Coláiste Feirste: Belfast Irish medium school to expand by 50%

The only Irish medium post-primary school in Belfast plans to increase pupil numbers by more than 50%.

Coláiste Feirste is to increase its enrolment from 600 to 910 pupils.

The number of new pupils it admits will rise from 100 to 150 from September 2020 as a result.

But the school's plan to find a second site in north Belfast has stalled, so the additional pupils will initially be accommodated in temporary classrooms at the existing school in west Belfast.

The details are contained in a "case for change" published by the Education Authority (EA).

Coláiste Feirste, which was established in 1991, is one of only two Irish medium post-primary schools in Northern Ireland.

The school's pupil numbers have risen by 20% in the past five years and, under current trends, are projected to rise to almost 900 by 2023.

About a third of the school's pupils currently come from north Belfast, and that had led Coláiste Feirste to propose setting up a second campus in that part of the city.

However, the case for change document said that was not currently possible.

"Despite inquiring about 13 separate sites in north Belfast Coláiste Feirste has been unable to identify a site that would satisfy the long term development of Irish medium education (IME) post-primary provision in the area," it said.

As a result, the Department of Education (DE) has suggested that the school meets its anticipated increase in pupil numbers in temporary classrooms on the existing site close to the Falls Road.

"Coláiste Feirste has agreed to take that advice and accommodate the increase in pupil numbers on our current site, despite having reservations," the school said.

"We expect this solution to last for no more than two years."

"This option has been accepted reluctantly by Coláiste Feirste as the least worst option."

A new school building was completed at Coláiste Feirste in 2018 but it was designed to cater for 600 pupils and the school said there was no possibility of further development on the current site.

It said it would deal with the "challenges" of accommodating more pupils on one site to enable children in Belfast to continue their education in Irish after attending Irish medium primary schools.

However, Coláiste Feirste said this "represents a short-term fix to a question which requires a broader long-term strategy from DE in line with their statutory obligation to encourage and facilitate Irish medium education".

According to DE, there were some 6,500 pupils in Irish medium education in 2018/19, with about two-thirds of them in dedicated Irish medium schools.

The remainder are in Irish medium units attached to English medium schools.