Ballougry Primary School: Principal’s shock over Education Authority closure plan of Co Londonderry school

A session period has started over the closure of a most important faculty which has served the border neighborhood amongst Londonderry and Donegal for much more than 150 many years.

allougry Most important University is earmarked for closure in August 2023 in a prepare published by the Training Authority (EA), with the school’s principal stating all related with the college have been remaining “shocked” at the EA strategy.

The eight-7 days consultation interval is to go forward despite arguments from the board of governors at the 44-pupil university that strategies are in position to boost pupil figures in long term several years.

Previously this year, the EA discovered an formidable five-12 months plan to streamline the schooling system, with up to 300 educational facilities left struggling with an unsure potential.

Beneath the proposals, some 228 key colleges and 54 article-primary faculties tumble underneath the threshold of minimum pupil quantities.

With 44 pupils, Ballougry Principal School is properly beneath the EA information of 105 pupils for a university in a rural location and has been deemed “unsustainable”. With slipping pupil numbers and an working economical deficit which the EA claimed is probably to increase to £250,000 by 2024, the authority explained closing the faculty was the greatest option for preserving revenue.

The education and learning technique faces a even further 2{22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} budget reduce subsequent yr at a time when it is by now going through a multimillion-pound deficit, with EA figures displaying that educating a pupil at a scaled-down principal school is about £1,500 additional pricey than at a larger sized a single.

Ballougry is just three miles from Londonderry and only a mile from the border with Co Donegal some of the school’s pupils cross the border to go to.

The EA system to close the faculty said that pupils from Ballougry could as an alternative be part of primaries in Derry metropolis, wherever they would have a lot more academic and further-curricular routines.

Supporters of the university held a public conference very last 7 days, with principal Mr Damien O’Kane declaring the university was “shocked” to discover the intentions of the EA to seek advice from on closure.

In a letter to moms and dads the principal said he was very pleased of the youngsters and workers in the college and invited absolutely everyone in the neighborhood to clearly show the “incredible methods forward” the university has built in excess of the years.

“Unfortunately, the Instruction Authority’s Region Preparing Department aim on faculty enrolment numbers and school finances irrespective of the a lot of other traits educational facilities have, especially the tiny rural universities these types of as ours,” he stated.

“We, myself and the board of governors are as stunned as I know you will be. We have constantly managed that Ballougry has designed extraordinary steps forward and we have evidential documents to back this up, which we really feel the EA have not given because of credit rating to.

“We now want your support, as our dedicated mothers and fathers and guardians, to notify the Education Authority by this approach that we ought to have to keep on being in this local community.

“Please relaxation assured that I will continue to do everything inside of my ability to do the absolute best for Ballougry Major College,” he included.

“I will proceed to make investments all my initiatives in its ongoing development and growth.”

As well as having pupils from Co Donegal, Ballougry is in a shared education partnership with two universities in the Irish county.

Its small children get element in regular activities with pupils from St Joseph’s Nationwide College in Rathmullan and Ayr Hill Countrywide University.

It will be the accountability of any long term training minister to determine no matter whether the faculty closes, with a remaining conclusion predicted in January 2023.

The Education Authority is expected to continue on stepping up the 5-12 months program for streamlining the instruction technique pursuing the session on its area program, that means numerous much more rural schools will be on the lookout above shoulders. The session approach on Ballougry PS system runs right up until Wednesday, June 29.

The school was named on a list of those with sustainability troubles by the EA in 2019.