West Cork school to accept first male pupils in its 200-year history
Colaiste na Toirbhirte is aiming to provide an extension on part of its 12-acre campus to cater for a student body of 1,000 within a few years.
A famous ‘convent’ secondary school in west Cork is set to accept its first male students in its near 200-year-history.
Coláiste na Toirbhirte in Bandon, which has been an all-female school since its foundation by the Presentation Sisters in 1829, is now accepting enrolment as a co-education status school from next September when the first male students will take classes there.
Principal Mary Galvin said the 500-pupil school has also lodged an additional accommodation request with the department of education to provide an extension on part of its 12-acre campus to cater for a student body of 1,000 within a few years.
The reaction from staff, parents and from the wider town has been positive, she said.
“There was a sense that it was time,” she said.
“The parents, the wider Bandon community, and there was very much a perception that this was the time, that this would be good, and that it was a positive news story and it gave us huge encouragement to start preparing and moving forward.”
She told Patricia Messenger on C103FM that there has been a shortage in the number of available school places at second level in the town, particularly for boys, over the last couple of years.
The Department of Education approached the school’s trustees, Ceist, and asked them to consider changing the school's status to co-ed status, before it was approved by the school’s board of management.
It will require a number of physical changes to the building, including the adaptation of toilets and changing rooms.
The additional accommodation has been designed to cater for a student body of 1,000 but Ms Galvin said student numbers will grow slowly and incrementally.
The design of the boys’ school uniform is being finalised.
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