Merger schools agree on name

Our Lady’s College, Galway, will become the city’s newest secondary school, when the ‘Mercy’ and ‘Pres’ merge next year.
The name has been agreed, following discussions between staff at both schools, along with the motto – ‘Excellence Together’.
“Staff have also agreed a new uniform, dark purple, and will start introducing it from September,” says Dr Marie Griffin, CEO of Ceist (Catholic Education An Irish Schools Trust), patron of both schools.
“The schools will start working on a crest, and probably will run a competition.”
The schools will amalgamate in 2016, although the new school building – controversially planned for the site of the existing Presentation College – will not be completed at that stage.
“When the work starts it will only be on a certain portion of the site… the building may not be completely ready by then for that September, but both principals are looking at enhancing the curriculum for the students, by bringing in what’s on offer in both schools,” Dr Griffin added.
When asked about the controversy surrounding the selection of the site for Our Lady’s College, she said that the Presentation was the better choice.
“All decisions were arrived at through consultation,” she says.
“There were separate assessments of both schools carried out by the Department of Education & Skills. Those assessments came to the conclusion that the Presentation was the better option for the future.”
The report, which was published on June 5 and is available on the Ceist website, was carried out to determine “which site better meets the needs of a 500-pupil school.”
It found that the 1.7acre Presentation Secondary School made the construction of a multi-storey extension to the existing building feasible, with easy connections to the existing accommodation.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.