New special class announced for Athlone secondary school

A new special class will open in Athlone Community College in the coming academic year, it was announced this evening (Wednesday).

The shortage of school places in Athlone for children with autism and other special needs is an issue that has attracted increasing attention recently, and has been raised in the Dáil on a number of occasions.

The creation of the new special class at Athlone Community College was announced in a statement from the Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board (LWETB).

It said it was delighted the class would be opening in the 2022/23 academic year.

This will be the first special class to open in a secondary school on the 'Leinster' side of Athlone, with Coláiste Chiaráin being the only other secondary school in the town to have such a class in place.

"This is down to the hard work of the school principal, Eileen Donohoe, the Senior Leadership Team, and the Board of Management who have always advocated for students with additional needs," said the LWETB's statement this evening.

It added that the school's management, the Department of Education and the LWETB itself had to overcome "a number of obstacles" to make the new class possible.

The development "paves the way for further increased special class provision in Athlone Community College in the near future," it added.

At the time of writing the number of children that will be accommodated in the new class was not known, nor was it known whether the class would be in place in time for the start of the new school year.

Cllr Frankie Keena, the chairperson of the Athlone Community College board of management, and outgoing chair of the LWETB, said he heartily welcomed today's news.

"I want to commend the board of the community college, who are all fully behind the creation of this new unit for the school.

"The support that was given by Eileen Donohoe, and by Liz Lavery and Brian Higgins of the LWETB, was really strong and welcome in their dealings with the National Council for Special Education and with the Department.

"This is a good news story, because it's so important that services are provided for children moving from primary to secondary to help them if they have autism or another condition."

Cllr Keena said he expected that the new class would initially be in a temporary facility at the school, but that the longer-term plan would be to seek permission for a building project to incorporate a new special needs unit at the school's campus on Retreat Road.

* For more on this story, see next week's Westmeath Independent