‘We have been fighting for this for years’

Work is nearing completion on the €12M Holy Family School with over 180 students with special needs set to benefit from the state-of-the-art facilities come the new academic year, September 2021.

The new campus incorporates 26 expansive and fully-equipped classrooms with interactive screens, three sensory rooms, a nurses' suite, TV and physiotherapy room, a library, a large Home Economics room, arts & crafts room, a separate daily living skills room and a staff room.

The Principal, Rachel Moynagh, told the Celt that students and teachers are even hopeful of getting into the new building before the summer holidays. “We may be moving in here on campus towards the end of June, but definitely we will be here in September,” she revealed.

“We will be at capacity in September. We will be full. At present we have over 30 teachers, 54 SNAs, a speech and language therapist, two nurses, two housekeepers and a caretaker. Including bus escorts, there are around 134 employees in total,” outlined Ms Moynagh of the total staff complement.

“These new facilities on this campus give these young people what they are entitled to – we have been fighting for this for years for them. The standard of teaching they were receiving will never change, but these wonderful facilities will afford us to give opportunities to the children, which will be second to none.”

Ms Moynagh expressed a hope that parents will also be given opportunities to use the new facilities. “Even if it was only for coffee mornings, they come from such a wide area over Cavan and Monaghan, it will be a great central space for the parents to meet. That would be absolutely brilliant,” she said.

The facilities will help the students learn and develop independent living skills.

“All the children in our senior classes over the age of 12 will get the opportunity of doing Home Economics,” said a delighted Ms Moynagh.

The school day runs from the children's arrival at 9.05am right up until 2.45pm. “You could have staff here from 8am in the morning until five or six in the evening,” she said.

It is widely known that it was a hard struggle by a lot of committed people over the years to reach this exciting new chapter in the life of the Holy Family School.

“The Parents Association have been absolutely brilliant and they have been such a great support over the years. They all want to come and have a tour of the building. It is a bit hindered at present because of COVID-19. It is hard. We would love to have an open day. That had been part of our plan originally – that we would invite the parents in with the children – at the minute we can't even consider that,” explained Ms Moynagh.