Carrickmore school enrolment petition receives 7k signatures

A PETITION signed by over 7,000 local people who want to see an increase to Dean Maguirc College’s capacity was brought before the NI Assembly earlier this week, before then being handed to Education Minister Paul Givan.

On Tuesday, West Tyrone MLA Declan McAleer, a former student and father of two current pupils, presented the appeal to his Stormont peers, claiming the school community was ‘hopeful’ their enrolment cap can be adjusted to ‘reflect the schools’ actual numbers’.

Mr McAleer then brought the same documents to the Education Minister.

‘Thriving’

Addressing the Assembly chamber on Tuesday afternoon, Mr McAleer said, “Dean Maguirc is a thriving college at the heart of our community. It is oversubscribed every single year but is capped at 80 new places per year, with a total enrolment limit of 440 pupils.

“This unfair cap is holding the Dean back and reducing pupils’ choice of attending a thriving, rural, all-ability school.”

Mr McAleer said the school had been refused permission to increase these numbers on many occasions, usually with resistance from the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS).

“This is despite the fact that the college continues to be oversubscribed by up to 50 per-cent each year for Year Eight places, and this coming September will see a pupil population of approximately 670 pupils.”

Recently, a pilot exercise by the Department of Education gave staff and students positive signs that the number cap could be raised to allow the school to increase attendance, more in line with local demand.

However, as Mr McAleer pointed out, while 21 other schools across the North were given a capacity boost, Dean Maguirc was not.

“This decision triggered a huge local reaction and the whole community rallied to support the college by signing a petition to lift the cap. A huge 7,000 people have signed over the past number of weeks in what is a massive vote of community confidence in Dean Maguirc.”

A number of weeks ago, Mr McAleer was part of a school delegation that attended a meeting with the Education Minister and CCMS.