North Wicklow ET Patronage Granted - but many North Wicklow children excluded...

Nancenet70

After all of our efforts as the North Wicklow 2nd Level Action Group - in 2016 - patronage for a North Wicklow ET 2nd Level school has been granted (a location has not been confirmed) however, the bad news is-- Greystones ET and Wicklow ET are NOT on the feeder list, while schools in South Dublin who never asked for an ET 2nd Level are on the list.

PLEASE SIGN all 3 PETITIONS on this page and help us send a message to the Minister, the TD's and all current Councillors and those running in the upcoming election...our voices will be heard, thank you for your support.

http://northwicklowetsecondary.ie/

recedite

The problem for you here is that if you want to advocate priority admission to all pupils who attended ET primary schools, you fall into the same trap as faith schools who give priority to "their own" people.
That is, you lose the high moral ground that ET primary schools currently hold in giving equal access to everyone.

In an ideal world, all schools would be equally good, and kids would walk or cycle to the nearest one. In this context, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense for someone to attend an ET primary school in Wicklow town, and a secondary school in Bray, unless the family has moved to Bray in the meantime. Bray is apparently where the new ET secondary school will be.

For someone attending the Greystones ET primary school, Bray is not so far. However, Greystones ET have already been nominated as a feeder school for the proposed new Templecarrig secondary school in Greystones, which means the ET pupils get priority admission there by virtue of being locals. Is it fair for the pupils of this one primary school to be awarded priority admission to two different secondary schools, when there are other primary schools around that may not have priority admission anywhere?

Annasopra

Do Primary schools not generally have more than one feeder secondary school?

recedite

Its the other way round, secondary schools have named feeder schools. They may give priority to pupils from these primary schools.

Serrano13

Temple Carrig School is under fire for offering a number of places to children attending schools outside the area. ET are now campaigning to do something similar. They campaigned for patronage of a school for the North Wicklow feeder area and that is what they got.

Annasopra

Serrano13 wrote: »

Temple Carrig School is under fire for offering a number of places to children attending schools outside the area. ET are now campaigning to do something similar. They campaigned for patronage of a school for the North Wicklow feeder area and that is what they got.

No its not what they got!

Serrano13

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

No its not what they got!

Joey, the patronage report shows the map of the area the school was intended to provide for. It is clear that the school was intended to provide for the Bray, Kilternan and Ballybrack/Shankill areas. Were Educate Together unaware of this when they campaigned for patronage? Maybe the term North Wicklow should not have been used by the Department of Education as the catchment area is South Dublin and Bray.

recedite

The report is here, and this effectively sets out what the various prospective patrons were tendering for.

The new post-primary school for North Wicklow is intended to be a regional provider for the following feeder areas:
 Bray
 Kilternan
 Ballybrack/Shankill
It is also intended to serve any potential overflow demand for pupil places from the Greystones and Ballinteer feeder areas.

Bray feeder area
The 2012/13 total enrolment in the post-primary schools in the Bray feeder area is 3,106 pupils.
Enrolment for this feeder area is projected to grow to approximately 3,620 pupils up to the year 2023 based on the current intake pattern, which is 125%. This is a potential increase of 514 pupils.

Kilternan feeder area
There is no post-primary school in the Kilternan feeder area.
The potential post-primary enrolment for this feeder area for the 2012/13 school year was approximately 84 pupils. Enrolment is projected to grow to approximately 461 pupils by 2023 based on a 100% intake rate.

Ballybrack/Shankill feeder area
There is one post-primary school in the Ballybrack/Shankill feeder area which is fee-charging. The total enrolment in the school for the 2012/13 school year is 338 pupils.
Enrolment for this feeder area is projected to grow to approximately 1,165 pupils by 2023 based on a 100% intake. This is a potential 827 extra pupils.
The current intake pattern at post-primary level in the Ballybrack/Shankill feeder area is 39%. At this level of intake, enrolment would increase to approximately 469 pupils by 2023. This is a potential 131 extra pupils.

Also the map clearly shows that the school was always intended to serve those living in Bray and its immediate surroundings, as detailed above. The fact is, Bray is in North Wicklow, not in South Dublin hence the name "North Wicklow" was used. The name is no big deal anyway; it was only a temporary description for the tender and can be changed by the new patron before the school opens.

ET would be better off sticking to their original role, which was to fight (or bypass) institutional religious discrimination in the school system. Trying to introduce discrimination in favour of "their own" is not the way to go.

Templecarrig has been rightly criticised for bringing religious discrimination into the admissions policy, retrospectively and only after they got the patronage, despite making assurances beforehand that it would be an equal access admissions policy.

Both of these new secondary schools will be entirely built and funded with public money, and are intended to serve all the kids in their local areas, not just the favourites of whatever board of management gets the patronage. The patrons are only the managers. The public are the owners, or if you like, the State. The BOM have no right to introduce discrimination which allows local kids to be rejected while others from far away get the places, just because they have been put in some special category favoured by the people who happen to be on the BOM.

Annasopra

Serrano13 wrote: »

Joey, the patronage report shows the map of the area the school was intended to provide for. It is clear that the school was intended to provide for the Bray, Kilternan and Ballybrack/Shankill areas. Were Educate Together unaware of this when they campaigned for patronage? Maybe the term North Wicklow should not have been used by the Department of Education as the catchment area is South Dublin and Bray.

"North Wicklow" is a completely misleading term if it means "Bray and South Dublin"

recedite

People in Rathfarnham might complain about being outside the feeder area if you used the term "South Dublin".

I think "East Coast Wickla Borderland" school would probably have been best.

Annasopra

recedite wrote: »

People in Rathfarnham might complain about being outside the feeder area if you used the term "South Dublin".

I think "East Coast Wickla Borderland" school would probably have been best.

Well ok Bray, Shankill and Kilternan - The use of the term North Wicklow has completely confused the issue

Serrano13

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Well ok Bray, Shankill and Kilternan - The use of the term North Wicklow has completely confused the issue[/quote

I agree Joey. My original point was that ET got the patronage of the school they applied for patronage of. They should have been aware of the catchment at the time they were campaigning and they should have made the people that signed up aware of that also.