Westport school takes ‘huge backward step’ by withdrawing curricular collaboration with neighbouring school

A Westport all-girls secondary school’s decision to withdraw ‘curricular cooperation’ with the neighbouring all-boys secondary school has been met with disappointment, with one parent branding the move as ‘a huge backwards step’.

Over 1,000 students attend the two schools, the all-girls Sacred Heart School and the all-boys Rice College, which are located beside each other on the Castlebar road. Students from each school have attended classes in the other school for subjects such as physics, computer science and home economics.

The Sacred Heart School’s principal, Sarah McGreal, told to The Mayo News that demand for such curricular cooperation had been waning in recent years.

However, four parents who spoke to The Mayo News voiced disquiet with the decision, which means the schools will also no longer continue their long-running collaboration for their Transition Year musical.

Over 560 people have signed an online petition calling for the decision to be reversed.

On July 3, parents of students in the Sacred Heart School were informed that they would ‘no longer be cooperating with Rice College in the coming academic year as part of the TY programme’.

This was reiterated in a letter sent by Sarah McGreal to students’ parents on September 24.

“As per our end of year letter we are no longer in curricular cooperation with Rice College,” she wrote. “This is a response to the evolving landscape of post-primary education in Westport.”

In the letter, Ms McGreal acknowledged concerns expressed by parents about this issue at a recent TY information evening, and she said she would relay them to the school’s board of management.

Parents at the meeting were said to be ‘very irate’ and ‘upset’ about the move, according to attendees who spoke to The Mayo News last week. Following the meeting, over 40 people signed a petition calling for the move to be reversed.

Lack of consultation

Some parents who spoke to this newspaper took issue with the lack of consultation with parents over the withdrawal of curricular cooperation with Rice College.

“Everybody I’ve spoken to in the girls’ school – and I’ve loads of friends in the boys school – they are all extremely unhappy about this decision,” said Aisling Guifoyle, who called on the Sacred Heart School board of management to reverse the decision.

“If the board decline, we would then respectively ask them to explain their decision and to explain how this decision can possibly benefit the current and future Transition Year students in the school,” added Ms Guilfoyle, whose daughter attends the Sacred Heart School.

Both schools have been given approval for co-educational status to allow them admit boys and girls.

Rice College were given formal approval from the Department of Education in March and are due to admit girls for the first time in September 2025. The school is seeking an extension to install a home economics classroom ahead of the 2025/2026 academic year.

Sacred Heart School has also received approval from its Patron and the Department of Education to become a co-educational school.

“The board of management is committed to realising this vision for SHS Westport as soon as is feasible, contingent on the provision of suitable facilities by the Department [of Education] as promised,” read the letter from Sarah McGreal.

“For the 2025/25 [academic year] we will remain an all-girls single sex school with a move to co-education on the horizon from 2026 onwards.”

One-hundred-and-seventy-four students from the two schools were involved in their joint-production of ‘High School Musical’, which was staged in the Sacred Heart School last January. Both schools now intend to stage their own separate musicals in early 2025.

“It doesn’t make sense. Financially, socially, economically, it doesn’t make sense,” commented Colleen Kennedy, who has two sons enrolled in Rice College.

“Everybody is disappointed. All the parents are pro collaboration, the students are pro collaboration, and we really hope that we can get this working.”

‘Ridiculous’

Another parent with two boys in Rice College and a daughter who intends to enrol there in 2025, branded the situation as ‘ridiculous’.

“They are on the school bus together, they go in to Westport, they go their separate ways… they were all in primary school together. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know what the Sacred Heart is trying to achieve,” she said.

Another mother of a Transition Year student in Sacred Heart School said the move was ‘huge step backward’.

“I know we are going co-ed, but they are still neighbours, even though they are in direct competition.”

Michael Rabbette, principal of Rice College, told The Mayo News that he sought three times to have curricular cooperation continued between the two schools.

He added that sports teams from Sacred Heart School will be allowed to rent Rice College’s playing facilities for the coming academic year.

“There was never a decision by the board of management of Rice College not to cooperate,” said Mr Rabbette.

Site controversy

The Sacred Heart School is under the trusteeship of CEIST, a trustee body for 107 voluntary Catholic secondary schools. The school was established in Westport by the Sisters of Mercy in 1925 a Christian education inspired by the vision of Catherine McAuley.

In 2022, the school received approval for a new school building with accommodation for 600 students in over 40 classrooms. Design works for the new building are currently ongoing.

A number of reports in recent years have raised concerns about the state of the existing school building, which is almost a century old. The school is currently using modular accommodation on its grounds to cope with demand.

The letter from Ms McGreal also revealed ‘work is ongoing’ to finalise plans to relocate a portion of the school to the site of the old Scoil Phádraig on Altamount Street.

The old Scoil Phádraig site has been the subject of long-running public controversy.

The Altamount Street building had been earmarked to accommodate Holy Trinity NS, the only Church of Ireland School in Westport.

In March, Holy Trinity NS was dismayed to learn that the site would be refurbished to accommodate the Sacred Heart School, to address the latter’s ‘urgent temporary accommodation needs’.

Holy Trinity NS are currently using a building dating back to the 1830s that has long been deemed not fit for purpose.

Speaking to The Mayo News, Sacred Heart School Principal Sarah McGreal said reversing the decision to cease curricular cooperation with Rice College would be a matter for the Sacred Heart School board of management.

She encouraged any parent with any concerns to contact the school directly.