BREAKING: St Vincent's to remain a single-sex school at current site

Following a powerful campaign led by pupils of St Vincent's Secondary School and their parents, it has been announced that a planned amalgamation between it and North Presentation Secondary School will not now go ahead. 

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, which followed a meeting between the trustees and the Board of Management and the staff of the school, the St Vincent’s Secondary School’s trustees, the Religious Sisters of Charity, said that in light of the “considerable opposition” of St Vincent’s and the North Presentation schools that there would be “little hope of a successful amalgamation”.

“In the light of the considerable opposition from many in the school community to the proposed amalgamation of St. Vincent's and North Presentation Secondary School, and without the full co-operation of the Board, Staff and Parents, we now believe that there is little hope of a successful amalgamation.

“Because of this we have decided that we have no option but to withdraw from the process. This will result in St. Vincent's Secondary School remaining as an all-girls school on the present site. We want to acknowledge - with regret - the potential impact this decision will have for the North Presentation Secondary School Community.

“St. Vincent's has a very well-deserved reputation in terms of academic excellence and as a caring and nurturing school community. We believe that this is a lost opportunity for St. Vincent's to be part of the development of a broad, inclusive and modern Post Primary facility in the North Cork City area on the 4.5 acres North Presentation site.

We thank everybody who took part in the year-long consultation about the future of Catholic education provision in the North Cork City area.

"We particularly wish to thank the Board, staff and parents for their commitment to St. Vincent's and we wish them well into the future,” the statement read in full.

It comes as parents and students voiced their concerns about the proposed amalgamation which they said had blindsided the school community.

A number of protests were organised by St Vincent’s Secondary School’s Parents Association in recent weeks to show people the solidarity and unity that exists within the school community among students and teachers and staff.