Fivemiletown: Plan to close primary school illogical, say governors

A plan to close a rural Catholic primary school in County Tyrone has been called "incomprehensible and illogical" by its board of governors.

The Bishop of Clogher is also opposing the plan from the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) to close St Mary's Primary in Fivemiletown.

Pupil numbers at St Mary's have risen in recent years and the school is not in financial deficit.

But the CCMS has said that with only 42 children the school is not sustainable.

Through the Education Authority (EA), CCMS has formally proposed closing the school in August 2023.

In a statement to BBC News NI, CCMS encouraged "all interested parties to engage with the statutory consultation process currently under way".

But St Mary's governors have said they are "determined to see Catholic education persist in Fivemiletown".

"For a Catholic body to deny the propagation of the Catholic faith, and the opportunity for Catholics to receive a Catholic education within their own area, is incomprehensible and illogical," the governors said in a detailed submission opposing the closure.

According to documents published by the EA the Catholic Bishop of Clogher, Bishop Larry Duffy, also disagreed with the closure proposal.

The head and governors of the local controlled primary Fivemiletown PS - where pupils are mainly Protestant - have also objected to the plan to close St Mary's.

The two schools participate in shared education classes and activities, including a joint carol service.

If the closure goes ahead the nearest Catholic primary school for pupils in Fivemiletown will be in Brookeborough, almost six miles away.

St Mary's Primary has been open in Fivemiletown since 1969 and was originally built to house 87 pupils.

Pupil numbers fell to 27 in 2019 but have since increased to 42 in 2022.

That is below the sustainability threshold of 105 pupils for a rural primary recommended by the Department of Education (DE).

In the documents published by the EA, CCMS said "the current challenging circumstances do not provide for a sustainable school".

CCMS also pointed out that pupils from a number of year groups are taught together in "composite classes" in the school.

But Mairaid Kelly - who is a governor at St Mary's and whose daughter Mary-Kate is in Primary One - told BBC News NI that there was cross-community support for keeping St Mary's open.

"We've been really heartened by the amount of support we've received from right across our whole community, including elected representatives - from the DUP to Sinn Féin to SDLP and a whole range of independents," she said.

"If the decision went through that they would close St Mary's our children would be bussed in various different directions to various different schools considerable distances away.

"We are a small school, we don't pretend otherwise.

"But we are a strong vibrant, sustainable school living within our means with rising enrolment."

Ms Kelly also told BBC News NI it would be "devastating" for the Catholic community in Fivemiletown if the school closed.

"The school is really all we have in terms of a hub for the Catholic community," she said.

"None of the local schools can actually take all of our children en masse so they'll just be splintered in lots and lots of different directions."

Ms Kelly also said she expected increased need for school places in the area as there were plans to build more houses in Fivemiletown over the coming years.

"If anything the demand for our school is going to increase over the next five to 10 years, not ebb away," she said.

In an initial EA consultation on closing St Mary's, 96 out of 98 respondents disagreed with the plan - including Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Mid Ulster District Council and Bishop Duffy.

A further two-month statutory consultation on the closure plan is now being carried out by the EA.

The CCMS said: "Any decision on the proposal will be made by the education minister/permanent secretary following the completion of the consultation process."