Department's plans to split Cork school condemned by principal

“Clearly the people making this plan have no knowledge of the local area,” says principal Trina Golden. File picture: Denis Minihane

A Cork principal has criticised the Department of Education's proposal to split the development of her school, Owenabue Educate Together National School (OETNS), across two sites on either side of one of Ireland’s busiest commuter towns.

Under the department's plan for September 2024, whilst the main school will remain in Herons Wood, two classes will move to prefabricated classrooms on the site of Carrigaline Educate Together National School (CETNS) in Kilnagleary.

“Clearly the people making this plan have no knowledge of the local area,” says principal Trina Golden. “A parent having to drop off at both sites might get across the town in 30 minutes on a good day, but they could be up to 45 minutes in traffic.” 

The plan could see children separated from their siblings as well as the administrative and support hubs of their school community. They will also have no access to essential facilities, including support teaching spaces, sensory areas, and outdoor play spaces. 

The department has also been accused of refusing to address concerns around integration for autism classes, health and safety issues, and disparities in resources between the two sites.

These concerns come on the back of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) landmark policy advice paper, published in January 2024, which calls for an “inclusive education for an inclusive society". 

CEO of the NCSE, John Kearney, acknowledged the importance of adequate supports and infrastructure saying: “Student outcomes are enabled with a greater availability of therapeutic and psychological supports within schools. Student learning experiences are enriched with enhanced teacher professional learning and improvements to schools buildings.” 

Emer Nowlan, chief executive of Educate Together, said: "This cost-cutting could seriously threaten enrolment. We are here to serve a need; the population is growing, but a measure like this goes against everybody’s interests.” File  photo: Moya Nolan

OETNS opened in September 2020 as a one-classroom school in the Carrigaline Lions Club, then moved to temporary accommodation in Rosemount, Herons Wood. 

Permanent accommodation had been promised to the school, but this was re-allocated in 2021. An alternative permanent site was purchased in January 2023, but the department's latest interim proposal is characterised as being inadequate.

It is a small piece of a much bigger picture when it comes to the fate of developing schools.  Speaking to this newspaper in 2023, CEO of Educate Together, Emer Nowlan, identified that the patron has “41 out of 117 schools in temporary accommodation, about a third, and some of them for far too long".

“What will happen in two years’ time when we still have another year or two before our school is built? Where will we go then?” adds Ms Golden. “The project manager on the intended site sees no reason why we can’t move there whilst the final build is underway. 

"This happens elsewhere. This cost-cutting could seriously threaten enrolment. We are here to serve a need; the population is growing, but a measure like this goes against everybody’s interests.” 

Maeve McGinn, Parent Nominee to the Board of Management said: ”This decision by the Department of Education is beyond comprehension. Not only is this separating friends and siblings, it is isolating a number of pupils away from the main school with almost no facilities or supports. 

"Furthermore, parents with siblings in the school cannot possibly get their children to school on time, given the time it will take to travel between locations. Those children will be denied the full education they are entitled to.”

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A Department of Education spokesperson said a project to provide a new 16-classroom primary school building for OETNS is being advanced by the department and is currently at Stage 1 — preliminary design.

"Pending the completion of this new school building, interim arrangements for the accommodation of the school have been put in place.

"In order to facilitate the continued growth of the school, additional accommodation is required for the 2024/25 school year. The department is currently engaging with the school patron, Educate Together, to put a solution in place in this regard," they said.