Pictures: Cork pupils celebrate move to new three-school campus

PUPILS from Carrigtwohill Community National School became the first to move to the much anticipated newly developed three-school campus in the town.

The campus was developed as part of a project that represents the largest investment in the State’s history in a joint primary/post-primary school hub.

Pupils moved from their temporary pre-fabs at Carrigtwohill GAA Club to their new school on Tuesday morning, marking the event with a 9am parade which saw the staff and students walk from the old school through the village to the new school on Station Road.

Principal Teresa Coughlan said they had been in temporary accommodation for eight years and were very excited when construction work started on their new school.

“We wanted to do something a little bit special around the closing of one chapter and the opening of another, because our old place served us really well,” Ms Coughlan told The Echo. “We went from three kids in 2015 to 381 today, so it’s a place where we’ve all grown, as students and teachers.”

The Cork principal said the staff had moved the furniture to the new facility the previous day, but rather than just tell all the kids to go to the new premises, they wanted them all to come in and see the empty school.

“We wanted to make it more of a natural step for them, and for them to understand that it still exists, it’s just not going to be our school anymore,” she said.

They walked up through the village with musicians leading the parade, while parents, local businesses and another school lined the street to cheer them on.

Ms Coughlan added that it was a celebration not just for the students and staff directly involved, but for everyone in Carrigtwohill.

“The community has been fighting for this. It’s been a long, long wait for everyone in the village, so it was not just a celebration for the children it was a celebration for the whole community, and the roads were packed. There was like a sense of joy from the general public, not just people who had a child or grandchild at the school,” she said.

The principal said the new facility had surpassed all their expectations.

“The new school is phenomenal — state of the art. We feel very privileged to be the first to move into the new building, but when all three schools are there it’s just going to be such an exciting space.”