Castlebar Educate Together given green light to extend Hat Factory premises

PLANNING permission has been granted to Castlebar Educate Together to extend its current premises on the Newport Road on a temporary basis.

Castlebar Educate Together National School applied for planning permission to extend and also to change the use of part of the existing first floor of the old Hat Factory on the Newport Road to educational use.

Castlebar Educate Together NS opened in Cavendish Lane in 2016 with 12 pupils and moved to Marsh House in Newtown in 2017, but as the pupil numbers continued to grow, it soon outgrew its original premises and has been renting a unit in the old Hat Factory for its junior and senior infant pupils.

In the planning application, Niall Wall, the Buildings Officer with Educate Together explained that the Department of Education is committed to seeking a site for a permanent school building but in the meantime the school needs additional accommodation to cater for its growing pupil numbers.

“The Newport Road premises has been selected as a building that can meet the school's needs. The current application will ensure the school will operate on just two sites and its is envisaged no further separate premises will be required for the school. Of course, the preference of the school, the patron and the Department of Education will always be to have all the school located on the same site, however, for the time being, a split campus is necessary,” he stated.

The ground floor and a section of the first floor of the building were previously converted to a 144.60 square metre Educate Together National School. The proposed project involves an extension to the existing educational facility on the first floor only with no proposal to develop or extend the ground floor of the structure.

The project involves the conversion of a 227.40 square metre section of the first floor of the existing industrial unit to an educational facility and will incorporate a new classroom and a staff room. The application also stated that it is anticipated that the Newport Road premises will cater for 35 pupils and three staff and because the school operates under Mayo County Councils 'Park & Stride Scheme’, no additional parking spaces for picking up and dropping off are required.

Mayo County Council granted planning permission for the development subject to five conditions.

There are more than 140 pupils currently enrolled in the school and enrolment for 2024/2025 for all classes is now open on https://www.castlebaretns.ie/annual-admissions-notice