DonabatePortrane.net

saw something yesterday that shows that for the 2018 September schools intake, Educate together already has 120 names on the waiting list. They take in 56 children into Junior Infants but have 176 names down.
Already they have 159 for 2019 and 131 for 2020.

The girls school take in 60 but have 81 names down so far. They did a study tnat shows that as it stands an additional 272 primary places are required, and thats just based on the current extra housing being built right now. It will be a complete disaster when the population of Donabate increases by approximately 120%+ as is planned.

Basically, we are going to have a 'crisis' in terms of school places on our hands shortly and of course nothing is being done about it. Yes there are promises in the LAP for extra school places etc but obviously these havent materialised and there is no sign of it happening anytime soon. So of course, Fingal CC approve all this extra housing but no extra schools.

If I was moving to Donabate now and had a young family or was planning a family I wouldnt even consider the place as having to drive my kids to schools outside the area that in themselves are probably already full would not be an option.

Why do we as a country accept this carry on?
Why do people in public office make such terrible terrible decisions?/ It is because there is genuinely no accountability? If I made such bad judgements in my work, I would be disciplined.

We point all this out to the county council, the councillors, the TDs etc. We get stock responses back weeks later just kicking the can down the road. Nothing actually happens. Unless of course they are working on some super secret plan in the background that they arent telling us about. But I doubt that.

I'm writing this I suppose out of frustration. I'm assuming nothing can be done. Because that's what we are used to. It's all well and good saying we need housing because people are homeless etc etc etc, but building a sustainable society doesnt involve just building houses. It involves planned infrastructure around the timely building of houses. And whilst the LAP may call for all this wonderful infrastructure, it is my opinion that the LAP is a fantasy document that gets ignored when the planners want to ignore it.

Unless of course I'm missing something and I'm completely wrong? I'd love to be wrong in t his case!

We really need to support the SPDD group in every way we can.

Well said Aoife. I suppose an estate agent is not going to a buyer, you'll probably have difficulty getting your kid into a school and instead just hand you a glossy brochure.

I noticed this as a major problem starting, 6 years ago, when we began in dpetns. Incoming people have little chance of their kids being schooled locally. Primary's may throw up a portakabin or two to start a new additional class, but its not even coming close. Throw in the sibling policy on top also to worsen things, for a better reflection of things.

Try not to panic, remember that many parents put their children's names down in both schools so there will be a good many duplicate names on those waiting lists.

anita wrote:Try not to panic, remember that many parents put their children's names down in both schools so there will be a good many duplicate names on those waiting lists.

it's not panic though. the girls school did a piece of work that says 272 additional school places are required at the moment. This has nothing to do with duplicates. It's a current requirement based on a study