Support for two Galway Educate Together schools

Parents braved the wet and windiest of west coast weather at the weekend to express their support for a new multi-denominational school in south Galway.

The proposed new school will bring to four the number of Educate Together primary schools in the Galway area if its bid, and that of another, is successful. The two new groupings are in Kilcolgan-Clarinbridge, also serving Oranmore and Ardrahan, and Doughuisce on the city-county border.

At a meeting with prospective new parents in Kilcolgan at the weekend, Educate Together's new schools development officer Gerry McKevitt outlined the ethos shared by 44 existing schools, which are multidenominational, co-educational, child-centred and democratically run.

Committee member Anna Downes said her group was thrilled with the pre-enrolment response. "We knew anecdotally that there was strong support for the school, but it is great to see so many parents show up here."

The committee aims to locate the school in the Kilcolgan area, and is working towards a September 2008 start-up. It will continue to accept pre-enrolments until the end of January, at which point an application will be submitted to the Department of Education and Science.

Educate Together established a committee in Galway several years ago to investigate second-level schooling in partnership with the Vocational Education Committee.

Some 20 locations for new primary schools have been announced by Educate Together, which believes that a national school place crisis is looming.