A PROPOSAL to merge three Catholic schools, including one thrust onto the world stage during a loyalist protest, is to be resurrected.
The future of Holy Cross Girls' PS in north Belfast is being considered along with the nearby Holy Cross Boys' and Mercy PS.
It is a decade since The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) said it was exploring the possibility of three school merger in the area.
Public consultations were held in 2006 on the future of three primary schools with a 'three into one' amalgamation put forward as a preferred option.
It was suggested at that time that the three schools would move to the site of the former St Gabriel's College, which shut in 2008 and was demolished four years later.
Holy Cross is one of the most recognised names in education in the north due to the loyalist protest of 2001 that brought the girls' school to world media attention.
Children as young as four faced loyalist protesters as they walked with their parents to school amid a huge security presence.
While the amalgamation plan was not taken forward at that time, the Irish News understands that a fresh consultation on Catholic primary provision in north Belfast is due to soon take place.
They are the latest plans brought forward by Catholic education chiefs in response to the Northern Ireland-wide area-based planning exercise. There are concerns that the north has too many schools and not enough pupils.
A separate scheme is already being progressed among north Belfast secondary schools. Parents of the all-girls' Little Flower School, however, are continuing to fight a plan that will see it merge with an all-boys' school.
Parents and staff in the three primary schools are expected to be told of the revised reorganisation plans in the coming weeks by CCMS.
There are about 800 pupils at the three schools combined, and while all three comfortably meet viability criteria - 140 pupils for an urban setting - they still have numerous surplus places.
Last year, Mercy had 211 pupils, although according to the Education Authority, has a maximum enrolment number of 684.
In 2016, Holy Cross Girls' had 169 pupils, but can take as many as 487. The boys' school is the largest, and filled 427 of its 445 places last year.
