Two schools in East Galway Newtown National School, Tuam and St. Brendan’s Boys National School, Loughrea have been granted approval to improve their school facilities.
Newtown National School will receive two new mainstream classrooms, while St. Brendan’s will add our new Special Education Training rooms.
Galway East TD Seán Canney confirmed that both projects have been granted approval by the Department of Education.
Deputy Canney said that these latest improvements to Galway’s existing school stock, “adds further to the expenditure on providing modern educational facilities in our National Schools in Galway East.”
“It is also important that the National Schools can provide education for Special needs in the proper environment and the allocation of funding to provide special education rooms is vital for this service to be provided.”
Both round of upgrades have been granted approval under the Department of Education’s Additional Accommodation Scheme.
The Additional Accommodation Scheme is meant to ensure that schools have enough classroom space for their students each year where the school’s existing space is insufficient.
If the schools thinks they will need the additional space for less than three years they can apply to rent room from elsewhere.
Where the need is likely to be for more than three years, the Department of Education can provide grant aid to either buy a prefab or build a permanent classroom.
“I would like to congratulate both schools for their efforts in ensuring that these facilities are put in place,” said Deputy Canney, adding that he was grateful to the department for being proactive in approving funding applications.
