A spokesman for the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) said, “CCMS, has confirmed it is proceeding with a proposal to close St Mary’s High School, Brollagh, from 31 August 2020 or as soon as possible thereafter.”

This proposal, subject to a two month objection period, is now the fourth attempt in the last decade to close the doors of the school.

Commenting Jemma Dolan MLA said, “As a past pupil of the school, I obviously have a particular interest in protecting St.Mary’s High School, but also rural education and rural services across the county.

“The CCMS have been threatening closure to the school, which achieves some of the best GCSE results in the North, for over 10 years now. But I would like to know what provisions the CCMS are putting in place in terms of school transport and school numbers, in the very unfortunate event of the school closing. The closure would be another attempt at diminishing rural communities.”

CCMS chief executive, Gerry Campbell said, “CCMS is of the view that this period of uncertainty needs to come to an end for all involved. CCMS is committed to ensuring pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum and it is challenging for St Mary’s HS to deliver this, given its low enrolment and growing financial deficit.”

He added that CCMS is aware of community investigations which are ongoing to transform the school to integrated status. 

The proposal by CCMS will now be subject to a statutory public consultation before a decision by the Department of Education.   

This week the Education Authority confirmed the receipt of the closure proposal. 

A spokesman for the Education Authority explained, “A development proposal for the discontinuance of St Mary’s HS, Brollagh was received by the Education Authority from the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools.” 

The spokesman added that publication of the development notice will launch the two month public objection period, during which objections or support for the proposal can be lodged with the Department of Education.