Oct 2004

Building Contract signed at Moville Community College

The contract for the new permanent accommodation for the school was signed on Monday 20th September 2004. The Chairman of Donegal V.E.C. Cllr. Dermot McLaughlin and Sean O'Longain, C.E.O. - V.E.C. were present for what Principal Anthony Doogan called 'a landmark day' in the history of the new college.

Uncertainty over when the permanent accommodation would begin had cast a shadow over the school in recent years following the initial excitement on when the school opened, just over three years ago and Mr Doogan admitted it was a huge relief to see progress now being made. "It is great to have the contract signed. It was critical because we now have 390 pupils and next year we will have somewhere in the region of 480 here" The 48 week long stage one of the development will cost around €3.8 million and will see 2,300 sq metres of new school year. "We'll leave it up to the builders until next August when the furniture and equipment arrive," said Mr. Doogan.

The existing prefabricated school building 'will continue to be essential for the next seven to ten years' according to Anthony Doogan. "Come next September we will have everything we need except for a PE Hall and changing rooms. We will now start to get pro active to get dispensation for such a facility to be included in the next phase of development"

As big a development for the school as the signing of the building contract was, Mr Doogan believes the arrival of the results for the first set of students to sit the Junior Cert from the college was 'an even bigger landmark for us.' "The day the Junior Cert results came out was a fabulous one for the school. The fact that so many pupils did well tells me that we are teaching and learning very effectively here. I can assure you that the high standards of achievement will continue."

There were a number of high performers at the school but Doogan was more satisfied with the 100% pass rate for Ordinary Level Maths and English. "Given the furore in the papers recently about the numbers of students failing pass maths in the Junior Cert its very pleasing that no one studying here did. It is critically important that students going on to study have at least a pass level of Maths and English and credit must go to both the staff and the students.

The Ballyliffin born Principal also pointed out that only five pupils out of the 95 who sat the Junior Cert this summer have not come back to study for the Leaving Cert. "The national target is 81 percent and of that five, not all have left education, some have just moved school."

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