O’Dowd turns down proposal to increase capacity at local primary school

Education Minister, John O’Dowd, has turned down a development proposal to increase enrolment at St Colman’s Primary School, Saval, near Newry.

Minister O’Dowd

The Southern Education and Library Board, on behalf of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, published a proposal to increase the enrolment at St Colman’s PS from 174 to 203 pupils.

Commenting on his decision to turn down the proposal, Mr O’Dowd said, “While the enrolment at St Colman’s Primary School has grown steadily in recent years, there are other maintained primary schools in the area that have high levels of unfilled places or enrolment levels below the Sustainable Schools Policy threshold.

“It is clear from the evidence that schools in the local area have sufficient places to meet the current demand for maintained primary provision.

He added, “Increasing the enrolment at St Colman’s Primary School could have a detrimental impact on other nearby schools. Taking all of the evidence into account, and in the absence of a strategic area solution to address the issues at the other schools, I am unable to approve the proposal.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Mar 18 2015. Filed under Community, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry