Douglas Rochestown Educate Together primary school has a new permanent home
This week the Educate Together school welcomed students, staff and parents to its state-of-the art campus. However, parents have raised concerns about access to the new school.
After nearly 10 years in temporary accommodation, hundreds of primary school students filed into classrooms at the brand new Douglas Rochestown Educate Together campus on the Old Carrigaline Road/Carr’s Hill on the southside of Cork city earlier this week.
The keys to the school were handed over to school principal Dr Alan Sheehan on January 13 with pupils starting their first full day at the new school on Monday, January 23.
It was a momentous day for students, staff and parents of the co-educational school, especially as Douglas Rochestown ETNS has been temporarily located on the grounds of Garryduff Sports Centre in Rochestown since it first opened its doors in August 2013.
Construction of the new school commenced in late 2021. The 24-classroom multi-storey building which includes a three-classroom unit for children with special educational needs was built by BAM Ireland and Glasgiven.
Parents got a glimpse inside the new school on Sunday, January 22, one day prior to the new school opening for business, and learning.
“We’ve been watching the new building grow over the past eighteen months and we finally got the chance to see inside the completed building last Sunday,” Marianne McDonald, a parent from Grange, told Tripe + Drisheen.
“I am delighted with the building and all I have heard from the children is praise,” she added.
For Leigh Fleming, a parent from Douglas, the long wait for a new school has been worth it.
“I have not seen a setup like it in terms of inclusion, facilities and integration of autistic children and neurotypical children,” Fleming said.
Douglas Rochestown ETNS is one of eight Educate Together primary schools in Cork.
The Department of Education has applied for planning permission to build a new school for Cork Educate Together Secondary School, the only Educate Together secondary school in the county, closeby to the location of the new primary school.
The “missing link”
One of the reasons Marianne McDonald decided to enrol her daughter in Educate Together was because it would allow her to avoid the morning commute by car. The pair take the 206 bus to Grange Crosss and walk the rest of the way on the Ballybrack Greenway, which passes through the Mangala in Douglas.
However, McDonald along with many other parents of the new school, is concerned about the final leg of the journey, along a narrow footpath skirting the side of a busy winding road.
“If I’m walking up holding my child’s hand, anybody who wants to pass me has to step into the road. If anybody wants to push a buggy up, nobody can pass them then, it’s just not wide enough,” McDonald said.
Parents have highlighted the risks posed to pedestrians and raised concerns about the condition of the footpath with local councillors and on social media. They have also asked for clarification as to when the extension of the Ballybrack Greenway - which would bring the path right up to and beyond the new school - will commence and finish.
“It’s almost a perfect journey, we just have a missing link,” McDonald said, referring to the leg of the yet to be completed greenway.
Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy has been in contact with parents and raised their concerns at a meeting with a City Council road engineer this week.
According to Cllr McCarthy work on extending the greenway up to the school was slowed down in the process of carrying out compulsory purchase orders (CPO).
Cork City Council told Tripe + Drisheen that work on extending the greenway is currently at a “detailed design stage and it is anticipated that the extension of the greenway which will extend from Berkeley beyond the new Educate Together School will commence construction later this year.”
The City Council added that “a condition of the planning permission for the school development included for the provision of the pedestrian and cycle connection directly from the school to the proposed Ballybrack Valley (Mangala) Pedestrian and Cycle Route.”
Separately, the City Council said there is also a proposal to upgrade Maryborough Woods junction, closeby to the school. That upgrade, which is in the consultation stage, would provide cycle connectivity through to Berkeley and to the extension of the greenway if approved.
The Council added that “improving connectivity and safe crossing points for pedestrians and cyclists will reduce car transport for short and local journeys” in Douglas, a part of the city habitually plagued by traffic jams.
Are there any updates for the opening dates of the pefestrian path to school?