Overcrowded school is ‘forced to teach students in hall and staff room’

Principal Toni Maguire, of Fermoy Educate Together (FET) in Co Cork, said the teachers and board of management would not remain silent while staff and students were put in an impossible situation due to lack of space.

The school is on the ground floor of a building, and the board are asking for access to rooms in the floors above or to be allowed to move to a site with adequate space.

FET is unable to use mobile buildings for extra classrooms as the only avail­able outdoor space is the tiny playground.

Access to the school is limited, with the main way in and out being a small laneway from the main street. It cannot be used by vehicles.

FET opened in 2018 in Fermoy Youth Centre and was later granted the basement level of the former Fermoy Technical School/Gaelscoil de hÍde building in the town as it expanded.

In its first year it had three pupils. Now it has 87, and for the next school year 96 have been enrolled, with waiting lists for three of its classes.

Although it had access to three levels of the Department of Education-controlled building in Fermoy’s McCurtain Street, it was allocated only the basement level.

The remaining two floors were given to the Cork Education Training Board (CETB) for its further education and training services.

One room is understood to be used for further education work involving recreation and games. Other rooms on the top floor are partly used as offices and storage rooms.

Ms Maguire said her school had been forced to use every square metre of available space for teaching, including the staff room and foyer.

FET had been granted permission for an autism support class, but did not have the space to launch it, although a small storage room was converted into a sensory support space.

Department guidelines stipulate a classroom size of 80 square metres, but a number of FET’s classrooms are 25, 35 and 61 square metres.

“The pressure on space means teaching and teaching support work have to take place in the staff room and even in the hallway and foyer,” Ms Maguire said.

“We’re fortunate we have a wonderful team of teachers here who don’t mind the staff room being used to benefit the students.

“But the reality is that the students and staff deserve better. It has been very difficult for everyone, given the space constraints.”

A proposal for mobile buildings to be used at the local GAA clubs was drawn up, but was rejected by the department as FET was already in a department- controlled building.

Funding for such prefabs at a separate location at an additional cost was not forthcoming.

Members of Cork County Council from the Fermoy district will meet FET officials to be briefed on the overcrowding issue.

Ms Maguire said: “We need extra space. Our students deserve to be taught in classrooms that aren’t too small and that aren’t overcrowded, and children who need extra support should not have to receive it in a hallway or in a staff room.”

The department would not be drawn on available upstairs space in the building and said the school had understood enrolments had to be managed within the available accommodation.

A spokesperson said: “In order to facilitate the establishment of the new school, the ETB agreed to the co-location of the Educate Together school at the former Technical School in Fermoy, together with some of the ETB’s further education and training services.”

The department said clear agreements had been reached in respect of the matter “prior to the establishment of the new school in 2018 under the patronage divesting process”.

“The Department and Educate Together as school patron agreed that given the accommodation available at the property and the need for the ETB to accommodate some further education and training services from the property, the school would be established as a four-classroom school,” it said.

It was also agreed that “the school will maintain this configuration in the accommodation in the former technical school unless an existing school building is freed up for use in the area”.

The department added: “The department outlined to the school patron the importance of enrolments being managed within the available accommodation in a sustainable way and that this would be communicated to the school board of management so parents could be fully informed and in order to manage expectations.

“The school has been advised to direct any queries that it has regarding the divesting agreement to its patron.

“The department continues to engage with the school’s patron in respect of queries raised regarding the school’s accommodation.”