KINSALE Community School has secured official approval from the Department of Education for a €13.6m expansion, which will further advance its goal of providing “third level-like facilities on a second level campus”.

School principal, Fergal McCarthy, said the extension will include a number of digital media research rooms, a new large library, additional accommodation for children with additional educational needs, new sports facilities, 10 additional classrooms, and a very large space in which the school is hoping to promote the performing arts.

“It moves the school further along that dial that we have always been ambitious towards and that is that we would provide third level-like facilities on a second level campus.

“Our school is already enjoying facilities that are appropriate to 21st-century learning and this provides us with an even greater aspiration towards meeting that ambition.

“It’s a great news story for Kinsale and the town,” Mr McCarthy told The Echo.

“The next phase of this will obviously be the appointment of a design team.

“They will then be going for the application for planning permission and after that, it will be tendering to appoint a contractor.

“It’s great recognition by the Department of Education of a very dynamic, forward-thinking school, with a board of management who have constantly prioritised providing 21st-century facilities for the school,” he continued.

If the planning application is successful, Mr McCarthy said he estimates construction work will take 12 to 18 months to complete. He said there will be no disruption to normal operations at the school when this commences.

The extension project follows a major expansion of the school in 2017, with the building programme occurring “simultaneously to the school operating at full tilt,” Mr McCarthy said.

He said the funding for the new extension marks an “investment by the State in a state-of-the-art school” and that the school community is delighted to have secured it.