when she first started as an English Teacher at St. Colm's 33 years ago. Back then there was no school, only mobiles which the children were educated until the 1980's and a new school was built.
St. Colm's is a school that has reached its capacity in terms of pupil numbers, an achievement in itself considering the current slide in demographics and with a dedicated team of 54 teachers and 20 other staff, the school continues to go from strength to strength. We have over 700 pupils at the school and we are continuously developing our opportunities for the over-16's.
Ms Jordan felt that young people tend to get bad press from the media but 99 per cent of children are mannerly and well behaved. And yes, like us all there are days in which they don't want to work, but it isn't exclusive to young people.
St. Colm's is waiting on the green light for a new school - a prospect that has excited staff, pupils and parents alike. "We are in a very exciting phase of our development right now", said Ms Jordan. A location and an in-depth look at our options are now with the Consultants. It is thought that St. Colm's should remain at the heart of the Community, as it is a "Community School". It is the hope that developments around the new-build will be in the public domain by the end of the year and according to plan a new school could be build by September 2014.
Our school mission statement "St. Colm's seeks to develop a Catholic school community which is well-ordered and within which both staff and pupils can work co-operatively and in mutual respect in the pursuit of all aspects of spiritual, educational and personal excellence." this is endorsed by our school motto, "We do our best to be the best that we can be".
Below the mobile classrooms before the main school was built.
Above: The staff of 1999-2000. This is the year that Ms Imelda Jordan became Principal (seated 1st row, middle).