Merger could bring exciting opportunities

Sir, — I read in the Down Recorder the appeal by St Patrick’s Grammar School for people to support them in their efforts to stay open. These claims seem to be based on a misplaced nostalgia about the past and don’t reflect the facts. 

1 The school is NOT closing. 

2 The teachers are NOT leaving. 

3 The pupils are NOT leaving. 

4 Finances are NOT being withdrawn. 

5 The De La Salle ethos is NOT being threatened. 

They are simply being asked to change.

1 The ‘grammar’ intake will remain (40% of the total intake). 

2 They are being asked to be imaginative and innovative. 

3 They are being given the opportunity to become co-educational, something they have already expressed interest in doing.

4 They are being offered more pupils.

5 They will have an opportunity to broaden their curriculum by offering more subjects. 

6 There will be more staff. 

7 The financial package will be greatly enhanced. 

8 They will have the opportunity to be more powerful in more ways than education, such as sports (bigger numbers), music, (choirs, orchestras, etc) and societies, (debating, cultural, etc).

These are only a few of the exciting opportunities which are there to be embraced by the forward thinking educationalists of today. I’m sure others could list many more. 

I would appeal to the parents in our community to embrace the changes. They have the potential to offer all children the widest, fullest and most exciting educational opportunities many of us could only dream about when we were young.

It’s an opportunity not to be missed. 

Yours etc,

RETIRED EDUCATIONALIST.

(Name and address supplied).