Craigavon Senior High School: Educationalists and politicians clash over closure of Lurgan campus

The decision by the Educational Permanent Secretary Mark Browne became public on Wednesday and was defended by the Principal of Craigavon Senior High School (CSHS), Ruth Harkness, and the Education Authority (EA).

However it was bitterly opposed by a wide range of DUP and UUP elected representatives for the area, who insisted that it flew in the face of all public consultations on the matter.

At present Craigavon Senior High School has 748 pupils spread over Portadown and Lurgan campuses. Some 160 of the pupils are based in Lurgan.

The school currently only educates children from ages 14 to 16 but says that the consolidation of the campuses into one will facilitate the addition of a much needed sixth form.

The Lurgan campus is now due to close in September 2023.

Ms Harkness said that her pupils reached an all-time high of 87% achieving grades A*-C at GCSE in August.

"During this time the school has also become heavily oversubscribed, intake in September 2022 has been the largest since the school’s inception in 1995," she said. "This decision today allows Craigavon Senior High School to continue this journey of continuous success by taking the next steps towards a much-needed Sixth Form provision and a new school building."

She added: "We want to move at pace on this and become a four year school because at present we are a two year school."

She acknowledged that local politicians oppose the closure of the Lurgan campus.

"I understand that there are mixed emotions around this however we must not lose sight of the need for this decision," she said.

"We have a campus in Lurgan that has inadequate provision for students in the Lurgan community.

"This ranges from limited curriculum options to no outdoor space, hence the need for this decision in the interests of our young people."

She said the EA had ruled out a new Lurgan campus at an early stage of their planning.

The EA said it welcomed the Permanent Secretary’s decision and added that it will seek major capital investment for the construction of a new build Craigavon Senior High School, on a location to be determined.

It aims to create a sixth form in the school in the next two to three years and hopes the new school building will be created in the next 5-10 years.

But UUP leader and Upper Bann MLA Doug Beattie rejected the closure of the Lurgan Campus.

He said: "Unfortunately, against the wishes of the community, academics, local councillors and the Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council’s own Community Plan, the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Education has decided that he would rather bus the children from Lurgan to Portadown than find a Lurgan solution."

Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart and MLA colleagues Diane Dodds and Jonathan Buckley said they have now requested an urgent meeting with the Permanent Secretary. They claim his decision was "highly controversial and contentious" and that it was therefore "entirely inappropriate that a civil servant take it" in the absence of an education minister.