The Department of Education has confirmed that it has received an application from Scoil Mhuire Milford for a replacement school building and that officials will be in further contact with the school in due course in relation to the matter.
Yesterday, the cramped conditions pupils and staff are forced to operate in were laid bare.
A member of the Milford Parents Association and the Chair of the Board of Management at Scoil Mhuire Milford described the decrepit conditions children and teachers are facing daily with teaching taking place in store rooms and corridors. There are also serious road safety concerns over the location of the school building.
It is understood a site has been gifted to the school for the development of a new building.
In a statement to Highland Radio, the Department of Education says it recently delivered modular accommodation at Scoil Mhuire Milford. A spokesperson says a project to deliver two mainstream classrooms and two special education teaching rooms was at tender stage when the school decided not to proceed.
The main focus of the Department’s capital funding, it says, is on provision of critical additional capacity. However, it says the overall position with regard to potential modernisation and replacement of existing school infrastructure will be kept under review.
Full Statement:
The Department has received an application from Scoil Mhuire, Milford for a replacement school building.
The Department has recently delivered modular accommodation at this school, providing one mainstream classroom, one special education needs classroom and two special education tuition rooms. Modular accommodation being provided to schools today is high quality, robust and durable. All new buildings, including modular buildings, are required to meet the Near Zero Energy Building, or NZEB, standard, which ensures high levels of energy efficiency, thermal performance and sustainability.
The school in question had also accepted a traditional build project under the Department’s Additional School Accommodation scheme for two mainstream classrooms and two special education teaching rooms. The school authorities progressed this project to Stage 3, tender stage. However, the school has now made the decision not to proceed with this project.
The Department is required to manage the overall school building programme so that we target and prioritise areas that are under greatest pressure for additional school places. This reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.
The main focus of the Department’s capital funding over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics and children with special education needs. The overall position with regard to potential modernisation and replacement of existing school infrastructure will be kept under review.
The Department’s approach is to maximise the usage of existing capacity in the school estate and, in tandem with this, to manage the progression of the existing pipeline of projects within available budgets and in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines.
Department officials will be in further contact with the school in due course in relation to its application for a replacement school building.
