An important milestone has been reached in Coláiste ĺosagáin’s quest for a new school.
Planning permission has now been submitted to Offaly County Council for the construction of a state of the art building which will accommodate 1,300 pupils.
The existing school will then be demolished to replaced by playing pitches and parking.
This has been a long road for the school. A design team was initially appointed in 2014 when Seamus Bennett was Principal.
Between then and now, there have been a number of changes. The remit went from an extension to a totally new build.
Initially, this was to cater for 1,200 pupils but now that has been extended to 1,300 pupils.
Principal Justin Brown says that this development ‘has been a long time coming’.
He said: “We have been very patient – may be too patient and waited our turn while other schools were constructed/renovated.
“The students, staff and community of Portarlington are just as entitled to a modern post primary school as any other town.
“We do not expect preferential treatment but on the other hand we don’t expect to be the ‘poor relation’ either.
“Thankfully the two main primary schools in the town – Presentation Primary and St. Patrick’s BNS have received new builds over the past number of years.
“We are one of the largest if not largest school in Laois and Offaly with an enrolment of over 1100 pupils. We are in a school that was built for 750 students with eight blocks of prefabs.
“While we take great pride in our buildings and school we are looking forward to our new build. While we have waited this long one of the advantages is the building will be up to date with the most modern of facilities.”
Mr Brown says that the absence of a new building has not impacted the development of the school – thanks to the hard working and dedicated staff.
He said: “This year we are introducing PE and Computer Science to our Leaving Certificate Curriculum and Spanish into First Year.
“We have also been chosen as a pilot school for the new Leaving Certificate subject Climate Action and Sustainable Development in 2025.
“We have also just completed an Inspection of our successful Leaving Certificate Applied programme where eight of our LCA 2 students were the first in the Country to take the Maths Leaving Certificate Established paper.
“The school and Board of Management would like to acknowledge the work of the Design Team lead by Keith Major of Kennedy Fitzgerald Architects of Belfast. The Design Team also includes local company MJ Turley.
“The officials in the Building Unit of the Department have also been very helpful and are as keen to see the development underway as the school.
“Cathal Berry, the local TD made the construction of a new school a priority and has worked accordingly.
“We would also like to thank the Presentation Sisters as it is on the land that they donated initially that the school will be built upon.
“Although we now under the trusteeship of CEIST we are mindful of our roots as both Presentation Sisters and Christian Brothers schools prior to the amalgamation.
“Lastly but by no means least we would like to acknowledge our students, staff, parents (past and present) and the community of Portarlington who have always been so supportive of our school.
“As a sole provider we are very conscious of our obligations to the community and the students we serve.
“Therefore, while a milestone has been reached we will not rest easy until we see the construction of our new school.
“Opened in 2000, in 2025 we will celebrate our Silver Jubilee. This news is nice way to start off our celebrations.”
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