Updated 18th April 2023
We are delighted to hear that the Tender has been issued for the Enfield Community College Design & Build school project. As of time of writing, the Tender return date is 14th July 2023, which means that by the Autumn, (current course and speed), we should be seeing something concrete happening on the site. (Fingers crossed!)
Updated 9th March 2023
We were very disappointed to learn that Enfield Community College is one of the schools delayed due to capital funding issues at the Dept of Education.
We urgently need clarity on this situation and for ECC to be prioritised by the Dept whenever additional funding is secured.
EDG will continue to liaise with school management and make representations to Minister Foley, the Dept of Education and our local TDs. We would encourage everyone in the community, particularly current and prospective parents, to do the same.
We acknowledge the need for temporary accommodation and the LMETB delivered on their commitment to have rooms in place for the pupils at opening. This will cease in summer 2023, and the pupils will be catered for at temporary accommodation on the proposed site of the permanent school building instead.
Two important issues relating to Enfield Community College which need it put on a higher priority are:
Unlike a lot of the 58 schools on the list waiting to go to tender, ECC is the ONLY secondary school in the expanding town of Enfield. With more houses going up every year in the area this need is only going to get worse.
Planned temporary accommodation will not be adequate to take in the class of 2025. Even at time of writing when the builders are laying down the temporary classrooms to open in September 2023, these will not provide enough space come September 2025. It needs the full building ready by then. (But - there is precedent for schools to be split over different temporary campuses - Ardee ETNS - which is the fate of ECC unless it goes to tender by summer 2023 at latest.
We'd encourage any member of the public who is concerned about the lack of progress on the school building (especially any parents of children in the local primary schools), to contact them to ask they put pressure on the relevant places to ensure that the tender is posted as soon as possible.
To help, we have a sample wording with the pertinent facts below which you can use as a template. Email addresses of relevant local representatives are also listed below.
Thank you, The EDG Committee.
Dear ,
I am very concerned to learn that due to capital funding issues the building of the permanent school for Enfield Community College (Roll # 76595N) has been delayed.
The school has been hugely successful since it opened in temporary accommodation in 2020.
Pupil numbers continue to grow and will exceed 400 by Sep this year. Even with a move to the permanent site, my understanding is that the temporary school will not be sufficient to cope with the predicted number of pupils from Sep '25 on.
We understand that it is possible to shorten the Tender Assessment period by Department by a minimum of two months if they put in place the necessary additional resources in place to ensure the school is delivered in 2025.
I would therefore greatly appreciate any clarity you can provide on the new timeline for the construction of the permanent school , which solutions will be adopted to shorten the tender assessment period and I would urge you to ensure that Enfield Community College is given the highest priority when new funding is secured.
Yours sincerely,
Representative Name | Representative Email |
Damien English | damien.english@oireachtas.ie |
Johnny Guirke | johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie |
Peadar Tóibín | peadar.toibin@oireachtas.ie |
Shane Cassells | shane.cassells@oireachtas.ie |
Norma Foley | norma.foley@oireachtas.ie |
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