School to get first major change in 136 years

CLASSES around the fireplace could soon be a thing of the past for pupils at a school which has had no major improvements since it opened 136 years ago.

Kyle National School near Killeagh in east Cork is one of more than 200 schools to benefit from a €73 million building package announced yesterday by Education Minister Mary Hanafin.

Principal Catherine Foley said the application for an extension and refurbishment was with the Department of Education since the 1980s.

“Some of the children’s parents and grandparents went to school here and the building is in more or less the same state as when it was built in 1870.

“The extension and extra classroom we sought is badly needed. We have some storage heaters in the school but we still also depend on the open fires during the winter. Hopefully now we can provide proper space and facilities.”

The principal has 18 third to sixth class pupils while the other mainstream teacher teaches 15 younger children, but their part-time learning support and resource teachers use a prefab situated on the school grounds for almost 20 years.

The school is one of 135 included in the €54m small schools scheme which will be offered grants of between €275,000 and €820,000, with average funding up by 20% over last year.

The administration of projects will be given to schools themselves as part of an expanding devolved grants system in the school building programme in recent years.

But the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) called on the department to make up previous shortfalls in the funding.

General secretary John Carr said: “Many schools that previoulsy opted into the devolved scheme have huge bills and are fundraising on a grand scale, while others are taking out bank loans to clear their debts.”

The remaining 75 schools, also funded on a devolved basis, will come under a scheme to allow them deliver extra small-scale permanent classroom accommodation.

Ms Hanafin said the devolving of funding to local level allows schools to have ownership of their projects and helps move projects to tender and construction in a specific timeframe.

“Our experience has shown that this devolution has the potential to deliver better value for money,” she said.

Coy Galway benefits most under the announcement, with €8.1m allocated for 23 schools, while Kyle National School is one of 20 Cork schools to share €7.5m.

Every county received some funding, meaning good news for almost every constituency, with two schools each benefiting in Carlow, Louth, Monaghan and Wicklow.