The Department of Education has said there is no provision in legislation to appeal or review the closure of St. Mary’s High School, Brollagh in a statement to the Impartial Reporter yesterday (Wednesday).

A spokesperson said: “The Development Proposal process is a statutory process which ends with the Minister’s decision. The legislation does not make provision for either a review or an appeal.”

This statement was in response to a question from The Impartial Reporter as to what the route of appeal is, if parents and guardians are concerned with the decision to close St. Mary’s High School, Brollagh in August 2021.

In a series of answers given to the Impartial Reporter, a spokesperson from the Department of Education confirmed some of the arrangements that will be given to pupils and staff of St. Mary’s High School.

There is an implementation plan in place according to the Department of Education.

Part of this plan will see pupils from the Belleek school transferred to St. Fanchea’s College, Enniskillen or St. Joseph’s College, Enniskillen. Parents can choose to transfer their children outside of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) sector if they wish.

A spokesperson said: “The proposal to discontinue the school contained an implementation plan to help minimise any impact on pupils. This included that: ‘The Case for Change advises that for pupils transferring in the middle of their two-year examination cycle, a focused solution, will be made with the two CCMS schools in Enniskillen, in regards to their transfer.’”

The Department of Education gave some guidance on what teachers and non-teaching staff employed in the school will expect when the school closes this year.

“In making his decision, the Minister [Peter Weir] advised that CCMS should provide appropriate support for affected teaching and non-teaching staff who are impacted by the closure.

“Any redeployment/redundancy costs will be in line with current guidelines. Teaching and non-teaching staff are afforded employment protection as part of the TNC School Re-organisation agreement [the transfer of staff due to school reorganisation in the area such as through closure or amalgamation of schools.]

“Redundancy costs will apply to those staff availing of voluntary redundancy at the point of closure, together with those teachers who have been unsuccessful in securing employment in the transfer redundancy trawl. Those teachers not gaining employment or are unsuccessful as part of the transfer redundancy trawl will be treated as supernumerary [being in excess].”

Many have been angered by the decision to close the school as it will result in some children completing a 50-mile round trip to go to school every morning. The school is located two miles from the nearby village of Belleek and some 25 miles from Enniskillen.

Minister Weir advised that CCMS should provide “appropriate support” to “children and their parents through transport to other schools in the area to minimise the disruption to children’s educational experience”.