Around 350 pupils from a Co Antrim primary school which was destroyed in an arson attack are to be rehoused in temporary premises, it was confirmed today.
Whitehouse Primary School will be hosted in a vacant wing of nearby Newtownabbey Community High School from next term.
The plan to accommodate around the teachers and pupils was agreed at a meeting today between representatives of both schools and senior officials of the North Eastern Education and Library Board.
“We hope that plans for a new building for Whitehouse Primary will be speeded up and that the emergency transfer of the school will be a purely short term measure,” a board spokesman said.
The temporary solution to the north Belfast school’s accommodation crisis was agreed after the malicious fire destroyed the Doagh Road primary in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The blaze was discovered at 2.30am and police later said fires were started in a number of locations in the grounds of the school.
Nearby homes had to be evacuated as firefighters battled the blaze in the early hours.
Fire and rescue services mounted a major operation to control the blaze and successfully prevented it spreading to properties near the school.
The school’s double nursery unit, which was virtually untouched by the fire, will remain at its present location.
The arrangement to accommodate the primary school in 10 or more unused classrooms at the local secondary school will mean some ancillary work will be needed. Some mobile classrooms may also be required.
Whitehouse Primary was opened in 1938 and extended in the 1950s on a 2.7 hectare site. A double nursery unit was added in the 1970s. The 300-plus pupil school had 12 classrooms and an assembly hall.
Education minister Caitríona Ruane condemned the attacks.
"Over recent days we have seen attacks on a number of schools, including the destruction of Whitehouse Primary School and damage at St Mary’s Star of the Sea Primary School and St Patrick’s College, Bearnageeha.
“All these attacks are totally senseless and must be condemned. I have visited the schools and offered the support of my fepartment.
“My officials met with the North Eastern Education and Library Board over the weekend and will be working to ensure minimal disruption to the education of children from Whitehouse Primary when they return after the summer break.”
Ms Ruane said a longer term option for the accommodation of the pupils could be the accelerated approval of a new school building.
Newtownabbey Alliance Party councillor Billy Webb said he was disgusted at the arson attack.
“I sincerely hope that children at the school do not suffer due to the despicable actions of a few thugs,” he said.
“It appears that there is a deeply worrying trend emerging. An attack on a school is like an attack on the whole community as schools are an important facility for areas.”
In the early hours of July 15th, another north Belfast primary school, St Mary’s Star of the Sea in Shore Road, was attacked.
A boiler house was extensively damaged when a plastic sign and rubbish bins were set alight.
Attempts were also made to set fire to the school roof and sectarian slogans were daubed on its walls.
A blaze on July 11th at St Patrick’s College on the Antrim Road in the city,
which damaged a classroom, is being treated as suspicious.
There was also a suspicious fire at the La Salle Boys’ School building on the Glen Road in the west of the city last week.
PA