Raheny parents campaign for school patronage change

Roughly 83 per cent of primary school children in Ireland attend co-educational or mixed-gender schools, according to the Department of Education.

That number drops to around 36 per cent in the Raheny area of north Dublin, says Caroline Larkin, a local resident.

Larkin is part of a group called Raheny Parents for Co-Education which is campaigning for the establishment of a co-educational and multi-denominational primary school in the area.

The group, which largely consists of parents with children in Scoil Áine, an all-girls school and Scoil Assaim, an all-boys school, says the move is long overdue.

Established in 1958, the two schools are located on a campus just off All Saints Drive which also includes Naíscoil Íde, an infant school that caters for pupils up to first class.

After first class, most of the children then attend Scoil Assaim or Scoil Áine – two separate, single-sex schools located on the same plot of land.

“Parents think that this is a pity,” Larkin tells Northside People.

“You have kids that are settled with their friends and then are split up.

“My son asked me why he has to leave the girls in his class,” she says.

Larkin says that her son goes to Naíscoil Íde but will be attending Scoil Assaim after first class.

“People have been asking for change for years – but we’ve been told it is what it is.”

In March of 2021, Larkin and other parents sent a letter to the boards of management and patron of the schools, the Archdiocese of Dublin, asking that they undertake a survey of parents to determine if they support the establishment of a co-educational primary school.

Larkin says that the boards refused their request so the group initiated their own survey, receiving 210 responses.

“Overall, we found that 89% of parents preferred a co-educational, mixed-sex school,” she said.

In a letter sent in June 2021 to the parents’ group, the boards of management of Scoil Assaim and Scoil Áine said that they were “not considering” the amalgamation of the schools or the establishment of co-educational, mixed school.

“A step such as this would have wide reaching consequences for school management, staffing, pupils and patronage,” the letter says.

“The children are always our priority and will continue to be central in our decisions.”

Larkin says that the Raheny Parents for Co-Education group is now calling on the Archdiocese of Dublin to transfer the patronage of one of the schools to the Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board (DDLETB) and develop a national community school.

However, the Archdiocese of Dublin has turned down the group’s request.

“The patron has an enormous amount of power and the process of changing patronage can be painfully slow” Larkin says.

“It has become clear that an increasing number of parents do not want their children attending a single-sex, Catholic school.”

In the Raheny, Killester and Clontarf area there are currently 18 Catholic schools, three Protestant schools, and two multi-denominational schools.

“The choice is just not there,” she says.

“We are aware that some parents may still want their children to attend a Catholic school so we are only requesting the transfer of patronage of one of the schools.”

Larkin says that local TDs and councillors have supported the group’s cause, but more is required if the campaign is to be successful.

“Really, it just requires the will of the boards of management and the Archdiocese to make it happen.

“We know that the vast majority of the parents want change.”

The Archdiocese of Dublin and the boards of management of Scoil Assaim and Scoil Áine did not reply for comment by the time of publication.