Mayo school plans €7 million new build
Builders may soon be back on site at Ballyhaunis Community School as management prepares for a €7 million investment in a new special needs unit.
COMMUNITY NOTES: BALLYHAUNIS - WESTERN PEOPLE (OCTOBER 7 EDITION)
Builders may soon be back on site at Ballyhaunis Community School as management prepares for a €7 million investment in a new special needs unit.
“It’s really a vote of confidence in the school,” explained school principal David McDonagh who explained the project is at “stage 2A” in the Department of Education planning procedure - a reference to the stage at which a new project is fully designed and costed prior to going for planning approval.
The new buildings will house special classes and will have “a lot of ancillary equipment and facilities” while being fully integrated into the school, said Mr McDonagh.
The population of the school now stands at 720 after 150 students graduated earlier this year. Some 120 new students entered the school in September.
“Numbers are down slightly”, yet “we’re very close to capacity”, said Mr McDonagh.
“We are under pressure for room and space. Without three prefabs, we wouldn’t have been able to manage.”
The demographics of the wider Ballyhaunis area, which has one of the youngest and fastest growing populations in Ireland, means numbers of school-going children are still “very strong,” the principal explained.
The school meanwhile is expanding its offering of subjects. Computer science and physical education (PE) will now be options for Leaving Cert. Both subjects have proven popular, said Mr McDonagh, and were introduced in response to society in general.
“The whole area of sports science has really become interesting to young people,” he noted.
The computer class, with its coding, gives students a chance to explore skills in information technology (IT).
The offering of the two new Leaving Cert subjects does, however, put pressure on the school’s IT facilities.
“While computer science is heavily reliant on IT equipment, similarly, the PE class students also need access to IT equipment,” explained Mr McDonagh.
The granting of DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) status to the school in 2022 has allowed it to appoint a new deputy principal and a home school liaison officer while also providing free school meals.
DEIS status comes with perks like school meals but also enhanced funding, thus taking some burdens off parents “like fees for mock exams”, said Mr McDonagh.
DEIS funding also requires recipient schools to focus on school improvement planning in the form of a self-evaluation process, “looking at where you are at and look at areas to improve on,” explained Mr McDonagh.
“DEIS also focuses on areas like retention,” he added. “We are very fortunate that we have very high retention rates.”
Having a school liaison officer who visits homes and parents “means we have someone who has time to make crucial links with the wider community”, the principal added.
“It has raised the status of the school especially among new communities. They understand how the school works.”
