No enrolment queues for ‘outside’ children

YOUR front page story with its very evocative photograph (January 3) showing the extreme measures undertaken by prospective Tralee parents for a school place for their children for September 2010 is one of the most amazing stories I have read in a long teaching career.

I reflect on the story as the retired principal of a greatly over-subscribed English Catholic school that had significant Mercy order input over the years.

Although it was great to hear how committed Tralee parents are to achieving the best education for their children, it was sad to read that so many of them felt obliged to camp out for five days and nights in below-zero temperatures in order to secure a place in a well-resourced school.