Leaders need to come to the fore

I write to offer my sincere best wishes and heartfelt congratulations to those from within the maintained sector of education in Lurgan for showing leadership and for so capably representing the needs of all of their community leading to the development of state of the art facilities for the Roman Catholic children of Lurgan and beyond.

As principal of Lurgan Junior High School, I would like to point out to the readers that our school was built at the same time as these other schools and you do not have to look too much at its situation and design to realise that it is time to provide a new school on our site and equality of opportunity and provision for our community. It is no secret that our maintenance backlog of £1,201,950 is one of the highest in the Southern Education and Library Board. Furthermore, issues relating to access, egress and parking are such that the safety of children is compromised.

I acknowledge that our pupils are further disadvantaged when they move on at 14. The significant shortcomings in accommodation provision on the Lurgan Campus of Craigavon Senior High School and at Lurgan College are well documented.

We need genuine leaders from within our community to come to the fore to represent the needs of all of the Protestant community and demonstrate that we value and respect all members of that community and not just a select group. I am privileged to represent junior high school children and I intend to continue to highlight our significant accommodation shortcomings in the hope that others will join me and speak on their behalf.