen and Department of Education of failing to consider overwhelming opposition in the area and taking a “sweeping, ill-informed decision” without regard for the adverse impact it will have on the educational outcomes of children.

It questioned the timing of the minister’s decision while working in a caretaker capacity with instability in the Executive and said the “purely theoretical” plan was taken forward at a time when Northern Ireland had no powers to set a budget and without details of how the implementation stage would be funded.

One PFA member said parents had been left with no choice but to seek legal action against what he called “the reckless and irresponsible plan”.

“Our children’s education has been disrupted enough by the Covid-19 pandemic without an ill-informed, unfunded, purely theoretical plan for a school merger being irresponsibly green-lit by a caretaker minister,” he continued.

“This move has the potential to ruin pupils’ futures and has been entirely thrust upon them. We as the Red High PFA stand in complete opposition to the amalgamation and are united in our belief that this will severely impact educational outcomes for our children.”

Another parent said: “The former caretaker minister seemingly approved this plan without regard to the strong opposition in the community. We will not stand by and ignore it.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “Development proposals (DP) 604-607 were brought forward by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) in conjunction with the De La Salle Congregation and Down and Connor Diocese and represent a plan for the reshaping of post-primary provision in Downpatrick to address sustainability and provide high-quality education long into the future.

“The Department of Education’s role is to assess proposals once published and does not become engaged in the process until the point of publication. The decisions to approve these proposals were taken by former Education Minister Michelle McIlveen on October 10, 2022.

“The four DPs proposed the discontinuance of the three schools and the establishment of a new co-educational 11-19 voluntary grammar school (VGS).

“Any decision in relation to the discontinuance of a school is not taken lightly and it is recognised that closures are emotive and unsettling for parents and children.

“It is in that context that the minister must balance all information and evidence presented to her to ensure that the decision is the right one in the circumstances and the one that will deliver in the long-term interests of children and young people (and, in the case of these proposals, in the interests of the children and young people of all three schools).

“Whenever a decision is taken on any DP, the overriding consideration is the educational wellbeing of pupils.

“All evidence on which the decisions were taken has been published to the department’s website.

“This includes a detailed assessment of both the body of representation made to the department during the statutory objection period and that issued in response to the Education Authority’s pre-publication consultation.

“Once decisions are taken on DPs, they are required to be implemented.”