Published: Thursday, 18th March, 2010 9:07am

Revolutionary new school model on cards for Johnstown

by Paul Murphy

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Peter Kierans, CEO of Meath VEC has met with some school principals and boards of management to discuss the future of education in the area.

A new model of education which would see children of all religious faiths and none educated in one 'community national school' in Navan under the patronage of Meath VEC should pose no threat to the future of existing schools in the town, the VEC's chief executive officer said this week.

As plans for the new school - to be named Ard Rí - were revealed, it emerged that the VEC official, Peter Kierans, met with six primary school principals and chairpersons of boards of management from outlying areas of Navan this week to discuss the future of education in the area.

None of the Navan town primary school representatives attended because the timing was inconvenient, although it is expected that a meeting with the VEC CEO will take place next Wednesday.

It also comes in the week that calls have been made for the fast-tracking of planning permission for a new school building for St Stephen's National School in Johnstown. A planning application for a new 960-pupil national school at Athlumney, close to a site which has been the subject of negotiation for some years, was lodged last week.

The new system of education, which caters for pupils of all faiths and none, is already being piloted at two schools in the north Dublin/Blanchardstown area of Dublin - Scoil Grainne and Scoil Choilm. When the project goes ahead in Navan, it will be the first such community national school outside the capital and represents, according to Mr Kierans, "a most historic step forward for the VEC in operating patronage of the school".

According to the VEC, demand for school places is expected to explode over the next few years because of two factors - the 'baby boomers' who emerged in the wake of Pope John Paul 11's visit to Ireland in 1979 are having their own children now, and the creation of a veritable 'new town' in the Johnstown area of Navan. It is expected that there will be an increase of almost 2,000 students in primary education in Navan over the six years from 2008. This means there will be a need for 70 new classrooms by 2014.

However, Mr Kierans stressed that there would be no threat posed by the new model of school for Navan being proposed and supported by the Department of Education. The new school is scheduled to be open for an intake of pupils in September this year.

His words appeared to be echoed by Navan's St Mary's parish administrator, Fr Declan Hurley, this week who said there was no ideological bias against the new model of school being proposed. "We all understand that we are a more diverse society than we used to be. There will be diversity in the schools and we welcome that," he said.

It is believed that the Department of Education and Science has already identified land for the school (along with a secondary school and possibly other primary schools) at the old St Martha's College in Johnstown and is in negotiation with a landowner in order to progress the project.

The school will be co-educational and will welcome children of all faiths and none. The catchment area for Ard Rí is Navan town and its hinterland.

The VEC CEO said this week he could understand how some people might feel a little uneasy about the prospect of an entirely new and "revolutionary" model of education but he stressed that the new model posed no threat. "We want to emphasise that we are a partner rather than a competitor," he said.

He said that while some people might question the accuracy of the statistics presented to support a projected need for more classroom spaces, he believed the evidence was irrefutable. The projected enrolments for 2009/2010 up to 2012/2013 were based on data received from the Department of Social and Family Affairs (Child Benefit Section).

The projected number of pupils in these years is based on the number of children with an address in the catchment area who are in receipt of child benefit, for example the number of four year-olds with an address in the catchment area who will be starting school in 2009, and the three year-olds who will start school in 2010 and so on.

According to the Department of Education, there is a record of "a huge uplift" of numbers going into primary school in Navan. There has been steady growth in numbers over five years (about 150 a year). If the number of pupils coming into the system stays at 150, it is projected that up to 1,200 will be presenting for primary education over the eight years from 2008.

There are at present approximately 3,000 schools throughout the country under the patronage of the Catholic church, about 300 under Church of Ireland patronage, and between 70-90 under the Educate Together patronage.

There is believed to be some resistance in Navan to the new 'community national school' model and some school authorities say that there is sufficient class space in the town to cope with the numbers coming in. However, promoters of the new model say the statistical evidence does not support this and that an explosion in demand for new school places will become evident over the next few years.