‘Stand with Glan’ just one pupil away from saving rural school

Seamus Enright

 

The “magic number” is now down to just one, that's according to 'Stand With Glan', with the campaign tantalisingly close to achieving the number of students required to retain its second teacher, and thus the future of their local national school.

“It's very exciting but we're under no illusions - we still have a lot of work to do,” a spokesperson for 'Stand With Glan' told The Anglo-Celt this week.
Local representatives have spent the past fortnight meeting and greeting prospective families, with two now formally signing on the dotted line to take up residence in the rural west Cavan community. More importantly still, and as stipulated in the terms of their arrival, they've happily enrolled their children to attend Curravagh National School for the new term come September.
They include a family from Mullingar who recently returned from China several years ago, and a German couple hoping to swap the hustle and bustle of city living for a more laid-back way of living.
Their committment brings the projected number of students for this September to 14, just one short of the 15 necessary to sustain two-teacher school status.
When the 'Stand with Glan' campaign was first launched, prior to the Summer break, the deficit was six students and fears were expressed for the future survival of the rural school. Recent meetings have attracted 15 to 20 volunteers, all working to make the campaign a success, save the school and revive the local community.
The welcome wagon has been well and truly rolled out by the entire Glangevlin community to the newcomers.
“I don't think some people can quite believe it. At a meeting with one of the families at the school, we had 25 people in the room there to welcome them. There was tea, scones, bread, homemade cakes, you name it. It has been really fantastic how the community has come together over this. I know it's something a lot of people are hoping can continue and we can build on for the future.”
The initiative to resettle new families to Glangevlin mirrors that piloted by Kiltyclogher, Co Leitrim, which faced a comparable dilemma.
Glangevlin, like many rural areas across the country is compounded by the fact that, according to the most recent Census results, the Curravagh NS catchment area suffered a near nine percent drop in population since 2011.
But with close to a dozen vacant houses in the local area available for new families, the Glangevlin community is hoping to reverse that downward trend.
“With one of the families we're dealing with questions like 'can I bring my dishwasher?', so they're definitely on board. It's so amazing that Glangevlin is all of a sudden the centre of attention. We're fielding calls from people from all across the country, and working with them to assess their suitability to living in this area,” the spokesperson added.
However, they note that the work doesn't stop when the 15th student is finally enrolled, with September 30 the official date for that to be achieved.
The 'Stand With Glan' committee are therefore preparing to reboot its push for new residents.
“We're now just minus one child from the number we need for the school to be secure. It's still a long way to September and we need to be prepared if it doesn't work out for one family for one reason or another, that we don't then slip below the 15 and fall back into the same situation.
“We need more families and more houses to fill. We've a few new houses coming on board so we're delighted to get them and very thankful to the people involved. Realistically we know we probably need to double that total to avoid a situation like this again probably, but it's a good start definitely.”