School turning away 50 pupils per year
Balrothery NS Primary school is 'bursting at the seams'
The local national school is bursting at the seams, according to Balrothery Community Council which has called for a short-term, emergency response to the crisis while a more permanent solution is found.
The school is turning away pupils at the rate of up to 50 and 60 per year and according to the school principal, PJ Keary, the situation is set to get even worse over the next number of years.
The council has given permission to a 150unit social and affordable housing development in the area which is being occupied at the moment. That development is set to put even more pressure on the already creaking local education system.
Simply adding prefabs to the site is not an option either, according to community council chairperson, Niall Keady.
'I've spoken to the principal and he says there is no more room on the site for prefabs – the playing space on the site is already very limited,' Mr Keady said.
According to Mr Keady, there are about 40 places in the school each year but 30 of those are quickly filled by the school's admission policy which gives preference to the siblings of existing students.
That leaves 10 new places up for grabs and annually there are up to 60 children competing for those precious school places. Mr Keady says the demands on the school have 'grown massively' in recent years and that demand is set to get even greater with the arrival of new residents in the village.
A local developer has offered four acres behind the school for the construction of a new school. Negotiations with the Fingal County Council are ongoing over that project which has the full support of the community council.
- BY JOHN MANNING
