Craigavon Senior High School: Council objects to Lurgan campus closure

Since opening in 1995, Craigavon Senior High School has operated on a 'split site'

A council has objected to plans to close the Lurgan campus of Craigavon Senior High School (CSHS) in County Armagh.

The 650-pupil school operates on a split site with one campus in Lurgan and a larger one in Portadown.

The Education Authority has proposed that the school is in Portadown alone from September 2022.

But Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council has said that the education minister should reject the plan.

After an independent review commissioned by its cross-party area planning education working group, the council said there was "very strong community objection" to the move.

The review was carried out by Dr Noel Purdy and Dr Jonathan Harris from the Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement at Stranmillis University College.

A number of controlled schools in the Craigavon area operate under the Dickson plan.

Under the Dickson plan, which dates from the late 1960s, academic selection is not used to decide which schools children transfer to at age 11.

Instead, they attend an all-ability junior high school after they leave primary school.

All pupils would attend the Portadown campus of the school under EA proposals

They then transfer at age 14 to CSHS, which is non-selective, or one of two local grammar schools - Lurgan College or Portadown College.

The area's other integrated, Roman Catholic maintained and voluntary post-primary schools are non-selective.

'Exacerbate deprivation'

There are 169 pupils on the Lurgan campus of CSHS and 483 on the Portadown campus.

The review said the closure of CSHS Lurgan campus "would likely exacerbate socio-economic deprivation in the area".

"The proposed closure of CSHS Lurgan Campus in favour of transporting pupils to CSHS Portadown Campus does not have the support of the Lurgan community currently served by the school, and would detrimentally affect school-community linkages to the further disadvantage of pupils and the wider community," it stated.

It pointed out that Portadown had five schools operating under the Dickson plan, while Lurgan only had three, including the Lurgan campus of CSHS.

"In Lurgan, the loss of one of the three schools would render the Dickson Plan unworkable," the review claimed.

It also said that "there is no doubt that change is required to the current situation".

"Educational provision, despite the best efforts of the school governors, leadership and teachers, is thwarted by the split site arrangement and limited accommodation on the Lurgan campus."

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The review stated that pupils should have the option to stay in a non-selective school in Lurgan after age 14 rather than have to travel to Portadown.

As a result, it recommended that Lurgan Junior High School - which pupils currently leave at age 14 - should become a school for pupils up to age 16.

Some pupils could still transfer to Lurgan College at age 14 but the remainder would stay at Lurgan Junior High until age 16.

The review said that was the "best medium/long-term and most feasible solution which honours the spirit of the Dickson Plan for Lurgan children".

Councillors have backed the review and said they had a "strong preference" for a "Lurgan solution" which would see Lurgan Junior High become a school for 11 to 16-year-olds.

However, ultimately, it will be up to Education Minister Michelle McIlveen to decide whether to back the Education Authority or council proposal.