Seamount sets out stall in battle for sports hall

The Parents Council in Seamount College, Kinvara hosted a special meeting recently to highlight the urgent need for a Sports Hall in the school.

The meeting was held online and in person with over 300 people registered.

The Parents Council said the Department of Education has repeatedly refused to fund an investment in a PE Hall, at this time, while the parents and board of management have invested over €200,000 in PE facilities in the school in recent years.

Sara-Jane Moore, chairperson of the Parents Council, chaired the meeting with contributions from Minister Anne Rabbitte, Deputy Ciaran Cannon, Councillor Joe Byrne and Councillor Geraldine Donohue.

Chris Dalton of the Parents Council provided strong rationale for the urgent need of a Sports Hall. The requirement was outlined by Mr Dalton under a number of themes: health and safety; equality for all; current inadequate facilities; economic benefit and wellbeing.

In terms of health and safety, it was pointed out that students are at high risk daily as they cross three roads (including the extremely busy Wild Atlantic Way route) to travel to the local Community Centre for PE which is itself a 20-minute round trip on foot.

The inequality in terms of excluding students who have a physical disability from PE was described as being wholly unacceptable to both the school and parents.

He said in 2022, it is hard to believe that the Dept. of Education are excluding students with physical disabilities from attending PE as they cannot physically walk to the Community Centre.

Additionally it was claimed the Community Centre was “totally unsuitable” in terms of size, hazards and facilities.

One point that was strongly made was the cost benefit analysis as it makes better financial sense to build a Sports Hall now as part of the phased extension plans.

Councillor Byrne strongly emphasised the need for the “mandatory requirement” of a sports hall.

He highlighted the fact that other schools in neighbouring Clare have received Department funding for sports halls which contradicts the Department’s stance on no funding being made to upgrade PE halls in existing schools.

Minister Rabbitte pledged her support to the campaign and offered to take a delegation from Seamount to meet with Minister Norma Foley.

Both Minister Rabbitte and Deputy Cannon suggested that applications for upgrades to PE Hall facilities might open in 2023, which is earlier than expected.

While the Parents Council welcomed the fact that the Department of Education might open applications for upgrades to PE halls in 2023, Seamount College does not even have a facility to upgrade.

Bean Mhic Dhomhnaill (Principal Seamount College) praised the Parents Council for organising the meeting and for its strong support.

She told the audience that the Board of Management had highlighted time and time again to the Minister and her officials the need for a Sports facility in the school.

She also emphasised that the Sports Hall would bring much more to the community of Seamount College in that it would be a place of assembly and whole school events.

This she pointed out was currently not possible with the large increase in student numbers. Seamount College is celebrating its centenary this year and the principal said, surely 100 years is enough time to wait for a PE Hall.

There was a rousing address by one of the school’s students who spoke about the disadvantage he and his colleagues faced.

Sixth year student Joe Meares spoke about the Departments ‘denial’ of the opportunity to complete PE as a Leaving Certificate subject for him and others in his class group.

He also highlighted the fact that the space for the hall is available for development on the school site and that the need for the hall is “overwhelmingly evident”.

Darren O’Meara, a PE teacher at Seamount College, compared teaching PE to other practical subjects.

As the Community Centre is too small to cater for a full class, sometimes, students are sitting and watching other students complete activities.

Mr O’Meara’s point struck home when he asked the question: would it be considered acceptable for four students to complete a Science experiment and have others watching on due to reduced classroom size.

Similarly, would it be acceptable for Home Economic students to sit and watch four students cooking whilst others watched?

The answer, he stated, was simply no! So why, he asked, should it be acceptable for this to happen in PE class due to not having sufficient teaching and learning space?

The meeting ended with a call for help from the Parents Council who admitted their need for expertise in campaign management, media, social media, legal and other related areas to move the issue forward.

It was agreed that step one was to “make as much noise as possible”, so that the voice of the Kinvara community would be heard loudly and help bring about change in the Department of Education’s stance on the matter.

Several contributions were made from the floor, and a number of people volunteered to join a working group to push forward with this campaign.

The Parents Council is extending the invitation to join this working group by contacting scksecretary@gmail.com.