Cork students 'heartbroken' by decision to amalgamate their school with another 

The site of St Vincent’s Secondary School on St Mary's Road in Cork city. Picture: Facebook

Students at a prominent Cork school say they have been left "heartbroken" and "completely blindsided" by the decision to amalgamate their school with another from next year.

Last month, it was announced that the Department of Education had approved a proposal from Catholic Education Irish Schools' Trust (CEIST) and the Religious Sisters of Charity to amalgamate St Vincent’s Secondary School on St Mary's road in Cork City, with the North Presentation Secondary School in Farranree.

The location of the new school will be the existing site of the North Presentation school, with the school itself becoming co-educational from next September.

In a joint statement issued on September 19, management of both schools said the amalgamation's success would be ensured with "the full support of staff, parents and students". 

The schools also pledged to form sub-committees "with membership from the wider staffs, parents' associations and, where appropriate, students".

However, the student council of St Vincent's Secondary School now says the decision to amalgamate was made "without the permission or opinions" of students, and that their protests have been ignored for the past year and a half.

The students say they feel "completely blindsided by not only those in power who made this decision, but by the Department of Education, for leaving our voices go unnoticed the way it has."

The North Presentation Secondary School in Farranree, Cork City. Picture: Twitter

In a statement posted to their school's official Facebook account on Tuesday afternoon, the student council expressed dismay at having to relocate and leave the school "we spent so much time working on and working in, abandoned".

"Our school had many achievements over the years, our most recent milestone being the first school in Ireland to receive a Gold Unicef Rights Representing School Award. How hypocritical is it from those in higher power, that we won an award for listening to young people's voices, all for our own voices to be shut down?"

Council members say they are heartbroken, in particular, for the younger students whose lives they say will be "uprooted by the move" with "their bonds and memories destroyed".

They say younger students, already grappling with all that early secondary schooling entails, fear an "us vs them" situation in the amalgamated school.

The students stressed that while there is nothing wrong with the North Presentation School or its facilities, the decision to move students there was made "for purely financial reasons, when it should have been made to benefit the academic progression of young students".

"How can we learn and grow in a new building we don't want to be in?" the council asked.

The St Vincent's students also say it feels "completely disrespectful" to them to see money invested in single-sex schools in Cork City's southside, "but single-sex schools in the north side of the city are forced into a co-ed system we don't want to be a part of".

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Concluding their statement, the students promised to continue to fight for "our school, our students, our staff, out beautiful building, our friendships, our history, our future, our memories. Always."