By Claire Corrigan
There was great excitement amongst parents, sponsors and public representatives as principal Lorraine Scally of Gaelscoil an Choilín officially launched the plans for the new school at a gathering at the Annebrook Hotel on Sunday evening.
Earlier this month, Topic revealed that school was to relocate to the Lynn Road where a new state of the art three-storey building is due to be completed in 2019, which will be joined by Saplings Special School on the site, “We have been waiting for a long time for this, since 2006.”
Ms. Scally told those gathered how Gaelscoil an Choilín was established by a working group in 2004 and set up as an interdenominational Gaelscoil, “It was approved by the Department of Education and Skills and is under the patronage of An Foras Patrúnachta na Scoileanna Lán Gaeilge Teo. “
Following a successful application for the school, teachers and pupils were placed in temporary structures on the grounds of Cullion GAA Club, “We are a town school and are here to serve Mullingar town and all of the families in it that are looking for diversity and choice in how their children are educated.”
She said that as the only interdenominational Gaelscoil in the region, the school’s catchment area also extended well outside the town perimeters. She revealed that for the first time ever, this year parents could enroll their children two years in advance, “We are enrolling for 2019 at the moment as well as 2018 to give us an idea of the numbers we will be dealing with. Do I expect that we are going to have waiting lists for our junior infants classes? Absolutely, which is why it’s important to get the word out that we are here and open for business. We have 85 students now and will be able to cater for up to 240 children when we move into town.”
She explained that the planning application would be made on the school’s behalf by the Department of Education and Skills to Westmeath County Council, “The site is now in the hands of the Department and zoned for our use. We are hoping the planning will go pretty swiftly. The Department has said they want us in for Easter 2019.”
She thanked Deputy Willie Penrose and Deputy Robert Troy who have been supporters of the school since it opened, “I will also thank Cllr. Bill Collentine, Cllr Johnny Penrose and Cllr. Ken Glynn. They supported us when we needed them and arranged various meetings to get us to where we are.”
She said the single stream school would be a “tall but small” building and “very much a feature on the Lynn Road. The Department really worked with the council on this. There will be a road coming in and around at Expert which makes it safer for children walking to school.”
Deputy Penrose said that a lot of work had gone into bringing the plans for the new school to fruition, “We arranged meetings with the Minister at the time and advocated very strongly and got it into the programme. It’s accelerating thankfully which indicates significant demand. I also want to pay tribute to my own hurling club Cullion who facilitated the school at a critical time and indeed Westmeath County Council who extended a temporary planning permission to accommodate them.”
He said with significant demand for school places, the new facility would help alleviate the stress on parents of children who are due to start school, “It’s a wonderful location on the OPW site, the old decentralisation site and while we are all disappointed that the decentralisation did not progress due to the economic downturn, at least something positive is coming.
“I’m also delighted that Saplings School is being accommodated. They have done tremendous work in facilitating numbers and played a key role in providing the facility for children. It’s a really good news story and we’re glad to see that site, which is in state ownership, used.”
