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School saved from closure for a third time

St Mary's High School in Fermanagh had been proposed for closure on August 31, 2018
St Mary's High School in Fermanagh had been proposed for closure on August 31, 2018 St Mary's High School in Fermanagh had been proposed for closure on August 31, 2018

CATHOLIC school chiefs have withdrawn a plan to shut down a rural school close to the border.

A proposal had been published, which if approved, would have seen St Mary's High School in Brollagh Co Fermanagh close in August 2018.

It had originally been proposed that it shut in 2015, however, then education minister John O'Dowd went against his advisers by deciding it should remain open.

At that time it had 121 pupils, considerably fewer than the 500 required to be "viable". Last year that had dropped to just 89.

Accessibility is a major issue for children. If St Mary's shut, pupils have to travel into Enniskillen even though the school is less than two miles from Donegal.

The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) withdrew the latest proposal this week.

In a letter to the school, CCMS said this was based on "the issues that had been raised during the consultation period".

A parents group fighting to retain post-primary education now plans to explore the option of integrated schooling.

"The Parents Action Group are continuing with their research into building on the achievements at St Mary's High School and developing post primary education in the area," a spokewoman said.

"We have a meeting planned with NICIE to discuss the options of developing integrated education for the area.

"We highly commend the pupils and the staff at the school, this is third closure proposal that the school has endured. Despite this and a continued lack of funding, they consistently defy all of the odds and achieve an amazing 100 per cent five GCSE A*-C, competing at grammar school performance levels."

The CCMS previously rejected a cross-border partnership model because each component school would have to be sustainable in its own right.

A business case said St Mary's was not viable. It had a deficit of about -£437,000 in 2013, which was expected to rise to -£791,000 by 2016.

In October last year, former education minister Peter Weir said his officials agreed with the CCMS analysis "that a cross-border approach would not meet required quality thresholds, nor would such an approach be cost effective".