Schools at risk due to ‘issues’ on admissions

Schools at risk due to ‘issues’ on admissions

19 June 2019

QUESTION marks have been raised over the future of three local primary schools.

St Joseph’s Primary School, Killough, St Joseph’s Primary School, Ballycruttle, and St Mary’s Primary School in Saintfield have been identified as having sustainability issues due to low admissions.

The schools are included in an Education Authority action plan released on Monday which details areas where schools should be shut, merged or expanded between now and 2021.

It says that the schools’ managing authority, which is the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, needs to “consult on options for future provision” by March 2020.

Three other local schools have been named in the action plan. Annsborough Controlled Integrated Primary School, Blackwater Integrated College in Downpatrick and The High School, Ballynahinch, were included in a similar report last year.

However, the two high schools have told the Recorder that they are either over-subscribed or at near capacity and are confident of their future.

St Mary’s PS principal Catherine Ann Downey said that she and the school’s board of governors viewed the report in a “positive manner”.

She said: “We are working in collaboration with the EA and CCMS to ensure that our numbers rise. The increase in new housing all around us coupled with our high profile in the community means that we are in a excellent position to capitalise on the population growth in the Saintfield area.”

She said that this month 94% of her pupils received their first choice of secondary school — well above the 86.75% average for Northern Ireland. 

The chairman of the school’s board of governors, Garry Hanna, added: “St Mary’s is a vibrant, academically successful school with close links with the local community.”

A spokesman for CCMS has promised follow-up support for the schools. 

He said: “We have been in contact with all of its schools named in the action plan and CCMS representatives will be meeting with school leaders to discuss the issues facing the schools and possible options for future provision in each school, in line with the sustainable schools policy.”

Blackwater Integrated College’s principal, Stephen Taylor, said his school was preparing for its largest ever intake in September.

He added: “We are currently working with NICIE [the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education], a local steering group and our board of governors to facilitate the growth of integrated education in the Mid Down area. 

“The area plan highlights the need for more integrated provision and we are very well placed to deliver this.

“We are delighted to have our largest intake coming to the college in September, and together with refurbishment works currently underway at the college, we are looking very positively to the future at Blackwater.

“I would like to reassure all our students and parents both present and prospective that Blackwater Integrated College will continue to go from strength to strength in the coming years.”

Paul Marks, principal of The High School, Ballynahinch, said he was “surprised” to see his school still listed in the report.

“We are over-subscribed this year and demand is high for next year. I’m surprised to learn that we are still mentioned on the list as the school is certainly in demand and preforming very well.”

The action plan also highlighted Killyleagh Integrated Primary School as having an issue “with ensuring school places are located as required”.

Academy Primary School in Saintfield was again referred to in the plan with a need “to consult on the increase of admissions and enrolment numbers” by this September.

The trustees of Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch have been asked to consult on an increase in enrolment numbers by January 2020.

Ardmore Special School in Downpatrick is also listed for a review of its current provision by September next year.

The EA said that the action plan had been extended for an additional year to “ensure that all schools named in the plan will have a future pathway identified for them by March 2021”.

Kim Scott, the EA’s Interim Director of Education, added: “One of the challenges facing our education system is that we still have a number of schools that are too small to adequately provide pupils with access to a broad and balanced curriculum, extensive extracurricular activities and high-quality pastoral care.

“The area planning process brings all education bodies in Northern Ireland around the same table to seek solutions to the often complex challenges including changing demographics and multiple school sectors within specific areas.  All local solutions will of course be subject to full consultation.”