A primary school in Co Kildare will reopen on Monday after being instructed to close temporarily earlier this week due to safety concerns.
St Patrick’s National School in Celbridge, which has about 400 students and staff, was told to close due to the findings of external fire safety and building-compliance reviews.
However, the Department of Education has given the school, located on Hazelhatch Road, written confirmation that it can reopen next week.
A department spokesperson said officials met the school patron and authority on Thursday to discuss the matter.
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At the meeting, the department and its project manager outlined “the scale of works already done in January and February to address the most immediate issues and the work plan regarding remaining works over the next few weeks for which a contractor is on site”.
The spokesperson said the department also raised “the importance of having a good maintenance regime in place given that significant water ingress issues arose due to blocked gutters, blocked drains and an underfloor water leak from the heating system”.
All of these have been addressed, the department said, adding it had “reassured the school that the school building is safe to use and that the school should reopen as normal on Monday morning”.
In an email to parents of pupils on Wednesday afternoon, the chairperson of the school’s board of management said the decision to temporarily close the school building with effect from Thursday had been taken following a series of recent external fire-safety and building-compliance reviews.
“This decision has been made in the interest of the safety, health and welfare of our pupils and staff,” wrote Breda Holmes.
“Independent assessments identified a number of fire safety and building compliance matters which require urgent attention. While there has been no specific incident giving rise to this decision, the board considers it prudent and responsible to pause occupation of the building in order to implement priority works and ensure full compliance.”
Holmes added that the board wished to emphasise the decision was taken “proactively” and recognised the “disruption” it would cause to families. “The safety of our school community must, however, remain the overriding consideration.”
