‘Children’s mental health is suffering’: Struggle for secondary school places across Cork

SOME secondary school students in areas across Cork including Clonakilty, Fermoy, Midleton, and Carrigtwohill are struggling to get a place in their local schools.

The Department of Education has insisted there will be greater clarity for affected families over the coming weeks, but local councillors have said that a lack of school places is a persistent issue.

Independent councillor Frank Roche told The Echo of a particular instance in his local area of Fermoy.

“I came across a couple who had a 13-year-old son, the parents were out working and the son was left in the apartment all day because there was no place in the school for him,” he said.

He explained that the boy was on the waiting list and just a few places from the top, but when Mr Roche contacted the school, he was told it was “very unlikely” that he would be offered a place as many students would need to drop out.

Independent councillor for East Cork Danielle Twomey told The Echo that for as long as she has been a councillor, there has always been a shortfall when it comes to secondary school places in Midleton.

“Every year we get the same plaster-sticker response promising us extensions and so on but yet every year we have upset children in the days before the school term is due to start in September with no school place,” Ms Twomey said.

Ms Twomey said that as part of the Cork County Development Plan 2022-2028, an independent group campaigning for an educate together secondary school in Midleton compiled a statistical report to show the future projections of population growth based on real-time student numbers in East Cork which she claimed was “ignored” by the Department of Education.

“At the very nub of all of this is the fact that families and children’s mental health is suffering. Children are upset because they don’t know where they’re going to go to school, and they can’t go where their friends are going. There is no choice, you get what you’re given and that is it,” she said.

Ms Twomey has also called on the Education Minister Norma Foley to consider a centralised application system which she said would “alleviate the strain on schools to make room for students while others are waiting for other schools”.

A spokesperson for Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) said: “CETB is aware of the pressure for post primary school places that exists across the county.

“As the patron body of post-primary schools in the areas, CETB is committed to supporting the Department of Education in finding a resolution to this ongoing issue.”

A Department of Education spokesperson told The Echo: “Enrolment pressures are not always due to school capacity issues, but can be driven by duplications of applications, applications from outside an area, and school of choice factors.

“Schools in areas of known enrolment pressure, including in Clonakilty, Fermoy, and Midleton/Carrigtwohill, have been requested to share data on applications for admission with the department.”

The department said that in the majority of instances, there are sufficient school places available to meet the needs of children, and that it is working with schools and patrons to make additional places available in areas where a need has been identified.

“Information provided to the department indicates that there are sufficient first year places available in Clonakilty for 2024/25 to meet the school place needs of children in the area,” the spokesperson said.

“The department is engaging with schools in Fermoy, Midleton, and Carrigtwohill to get up to date information on admissions in order to clarify whether there is any requirement for additional places in those areas.”

The spokesperson assured people that despite some applicants having not yet been offered a school place for the 2024/2025 academic year, “families can be assured that children in an area who require a school place will be provided with one”.

“The department is continuing to work with schools and patrons to ensure that there are sufficient school places available, and to put any required solutions in place.

“There will be greater clarity for families over the coming weeks as admissions processes continue to work through and required additional places come on stream,” the spokesperson concluded.