Seanad debates
Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Commencement Matters
School Accommodation Provision
10:30 am
Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing the Commencement matter I have tabled. It is a pressing and urgent matter that needs to be heard by the Minister for Education and Skills and his officials. It relates to a school I attended, St. Declan's community college in Kilmacthomas, which serves the entire mid-County Waterford area.
Established as a vocational school in the 1970s, St. Declan's college is one of the huge success stories of the vocational educational system. It has been successful across many areas, including academia, vocations in jobs, in producing graduates and high performance in sports. The school will participate in an all-Ireland colleges football final on Saturday against a school from Ardee in County Louth. The school also produces excellent graduates who go into technology and engineering throughout the region and indeed the country. I am very proud of the school and the vocational educational system should also be very proud of it.
Unfortunately, it is now a victim of its own success. Student numbers have risen steadily since it was established. Credit for this is due to the current and former principals, and the current and former staff of the school. Today I think of people like my former teachers, Seán Ahern and Jim Timmins, who were teachers, and deputy principal and principal at the school. Unfortunately both of them have now gone to their eternal rest. They would be very proud to see the school's present success.
For the coming school year in September 2018 more than 170 applications for enrolment have been made. The school normally enrols 120 students each year. Over recent years it has projected increases and in 2015 it applied for additional accommodation. The school has gone to enormous lengths to accommodate the additional applications this year and 150 students have been accepted for September 2018. However, that leaves 21 students and their parents very concerned and frustrated because they have not been accepted even though they come from immediate feeder schools.
Almost ten of those students come from Kilmacthomas primary school which is next door to the secondary school. A few more come from Newtown national school, which is only 5 km up the road and more come from Kill national school. The nearest alternative secondary school for any of these students is 20 km away, which would mean longer days, costly bus trips and all the other issues associated with ferrying students to and from school. It is causing enormous stress to the students.
I am asking for the Minister of State's support for my request that the Department of Education and Skills provide the urgent additional accommodation to meet the needs of the school, now and for the years ahead. It is a successful school. It deserves support on merit. I hope I will get good news this morning that the school will receive funding for the additional accommodation so that all the students who live in the area, some of them attending primary school right next door, get the support they need and can access the school in September.
Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising the matter. It is an issue with which we are all familiar in our constituencies. I have a similar problem in my constituency. Students who have applied to the local school in Ennis, which their father or mother attended, find that the school enrolment is full. It is an issue for everybody and we need to try to deal with it in a structured way. I again apologise for the Minister, Deputy Bruton, not being available this morning. St. Declan's college made a good job of Senator Coffey, who is a past pupil. It is great to see that Waterford is taking to football as well as hurling.
I again thank the Senator for raising the matter, as it gives me the opportunity on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to outline the status of an application for additional accommodation at St. Declan's community college in Kilmacthomas.
As the Senator mentioned, St. Declan's community college is a co-educational school catering for boys and girls. Enrolments have declined over recent years from 686 in 2012 to 663 students currently. The patron of the school is Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board.
The Department of Education and Skills received an application for major capital funding for additional school accommodation from Waterford and Wexford ETB. The Department has engaged with the ETB on the application and the ETB has advised that it intends submitting a revised application to the Department shortly.When received, the application will be considered and a decision conveyed to the ETB.
I understand there are eight primary schools in the school planning area in which St. Declan’s community college is located. An indicative analysis indicates that the school authority is enrolling pupils from a number of schools outside its school planning area. On school admissions, parents can choose to which school they wish to apply and, where it has places available, the pupil should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than the number of places available, a selection process may be necessary. The selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and applied fairly for all applicants. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice.
In order to plan for school provision, the demographic data for the Kilmacthomas school planning area, like other school planning areas nationwide, are being kept under ongoing review by the Department of Education and Skills to take account of updated child benefit and enrolment data. Where the demographic data indicate that additional provision is required, its delivery is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, depending on circumstances, be delivered through either one or a combination of the following: utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools; extending the capacity of a school or schools; or the provision of a new school or schools.
I will convey the Senator's concerns to the Minister. I am well aware of the issue. As the Senator said, the school is a victim of its own success, given the fact that there are so many parents who want to send their children to a school that has done so well during the years. It is certainly an issue, on which, as I said, the Department is in touch with the school authorities. It is reviewing the position on enrolment.
I again thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to outline the current position on the application for additional accommodation at St. Declan’s community college. The Department will continue to liaise with Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board on the school’s accommodation needs. I will convey the Senator's concerns to the Minister. As he said, the school is a victim of its own success.
Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)
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With local councillor Seanie Power, I have met the concerned parents. This issue is causing a lot of worry and stress. There are students living next door to the school who cannot access it. We have engaged with the Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board and the board of management of the school to try to find a solution, but the only solution is the provision of additional accommodation.
To be honest, I am disappointed with the response as it refers to the school planning areas. With due respect to the Minister of State, it is the typical response from officials in the Department of Education and Skills. I come from Portlaw, the school in which has traditionally been a feeder school for the school in Kilmacthomas. In fact, if the officials were to look back at the records, they would see that a technical school was closed in Portlaw and a commitment given that all students from the area would be educated in the new vocational school in Kilmacthomas, which is now St. Declan's community college. It is not good enough that the same officials now say Portlaw and surrounding areas are not included in the school planning area. There is a history to this matter on which I expect the officials to look back. I also expect them to support the school that was set up in the 1960s and give us the additional accommodation the students need and deserve. I will continue to pursue this issue until a satisfactory solution is found. The students, parents and the school needs it.
Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I hope the situation will work out for those students who have not yet found a place in Kilmacthomas. There is still time before September and I have seen it happen from time to time. As the Senator said, there is a history to this issue which I will convey to the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton. The board of management may have met senior officials in the Department, but, if not, it is important to pursue that aspect through the the Minister and the Department. I hope that, when he is in Waterford at some stage, the Minister will have an opportunity to visit the school to see at first hand the unsatisfactory situation outlined by the Senator. The problem is critical. Of course, everything depends on the provision of resources.