Over-subscribed new school forced to turn students away

It is not so long ago that the Board of Management at the new secondary school in Claregalway were canvassing the local primary schools and encouraging them to send their pupils to the new facility.

Such is the success of Colaiste Bhaile Chlair that they have now reached saturation point, leaving them with no choice but to implement an acceptance criteria and turning pupils away.

And this has resulted in some students in the area having to opt for other secondary schools with no guarantee of bus transport from the Department of Education. It has left some families with a major headache.

It has now resulted in calls for another secondary school to be established in the area with a suggestion that it be located in Corrandulla so that it can accommodate students from the wider Annaghdown area.

According to local Cllr James Charity it has emerged that as many as 29 sixth class pupils within the catchment area for Colaiste Bhaile Chlair have been refused entry for the coming September as the school is over subscribed.

“This is the fourth year in a row that the problem has arisen and has led to calls to examine the establishment of a secondary school in Corrandulla,” the independent councilor has said.

Cllr Charity said a number of students refused entry to Colaiste Bhaile Chlair will have appeals heard by the school’s Board of Management.

They have been told that once there have been in excess of 180 applications from the school’s catchment area, it applies a distance criteria in its admissions policy which means children furthest away from the school, despite being in the catchment, are the ones who lose out.

“Invariably, this means students from areas like Annaghdown, Corrandulla, Corbally and Corofin are those affected every year and who are now left in limbo again.

“To make matters worse, if they now choose to attend another post primary school which is in fact further away, they have no automatic entitlement to school bus transport from the Department. As a result, families and students from these areas are being doubly penalised.

“Parents of children in the locality feel justifiably aggrieved because when the development of Colaiste Bhaile Chlair was bring mooted, both they and the local primary schools in the area were approached to support the development based on the fact it would benefit their children.

“Now they are being told that they can’t access the school because of where they live. I think it is now well past time that consideration is seriously given to providing a secondary school in Corrandulla.

“It is well known that the Department are looking at locations in the county for an Educate Together Secondary School and I would urge them to look into Corrandulla,” Cllr Charity added.

He said that with four local primary schools, one of which is one of the largest in County Galway, the geographical proximity of the area to the Educate Together primary school in Claregalway, and the large growing population of the hinterland, the time is now right to provide a new secondary school in the area.