16 pupils in limbo over secondary school places
16 PUPILS AT BUNSCOIL LORETO CURRENTLY WITHOUT SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACE FOR GOREY TOWN
THE Parents Association of Bunscoil Loreto have expressed outrage after 16 sixth class students were not offered secondary school places at either Creagh College or Gorey Community School.
‘It’s horrific, the amount of anxiety this is causing. The younger classes are seeing what’s happening, so they know it’s coming down the line for them,’ said Sinead Fox of the parents association.
Creagh College and Gorey Community School have an open lottery system for places, but already the schools are oversubscribed for September 2020.
Although hopeful that the problem will be resolved and that all children will get places, clarity will not be found for some months. All concerned feel that these pressures highlight the need for a third secondary school in the area.
This latest development follows on from a human chain protest held in May. The parents association feel that the children concerned, who live in Gorey town, should be prioritised in terms of securing a place due to their close proximity.
THE Parents Association of Bunscoil Loreto have expressed outrage after 16 sixth class students were not offered secondary school places at Creagh College or Gorey Community School after submitting their applications.
Following on from a human chain protest held in May of this year, they feel that the children concerned, who all live in Gorey town and do not have a viable option to attend rural secondary schools, should be prioritised in terms of securing a place due to their proximity.
Both Creagh College and Gorey Community School have an open lottery system which does not take preference to any applicant after those with siblings in the school and children of members of staff have been accommodated.
Principal of Creagh College Paul Glynn and principal of Gorey Community School said that both schools are oversubscribed for September 2020 at the moment, but they are hopeful that the problem will be resolved in good time.
All concerned feel that these pressures highlight the need for a third secondary school in the area.
Head of the campaign for a third secondary school, Elaine Clarke who lives in Riverchapel, has said that in Courtown and Riverchapel about half of students have been offered places.
Sinead Fox of the parents’ association, who has a child in fifth class at Bunscoil Loreto, said that most students in Gorey town don’t have the means to go to rural schools as an alternative. s
‘They are taking away the right of access to our children’s education. It makes no sense because most of the students in the town walk to school because of the close proximity.
‘I’m not against other children from outside the town, but our kids don’t have any other option. This is going to cause the displacement of town kids out of town schools, while the country schools have more options’.
Sinead feels there is a lack of commitment on the ground from politicians.
‘We are not getting support of the politicans and I don’t see any commitment from anybody towards a third school. Knowing where they are going to secondary school is so important to the children, and the goalposts have changed completely.
‘It’s horrific, the amount of anxiety this is causing and the younger classes are seeing what’s happening, so they know it’s coming down the line for them’.
The topic has been heard across the country around the need for places, as well as the Wexford by-election candidates as the issue continues to be raised on the doors.
Speaking on Newstalk on Friday, Education Minister Joe McHugh said that the pressure comes from the expansion of urban areas putting pressure on the system, and that he hopes to discuss with Principals concerned about temporary solutions.
Elaine Clarke said that the offers of temporary solutions by the Department won’t fix the problem, as nearly every school showed that some children have gotten offers while some have not.
Both Paul Glynn and Michael Finn said that no contact had been made with them about the
issue as of yet.
‘We have 120 on the waiting list with 250 accepted places, and this is what we expected,’ said Michael Finn.
‘We feel some of them will have already accepted places in Creagh and we will have to work through solutions together. I’m completely open for contact and discussion with parents and I understand this is very stressful and difficult.
‘I fully understand where the town schools are coming from, and I did accept the petition made by Bunscoil Loreto in May but I feel we have responsibility to all of our 11 feeder schools and the only way to respond was to operate the lottery system,’ said Michael Finn.
‘My advice would be not to accept a place in both schools as not to double book. But for 2020, according to the statistics there should be a place for every child,’ he said.
Looking ahead to sixth class entrance exams, due to take place on the same time at both schools in January, the Gorey principals feel that this will provide clarity.
‘From now to January will bring more clarity and what happened last year is most comparable to now, something similar could happen,’ said Principal Glynn.
In April of this year, all sixth class students on a waiting list were offered a place at Creagh College.
‘If we still have a shortage the board will have to make a decision if we are in a position to make the offer. We do have physical capacity but there are other issues to be considered.
Paul Glynn said that the board hope to fast track the process of offering places, but that laws around the sharing of personal data are a factor.
‘I’m very sympathetic towards the parents, as a parent myself I know how worrying it can be.
‘We had 193 spaces to offer and we were heavily oversubscribed, after the preference of 79 spaces, every week since we have been offering as they become available.
But Principal Glynn said that over 100 students remain on the waiting list.
‘Our estimates are that there should be enough places, but it’s fairly tight and really in the medium term, a third secondary school is going to be needed.
‘There has been a lot of inward migration to Gorey, and this year we had an influx of approximately 25 students to other year groups not just first year.
‘Gorey has two really big schools, but I will say that students could be waiting until March or April to hear,’ he said.