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Omagh’s Irish school prepares to move into £3.8m new home
IT is the end of an era for Gaelscoil na gCrann, as the Irish school outside Omagh prepares to move into a permanent new home ahead of the new term.
After 14 years housed in an increasing number of mobile classrooms in the grounds of the Dun Uladh Cultural Heritage Centre on Ballinamullan Road, pupils and staff can now look forward to settling into a purpose-built, seven-classroom primary school with a single nursery unit.
While there was a slight delay in the building work due to the Covid-19 pandemic, delighted school principal, Deirdre Ui Cheallaigh, expects the keys of the £3.8m newbuild to be handed over by contractors Woodvale Construction later this month.
The principal said it had been a long journey for the school, which opened in 2006 with only a handful of pupils but will start the new term with close to 200.
She said, “It has been something the school has been campaigning for because, as the years went on, our numbers were increasing. It was constantly a new mobile. We were always asking the Department of Education for more accommodation.”
Ms Ui Cheallaigh, who has been with the school since 2009, said the newbuild was needed for the Irish medium sector in Omagh, but admitted that packing up in the existing location was proving emotional.
She said, “A lot has happened on this site, we’ve had so many good memories here. It’s going to be sad leaving the site behind, but we’ll take the memories with us. Going into the new school, it’s a new start.”
The principal said the move to much larger classrooms was especially timely, with social distancing rules still to be observed in the new term.
She said, “We’re still waiting for direction from the Department on how this is going to work. But at least we’re going to have more space and the newbuild will lend itself more to social distancing. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s going to be far, far better than where we were.”
Ms Ui Cheallaigh paid a special tribute to all the past pupils and their parents who believed in the value of an Irish medium education and stuck by the school when it was housed in the temporary, “run down” mobiles.
“It’s because of their commitment, along with the commitment of the staff and the Board of Governors, that we are where we are today,” she added.
Julie Gallagher, the long-serving chair of the school’s Board of Governors, was one of the driving forces behind securing the newbuild, along with fellow governor Brian McKenna.
She said that finally achieving their goal was a “stamp of approval” from the Department of Education.
“Irish medium education is here to stay and it’s a fantastic asset for any family.
“Omagh has demanded it and we have responded with a permanent, long-term building that the staff, children and families can grow in and can really expand the Irish medium sector in Omagh,” she added.
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