Ruadhán Jones
The Catholic school’s trust Le Chéile have expressed delight as they press forward with plans to open a new secondary school in Ballincollig, Co. Cork.
The trust won the majority of 800 votes – the largest turnout for any school patronage vote last year – to establish a school with a capacity of 1,000 students in the Cork town.
Dr Áine Moran, ethos and leadership officer for Le Chéile, said they are “delighted to win the patronage”.
“One of our objectives is to pursue Catholic education and to continue on the heritage of Catholic education,” Dr Moran told The Irish Catholic. “There were a number of schools decided in December. We only applied to Ballincollig and it had the biggest vote – around 800 – which we won by a significant amount.
“It’s nice to be going into a town with a mandate from parents, it puts you in a very strong position,” she added.
Le Chéile recently announced the principal for the school, Ms Nicola Barrett, and are waiting on confirmation from the Department of Education regarding temporary buildings.
Enrolment began in January 2021, so Dr Moran says “it’s unlikely we’ll come anywhere near the numbers we would like” for the first year.
Ballincollig parish priest Fr George O’Mahony said it was very pleasing to know that parents “back Catholic education and hopefully they’ll get good all round education for all the pupils”.
The Le Chéile trust will continue to apply to be patron for schools across the country, working in tandem with the Association of Trustees of Catholic Schools (ATCS).
“It’s part of our strategic plan to apply to open new schools,” she said. “Obviously, there are different Catholic trusts, we try not to compete against each other. With bodies like the ATCS there’ll be more of a co-ordinated approach to applying for patronage by Catholic trusts.”