ICC closure will heightenpolarisation in North West

PARENTS of pupils at Immaculate Conception College say Catholics in the Waterside are not being treated equally with their counterparts on the Cityside.
Immaculate Conception College.  (0207JB23)Immaculate Conception College.  (0207JB23)
Immaculate Conception College. (0207JB23)

Paddy Conaghan is calling on the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) and the Western Education and Library Board (WELB) to grant the school a reprieve.

He pointed to huge investment in Catholic schools on the Westbank with St Mary’s, St Cecilia’s and St Joseph’s recently enjoying improvements including new school builds.

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He also said it would be a sad day if - with Foyle College’s imminent migration to the Eastbank coupled with Immaculate Conception’s earmarked closure - Protestants are soon schooled solely in the Waterside and Catholics in the Cityside.

“There are about 142 excess pupils at Catholic schools over the town,” he explained. “Those schools are already oversubscribed. We are sitting with about 200 kids at the minute but if we were given some of those pupils it would help with sustainability.”

“Instead, this is the last year we can take on Year 8s and in 2014 pupils going into GCSE will also be looking for new schools cutting numbers further.

“All we want is to be treated on a level with the Cityside. Look at the investment there. We feel there’s been managed decline by the CCMS at ICC.”

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One of Tracy Kent’s children recently completed GCSEs at the school. Another - who is mildly autistic (Asberger’s Syndrome) - is now comfortably settled there.

“It’s a brilliant school and the teaching staff have been amazing with the support they’ve given my son,” she told the Sentinel. “He’s distraught at the prospect of having to move. In fact, he’s saying he’s not going to move. All we want is for the authorities to invest in the school.”

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