Crumlin College to face closure proposal

A full board meeting will be held this Tuesday to ratify the proposal before a meeting with the Board of Governors on November 7. There is expected to be a two month consultation thereafter.

The board has, however, denied that any decision has been taken on the school’s future.

In a statement the NEELB said: “The Board has not yet agreed any proposals for the future provision at Crumlin Integrated College.

“Recommendations, however, are currently being considered and we can assure parents and all concerned, that if and when any proposals are made, information will be issued at that time.”

The news of the closure comes as no surprise to many as the college, which has been struggling with uncertainty for many years, is hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt and has just 140 pupils - with just nine Year 8s. The school is expected to be closed by September 2014.

NEELB have been working with the Transferors Representative Council, representing the Protestant Churches and the Catholic Council for Maintained Schools to determine the feasibility of a shared unit for the past few months.

Ulster Unionist councillor Mervyn Rea, a member of the Board of Governors said the college had been plagued with falling numbers for some years.

“Up to 750 pupils leave Crumlin every day to go to schools elsewhere,” Mr Rea said, “If the college had a third of that it could turn the school around and it could remain open. The school already lost numbers from RAF Aldergrove. At one time a third of the children came from there. We also had the situation with the principal who received death threats.”