Places extended for St. Paul’s Bessbrook students

Newly elected Newry and Armagh MP Mickey Brady has said he is delighted to announce that Sinn Fein Education Minister John O’Dowd has granted a temporary variation to St. Paul’s High School, allowing for the admission of extra students into the school for Year 8.

“Following the lengthy application process for applying to Post- Primary schools our offices and councillors were inundated with calls from parents who were deeply upset that their children had not received a place in St Paul’s,” he told Newry Times.

“Along with my colleagues Megan Fearon MLA and Conor Murphy we met with the Minister and representatives of his department to explain the extenuating circumstances in St Paul’s and to put the case forward for admission numbers to the school to be increased.

“I’m delighted to be able to report that Minister O’Dowd has now granted the school a temporary variation in admissions numbers allowing for an extra 24 places in Year 8.

“This means the school will now be able to accommodate all applications that met the conditions laid out in sub-categories A(2) and A(3).

“I’m also happy to say that following months of lobbying by Sinn Fein representatives the Board of Governors have assured us that they are to review the entrance criteria to ensure that a similar problem does not arise next year,” he explained.

“I want to extend my congratulations to St. Paul’s and to all its new pupils. In many ways St Paul’s has been a victim of its own success in this regard; it now has such an exemplary reputation that parents are understandably keen for their children to go there, leading to it being over-subscribed every year.

“This is clearly a ringing endorsement of non-selective education and the wonderful community service offered by this school. I would also like to thank the school and all the parents involved for bringing this issue to our attention and their patience while we worked to resolve it,” Brady added.

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Posted by Newry Times News on May 29 2015. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry