News

Tyrone school due to close in its fiftieth anniversary year

St Brigid's in Augher and Tullycarnet PS in Belfast have both been recommended for closure
St Brigid's in Augher and Tullycarnet PS in Belfast have both been recommended for closure St Brigid's in Augher and Tullycarnet PS in Belfast have both been recommended for closure

A SMALL, rural, Catholic primary school is facing closure - 50 years after it first opened.

It has been proposed that St Brigid's PS in Augher, Co Tyrone shut down in August.

The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) said St Brigid's was "financially unstable" and that pupils' educational needs could be met elsewhere.

It has admitted a total of six new P1 pupils in the last three years - three of them starting last September.

The CCMS published a `case for change' document explaining why it had brought forward the proposal.

No final decision has been made, however. All development proposals must be approved, or rejected, by the education minister.

Pupil numbers have decreased steadily from a peak of 47 in the 2007/08 school year to 17 in 2016/17.

CCMS said the school was financially unsustainable. The three year plan 2016-2019 shows a deficit of -£49,879 for 2016/17 declining to -£101,207 by 2017/18 and reaching -£154,494 by 2018/19.

The council added that children could have their needs met within neighbouring Catholic maintained primary schools St Patrick's, Aughadarragh and St Macartan's, Clogher, both of which are about three miles away. CCMS is expected to bring forward separate plans to merge these other two schools, should the St Brigid's closure go ahead.

Governors at St Brigid's pointed out that a parish survey in 2006 revealed overwhelming support for a three-school amalgamation onto a green field site.

"This was fully supported by the board of governors at the time and the present board of governors and trustees still feel this approach is the best way forward," the governors said.

"We are, therefore, asking CCMS to revert to this original plan and put substantial investment into our Catholic parish at a time when there appears to be an inequality investment issue in the parish of Clogher."

The governors also highlighted the use of the school facilities by the community, the degree and quality of parental involvement, the quality of the physical environment for learning and teaching and quality of and arrangements for pastoral care as strengths.

Meanwhile, a proposal to shut down Tullycarnet PS in east Belfast has been published.

The controlled school can admit 552 pupils but only fills about 70 places. Just five new P1s started this school year.