We are a group of community members and parents campaigning for a much-needed new secondary school. Here in the Killester Raheny Clontarf School Planning Area (KRCSPA), we urgently require a non-denominational, co-educational secondary school to meet the needs of our young people.
There are currently seven secondary schools in the badly oversubscribed KRCSPA. All of them are taxpayer-funded but church-run (all but one by the Catholic Church), while five of them are single-sex schools. Of the two co-educational choices, one is tiny (with under 200 students) and the other prioritises the enrolment of Protestant students, including legacies which will make admission for non legacy families increasingly difficult as time goes on.
Demand for educational choice is growing every day here in Killester Raheny Clontarf. A 2021 survey found that of 1,231 local respondents, 74% wanted a co-educational secondary school for the area, while 59% wanted a non-religious option. We’re particularly failing our boys at the moment; statistics received from the Department of Education highlight a severe lack of boys’ places in KRC, with nearly two out of every three boys leaving the area every year (between 2016 and 2022) for secondary school.
We hope you’ll join our campaign so that parents in our community will have a co-educational, non-religious secondary school as a choice.