New national school in talks on temporary site in Navan

Meath Vocational Education Committee (VEC) officials are in discussions with the management of Navan Rugby Club with a view to locating the proposed new community national school to be operated by the VEC in a temporary capacity at the club. Meanwhile, the VEC has announced the appointment of 25-year-old Patrick Sullivan as the new principal of the school, to be named Ard Rí National School, and which will open in September. Two locatiions are being examined as possible locations for the one-class school - one at Athlumney and the Balreask Old club. Officials of the club met Meath VEC chief executive Peter Kierans and education officer Christy Duffy this week. Mr Kierans said yesterday (Tuesday) that the discussions with the rugby club had gone "very well". He said the club would be a very attractive location from the VEC's viewpoint because it was a premises which was very near Johnstown and accessible to the parents of children who were prospective pupils. It is hoped that the VEC will be in a position to come to a conclusion on the location sometime this week. The school, which is the first of its kind being promoted by the VEC outside Dublin, is in an enrolment phase at present but will definitely open its doors in September, according to the VEC. While the school would be set up in a temporary location, the VEC authorities are exploring sites for a permanent building at Johnstown. Valuations have been completed and are being forwarded to the Department of Education. The VEC CEO said that it would then join with other schools in "fighting its corner" for a permanent building. The permanent building would either be a two-stream or three-stream school in a 16-classroom or 24-clasroom building. The new principal of the Ard Rí Community National School - Patrick Sullivan - is a native of Monasterboice, Co Louth, and is currently teaching in Callystown National School in Clogherhead. Having obtained his BA degree from NUI Maynooth, he moved to England to complete his teacher training. He trained as a teacher in Brunel University, London, where he graduated with first class honours. During this time, he also had the opportunity of teaching in a highly multicultural environment in London. He is currently completing a masters degree in mentoring and leadership at UCD. In addition to his teaching experience in London, Mr Sullivan also has experience of teaching in north-east India. He is a team leader with educatiinal development group called Globalschoolroom and spent last summer as lecturer on a UCD graduate diploma being delivered to local teachers in India. He said that Ard Rí Community National School will be committed to the highest standards of education where each child is helped to reach his/her personal potential. "I am delighted to be appointed as principal of the new Ard Rí Community National School in Navan," he said, expressing his excitement about the prospect of working with parents and the community to begin the first community national school under VEC patronage in County Meath. The teaching profession runs in Patrick's family. His mother, Rose, is also a teacher and his cousin, David Campbell, is principal of Scoil Grainne Community National School in the Clonsilla area of Dublin.