Collooney marches for school
PARENTS and pupils of one of the fastest growing primary schools in the county held a march on Sunday to protest about the Government’s refusal to grant them a new school.
Scoil Mhuire agus Iosef in Collooney has grown over 50 per cent in the past five years and now desperately needs a bigger school building.
It’s an amalgamation of two separate primary schools which came together to form one co- ed school in 2014.
However the two separate buildings for the junior and senior classes won’t be enough if the school continues to grow.
“We’ve gone from 120 pupils five years ago to 185 this September,” said principal Shane O’Meara.
“Communication between the two schools is the hardest part logistically for the teachers,” he said.
Protestors marched from the school up to a proposed new site for a new school on Kiernan Avenue.
The school was at the top of the Department of Education’s school building list in 2007 until then- Minister Batt O’Keeffe “pulled it” said Shane.
Nine years later, the school didn’t even make it on to the building list for the next five years.
“It’s a disaster. We’re not even guaranteed to be on it in the next five years,” said Shane.
“Without parent power we’re not going to get heard. It’s going to be very tight unless we get a new proper larger building,” he said.
The school has no gym or sports hall and pupils have to walk in all weather to venues around Collooney such as the Teeling Centre, the Bingo Hall and the Church for their athletics and music lessons.
“We’re one of the biggest schools outside of Sligo Town. Traffic is a nightmare,” he said.