Back under one roof in Longwood

Staff and pupils of St Nicholas"s National School in Longwood are enjoying their first week in their modern new school building on the Enfield Road in the village. The big move took place on Wednesday morning of last week when the children walked class by class from their old school to the new school while accompanied by a Garda escort. There was huge excitement as the children got to see their new school completed and begin classes in their new rooms. For school principal John Ennis, the greatest bonus of the move is the fact that he now has all his school back under one roof after operating a split school site over the past few years. Longwood"s former school building had just four classrooms and was unable to accommodate the huge surge in the school"s population in recent years. This meant that pupils were split across three sites - the existing school, the parish hall and the local GAA clubhouse, which is some 700 metres away. A new school was sanctioned by the Department of Education and work began last year on the new school building, which is located on the Enfield Road and will share a campus with the planned new secondary school when it is built. The new school features 12 classrooms, a general-purpose room and ancillary rooms including a library, learning support rooms, a staff room and offices as well as a basketball court, junior and senior play areas. The 200 pupils and 15 staff members are now happily settling into their new school and enjoying the modern facilities. An official opening ceremony is due to take place in September.