Parents hope for success in local school campaign

A FAMILY fun day was held in Milltown on Sunday, July 9 to raise awareness and support for a campaign to get a new national school for the area.

In light of what parents consider an urgent and real need for a national school in Milltown, a group of locals got together in March 2015 and formed the Milltown School Initiative.

Speaking in advance of the family fun day, Lorna Lynch, a spokesperson for the Milltown School Initiative said:

“There is currently no national school in Milltown and there hasn’t been one since the closure of St Anne’s School in 1994/1995.

“Over the past few years we’ve seen the area of Milltown grow to a point that it now has a population of over 4,000 people. As it stands, the children from Milltown are currently attending 19 different primary schools across 10 different suburbs of Dublin.

“As a parent of two kids living in Milltown, I know first-hand the impact that this is having on children and on families in the area. There is an urgent and real need for a national school in Milltown to cater for our children and to strengthen the local community.

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The results of a survey conducted by the Milltown School Initiative showed that the average number of schools that parents had applied to for the school year 2014/2015 was six. The average number of places offered was less than one so some children did not get a place in any of the schools they applied to.

Ms Lynch added:

“The reality for parents of children resident in Milltown is that they have to apply for a school place as soon as possible, the closer to birth the better, to a huge range of schools over a widespread geographic area in the hope that in the months before the relevant September, a school place will become available for their child.

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Ms Lynch confirmed that the Milltown School Initiative has already had a number of successes.

“We recently met with Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan, who was very positive in relation to the proposed school and we hope to have a decision about a school in Milltown over the coming weeks.

“In the meantime, we need to keep up the momentum of this campaign so that our children get the school they deserve.

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