One year for Down High prep

One year for Down High prep

5 February 2014

PLANS to close Down High School’s preparatory department have been postponed for at least one year following a lobby by parents and staff.

The co-educational fee-paying primary, which has been based within the grounds of the grammar school since it was founded at Mount Crescent in 1937, has been facing closure due to dwindling enrolments.

Its numbers have ped from a high of 122 in 2009/10 to just 37 children who are looked after by three teachers and two non-teaching staff.

This drop in numbers prompted officials to launch a pre-consultation process suggesting its closure in August, giving parents several weeks in January to air their views about its future with the South Eastern Education and Library Board.

They have now successfully persuaded the Board to postpone the unit’s closure by at least one year meaning a development proposal to close the school next summer will instead be published.

It is hoped that this delay will give parents sufficient time to find alternative arrangements for their children.

After a full consultation exercise, the Education Minister will decide whether or not to approve the proposal.

The decision to postpone the proposed closure has been given a measured welcomed by the school’s principal, Mr. Paul Logan.

Although he said the publication of any development proposal relating to the school was a matter of “considerable concern and regret”, he said he was nonetheless pleased that the proposal would not prevent any current pupils from continuing at the school at the end of this academic year.

He said parents associated with the school deserved thanks for the eloquent way they had spoken to education commissioners about the right of children to continue their education within the preparatory department beyond the current academic year.

“The last 10 months have been a very turbulent time for everyone within the prep community,” he said.

“We would like to thank all parents for the constructive and measured way in which the future of the preparatory department has been discussed in recent weeks.”

The proposal about the proposed closure is expected to be published this month. It will include the stipulation that no new reception-aged pupils will be accepted into the school from September.