Derriaghy pupils left to walk to new school

The 28 children who live in Milltown Estate and who are due to leave Derriaghy Primary in June to go to Seymour Hill Primary have been told the SEELB will not provide transport for them because they live within two miles of the school.

Abandoned

At the start of the campaign to save Derriaghy many parents feared no transport would be allocated and they would be left, as one parent put it, ‘abandoned’.

And just months after it was announced that Derriaghy Primary School, which has served people the area in one form or another since around 1794, would close its doors for the last time in August 2011, they say that is exactly what has happened.

Lorraine Hannah, a parent representative on the Board of Governors at Derriaghy, said the closure has hit many parents hard and now they are having to deal with transport issues.

She said that walking a child from Milltown Estate to Seymour Hill was extremely risky.

“Many of the parents are on benefits and will have to walk a mile and a half along a very busy route to Seymour Hill Primary with their child,” she said.

“If some opt for public transport it would mean they would have to get a Busy Bus to Lisburn and then another bus to Seymour Hill so the child can be in school for 9am. That would just not be possible.

“We had already campaigned to save the school from closure and we accept now that it will close, but the parents want their child to be able to go to school safely.

“It is traumatic enough for many having to leave one school to go to another but now the issue with the transport has blown up.

“If they are closing the school they can surely use the money that they have saved and put it into transport.

“Many of the parents are totally devastated and feel abandoned. All we ask is for the board to reconsider.”

Assistance

A spokesperson for the South Eastern Education and Library Board said: “The SEELB is required to provide transport assistance in accordance with DE Circular 1996/41 (updated 2009) which directs that Transport assistance will not normally be provided for pupils who reside under two miles to their nearest suitable category of primary school.

“For those eligible pupils, a Board will provide whatever form of transport assistance it deems appropriate, however for all other pupils it is a matter for parents to determine how their children get to school and any cost and safety implications resultant from this decision.”