Historic day as sod turned for Athboy secondary school

The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, returned to the town where he first began his working career for a sod-turning ceremony to mark the start of construction on Athboy Community School. The new community school, the first to be built under a public private partnership (PPP) in the county, will replace the former convent secondary school and Athboy Vocational School, which amalgamated in 2004. Minister Dempsey, a former teacher and education minister, spent his first year of teaching at the vocational school under principal Con Kelly and studied for his higher diploma there. Mr Kelly was also present at the recent ceremony. The new school building is due to be completed by November 2011 under the PPP scheme between MacQuarie Partnerships for Ireland and the National Development and Finance Agency. It will cater for up to 950 pupils and will have state-of-the-art facilities, including 21 general classrooms, three woodwork/architectural technology rooms, two engineering rooms, two home economics rooms with a dedicated dress design room, three art rooms, five science rooms, three multimedia rooms and a fully equipped gym and fitness suite. The building will also have dedicated rooms for music, mathematics, social studies, business, religious education, technical graphics, a library and parents'/guardians' room. On-site provision will also be made for a six hardcourt playing areas and a full-size soccer pitch. The new building will also incorporate a special needs unit which will provide for students with special needs and allow for access to mainstream classes as required. In attendance at the sod-turning were representatives of the three trustee groups of the school, (County Meath VEC, the Sisters of Mercy and the Bishop of Meath), previous management teams, present staff, parents/guardians, pupils and members of the general public. Pierse Construction will be responsible for the construction of the building. Principal Anthony Leavy welcomed everybody to what he described as an historic occasion for the community of Athboy and the surrounding areas. He said the new school building would secure the future of education in the area and paid tribute to the bodies, communities and individuals who had been involved with education in the area in the past. The new building would allow for the provision of a full and comprehensive range of subjects, as well as enhancing the working conditions for pupils and staff, he said. In particular, he thanked the VEC and the Sisters of Mercy for the continued use of their premises until the new building was completed. Mr Leavy also thanked parents and guardians from the community who had supported the new school and ensured its viability in terms of pupil numbers required to secure the enhanced schedule of accommodation allocated for the new building. He praised the student council which was also represented for their ongoing work in supporting students of the school. Fr Patrick O'Connor, PP, chairperson of the school's board of management, spoke on behalf of the religious trustees. He paid tribute to the work of the Sisters of Mercy since they had established a second-level school in Athboy in 1959, and to the Bishop of Meath, Dr Michael Smith, for his involvement in the school since it was established in 2004. Cllr Tommy Grimes, chairperson of Meath VEC, thanked all those involved in facilitating the amalgamation in 2004. He paid tribute to the work of the new board of management, on which he also served, and looked forward to the timely completion of the construction project by Pierse Construction. Mr Dempsey said he had been involved in the negotiations around the formation of the new school and had worked closely with the Sisters of Mercy and County Meath VEC from the outset. He emphasised that, throughout these stages, both groups put the projected needs of the pupils first. He acknowledged the work of Peter Kierans, CEO of the VEC, and noted that this sense of focus had helped to speed up the process and secure a position in the list of schools to be included in the PPP scheme. Minister Dempsey also paid tribute to the Sisters of Mercy for their long-standing involvement in education generally in the country. Following the ceremony, refreshments were served by members of the parents' council.