PARENTS HAVE “CAUTIOUSLY” welcomed the news that a proposal to amalgamate two schools in Cork has been taken off the table for the time being.

The schools in question are the boys’ primary school Scoil Mhuire Fatima – North Monastery Primary School, known as North Mon – and St Vincents, a girls’ primary school.

One mother told TheJournal.ie that parents were “in a state of shock” after they heard of the proposal from the Edmund Rice Schools Trust to amalgamate North Mon into St Vincent’s.

Eight hundred parents are reported to have taken to the streets on Saturday in Cork to protest against proposed changes.

Consultation

Today came the news that the proposal was no longer being tabled. A statement from the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST) thanked the board of management of Scoil Mhuire Fatima “for the work that it has completed in the consultative process about the future of the school”.

The school is of course for its pupils –present and future – and so the opinions of parents, staff and others concerned is hugely important.

As Trustees, we have no wish to oppose the expressed will of those for whom the school is a part of their lives. We are therefore withdrawing this proposal for Scoil Mhuire Fatima at this time.

The Edmund Rice Schools Trust continues to be concerned about the falling enrolment in Scoil Mhuire Fatima and the effect this will have on the school.

Maria Higgins, of the parents association at North Mon, said: “Our campaign was to get the proposal off the table, they’ve done that now so as a parents association we’ve done as much as we possibly can”.

She said they would “cautiously” welcome the news, but added:

We know the battle certainly isn’t over yet. It’s up to the board of management and trustees to come up with a plan for all the schools in the area”

She said that the parents were “out of the blocks immediately” after they got the news about the proposal, and that they had huge support from local politicians – including Corkonian and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

She said the parents will be “keeping a close eye” on how the situation proceeds.

The future

The ERST is to meet with the other three Trustees in the near future “to agree an inclusive way forward to discuss the enrolment problems facing the schools in the North Cathedral parish area”.

The trust said its long term aim is to “generate a plan which will secure the future of the schools and enable them to flourish”.

Read: “State of shock”: Parents protest over amalgamation of North Mon school>