Clonshaugh School For Traveller Boys Faces June Closure
A school attended exclusively by boys from the Travelling Communtiy has two Leaving Cert students for the first time ever.
St Thomas' in Coolock is a targeted educational initiative for Travellers but is set to lose its funding from June this year.
The Department of Education wants the students to be integrated into mainstream schooling and a previous unannounced inspection raised concerns around the delivery of the syllabus.
A spokesperson also says the closure of the school was well-flagged and since the ending of the policy of segregated education in 2006, it has been planning an orderly wind down.
The phasing out of segregated education provision for Traveller children began in 2006 in accordance with Government policy which was developed in consultation with Traveller representative groups.
"St Thomas’s is currently the only remaining education centre for segregated post-primary provision for Traveller students in the country. The Department of Education and Skills has been engaging with the Patron of St Thomas’s for many years to progress the transfer of its students to the mainstream school system... Tusla’s Educational Welfare Service is available to work with parents to source school places for the current pupil cohort, including 3 students at Leaving Certificate level who would be due to sit exams in 2019."
However English teacher John White says they're having a 'tangible success' and are worried St Thomas' three 5th year students won't make it to next year's Leaving Cert.