ALL SINGLE-SEX schools will have to ensure that their prospectuses and enrolment policies state clearly that they are single-sex schools to ensure they are in line with the terms of the Equal Status Act of 2000, Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe said yesterday.
Mr O'Keeffe said his department would be writing to all 254 single-sex post-primary schools advising them to specify clearly their enrolment policies after a 12-year-old girl successfully appealed against a decision by the Cork City VEC not to allow her attend an all-boys school.
Meagan Kavanagh, who has learning difficulties, had applied to go to her local school, the Nagle Community College in Mahon in Cork city, but was refused admission because it has operated as a boys-only school since its establishment in 1981.
However, Meagan's parents, John Kavanagh and Gillian Lynch, appealed the refusal by Cork City VEC under Section 29 of the Education Act to the Department of Education and Science and were successful when the department's appeal board ruled in their favour.
Yesterday, Mr O'Keeffe said that the Equal Status Act 2000, which protects the position of single-sex schools generally, can only apply if a school has clearly set out its enrolment policy on whether it is a single-sex or co-educational school.
"The reason the appeal was successful in this case was that the school hadn't followed procedures in terms of setting out its enrolment policy in its prospectus and we will be writing to all single-sex schools advising them of the need to signal that in their prospectus."
Meanwhile, Meagan's mother Gillian Lynch said she was "delighted" by the decision of the appeals board of the Department of Education and Science to allow her daughter attend Nagle Community College, which is just 500 yards from her home at Ballinure Avenue in Mahon.
"I'm surprised even though the school's enrolment policy says it is open to young people from the area and doesn't specify boys . . . this wasn't about crusading for co-education, it was about getting the best possible education for our daughter in our local community," she said.
Meagan had attended Gaelscoil Mhachan primary school in the grounds of Nagle Community College and the secondary school was just five minutes' walk from her home. The next nearest school, which is in Blackrock village, was over 30 minutes' walk away. "The Ursulines in Blackrock is 35 minutes' walk away and while she can get the No 2 bus there in the morning, she would have to get the No 2 into town before it would come back out to Mahon in the evening and that makes no sense," she said.
Ms Lynch said Meagan was not fazed at being the only girl enrolling in the class of 21 at Nagle Community College in the autumn as many of the boys in her class were already friends of hers from the gaelscoil and she expects her to settle in well at the school.
Cork City VEC CEO Ted Owens admitted that he was surprised by the Department of Education's decision but the VEC would not be appealing the ruling and would be offering Meagan a place in the college in the autumn.
Mr Owens said the college had been advised by the department to ensure its enrolment policy and procedures are amended immediately to reflect its designation as a boys-only school.This situation would continue until a consultation process with parents and other educational providers in the Mahon area is completed in time for enrolment for 2009/2010 year and if there is then a desire for change, the VEC would apply to the department, he said.