Gillygooley PTA launch campaign against school closure

PARENTS are fighting against the proposed closure of their local primary school in Gillygooley and are asking others to send in their objections about the school’s closure to the Education Authority.

The closure discussions were originally to take place in 2020 but these were delayed due to the pandemic.

In the recently published “Re-fresh” Area Plans, the Education Authority said the school could be closed as soon as the end of August 2022 if the plans get final approval from the Education Minister.

The school has only 27 pupils enrolled but parents say it is a vital part of the local community and its closure would be devastating for the area.

The Parent Teachers Association who are organising the campaign to keep the school running said that the school is a hub which provides vital services to a rural community that has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Louise Smith, who is the secretary of the Parent Teacher Association said, “By closing the school the Education Authority is taking away the choice for my children and other parents’ children to have a rural education.

“Learning is not just about academia, it’s also about social interaction and my children and their class groups have known each other since they were small and even before they went to the school.

“It would be wrong to take children who are used to such a small school and unsettle them by putting them in larger classes that they are not used to.

“Gillygooley Primary School is a vital part of the community that has served it for 80 years and some families have had three generations attend.

“The loss of a hub like our school for the community would be detrimental to this rural area which has already struggled enough.”

Young pupils from Gillygooley Primary School also talked to the TyroneHerald, one saying she did not want to leave the school because she would miss her teachers and friends. She said, “I do not want to move schools – I would miss all my friends and my teachers who are also my friends.”

The Parents Teachers Association of the school has set up a new Facebook group called the Rural Schools Support Group, and have asked parents at other rural schools to join this group to support rural
education across the North by preventing more rural school closures.

They have also asked anyone who has any objections to the closure of Gillygooley primary to send those objections to the Department for Education either by letter or email with the subject; Gillygooley Primary School DP 602.

By Thomas Maher