State-of-art new school holds first classes in Athboy

Even though Monday morning of this week saw the first hard frost of this winter, students of Athboy Community School had no problems getting out of bed to go to school. This week sees the 550 students of the school move into their new school building, beginning with the Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate exam classes on Monday morning, and there was a huge buzz of anticipation in the new building on Monday. While it's often a cliché, this new school is truly state-of-the-art, one of six in the country to be built to high specifications under a new public private partnership (PPP) scheme. It replaces the 2004-amalgamated convent secondary school and Athboy Vocational School, on which work began in July 2010. The new school building, which can accommodate 950 students, was built under the PPP scheme between MacQuarie Developments for Ireland and the National Development and Finance Agency, with the main contractor Sisk. Facilities include 21 general classrooms, three woodwork/architectural technology rooms, two engineering rooms, two home economics rooms with a dedicated dress design room, three art rooms, five science rooms, three multimedia rooms and a fully equipped gym and fitness suite. The building will also have dedicated rooms for music, mathematics, social studies, business, religious education, technical graphics, a library and parents'/guardians' room, hard court playing areas and a full-size soccer pitch. The new building will also incorporate a special needs unit which will provide for students with special needs and allow for access to mainstream classes as required. The music/drama room opens out onto the general purpose area and a seated courtyard, allowing for performances to reach a greater audience. There are tiered lecture rooms, and the school will be run by an international management company under the PPP deal. Chairman of the board of management, Fr Patrick O'Connor, PP, handed over the keys to principal Anthony Leavy on Monday morning. Fr O'Connor described the occasion as one which will be recorded in the annals of Athboy history, and said that the staff, pupils and town should be proud of the school, the most modern in the country. He was sorry that the present Leaving Certs would only get to spend a year in it, but hoped that they would get to use to best advantage all the facilities. It was a new chapter and he paid tribute to the board of management, staff, students and all for their patience and principal Mr Leavy for organising timetables and buses between the previous two campuses. The school is holding a special open day for the community this Sunday, 13th November, from 2pm to 6pm, for anyone from the general public who wishes to see the new school and its facilities, and an open night for first years at 7pm on 22nd November for 2012-2013 students.