Campaigners have warned that closing St Joseph’s Primary School in Caledon would “effectively remove Catholic education from the village” and deal a devastating blow to rural community life and cross‑community relations.
Former pupils and parents addressed Mid Ulster District Council’s Policy and Resources Committee on May 7, urging councillors to back their fight against plans to shut the school in 2027.
Speaking remotely, parent and past pupil Louise McConnell said she had two children currently at St Joseph’s, one now in secondary school and another she hopes will start there in September 2027.
“I have joined this meeting tonight to help express the views of the parents’ collective of St Joseph’s, and to stress that we believe the proposed closure of our school would have serious and lasting consequences for our children and for the entire community of the Brantry and Caledon,” she said.
“We are asking Mid Ulster District Council to formally support our objection to the proposed closure, and to advocate for the retention of our school in Caledon.”
She warned that if St Joseph’s closes, “many of our children will face significantly longer journeys each day”, being bussed out of the village to schools which are already oversubscribed and teaching children in dinner halls, such as St Mary’s PS, Aughnacloy, and Roan St Patrick’s, Eglish.
“Small rural schools like St Joseph’s are often community anchors, and our children play a vital part in this community, especially in the area of shared education with the local Protestant primary school,” she said.
“There has been fantastic cross‑community work carried out in Caledon over the past number of years… This cannot be facilitated if St Joseph’s is no longer there.
“St Joseph’s is not just a school. It is a focal point of our community. Its closure would accelerate rural decline and remove one of the last shared spaces that brings families together.”
Ms McConnell said parents believed the long‑term projections underpinning the closure proposal “do not fully reflect the reality on the ground, or the potential for growth within our community”.
“For many of our children, this is the place where they first felt confident, known, and supported. Removing that environment is not a small administrative change. It is a deeply personal loss,” she added, highlighting particular concerns for pupils with additional needs who may struggle with upheaval or reduced support in larger schools.
She concluded: “The parents of St Joseph’s Primary School in Caledon are appealing to you as our elected representatives to stand with our community, support our objection, and ensure that the voice of Caledon families is heard before any final decision is made about the future of our school.”
Dr Luke Sherry, also a past pupil and a governor at both St Joseph’s and St Mary’s PS in the parish of Aghaloo, told councillors that more than 3,000 written objections had already been submitted to CCMS, the Education Authority and the Department of Education.
“We have been heartened by the very substantial written responses… objecting to the proposed closure of our school,” he said.
“I’m here to speak to you this evening not simply as a governor, but as somebody who grew up in the community, benefited from the education provided by St Joseph’s and utilised this to serve the area professionally and personally.
“I am also here to ask the Council to continue standing with our community in opposing the proposed closure of St Joseph’s Primary School in Caledon.”
Dr Sherry said it was “deeply concerning” that Mid Ulster District Council had not been “meaningfully consulted” given the impact on the village.
He criticised the way the proposal framed the issue as one of “sustainability”.
“When you read the report closely, what becomes clear is that sustainability has been reduced to little more than numbers on a spreadsheet — enrolment figures, budget deficits and arbitrary thresholds,” he said.
“This school is not just a building. It is part of the social infrastructure of our village. It is woven into community life, into parish life, into sporting life and into cross‑community life.
“The closure of St Joseph’s would bring to an end over 120 years of Catholic education in Caledon. That history matters. That continuity matters. Communities are not sustained by economics alone. They are sustained by identity, belonging, and shared institutions.”
He warned that removing the only Catholic school from the village would “fundamentally alter the balance of the community” and raise “real questions under Section 75 equality obligations, particularly regarding religious equality and good relations”.
“The consultation document concludes that there are no major impacts arising from the removal of Catholic education provision within Caledon. Frankly, I struggle to see how any reasonable person could arrive at this conclusion,” he said.
Dr Sherry argued the rural needs assessment in the development proposal was “wholly inadequate”, treating transport and rural life “as though it is simply a matter of distance”.
“St Joseph’s is not a failing school. It is delivering a high standard of education and it has done so for decades,” he added.
“The last full ETI inspection rated the leadership and management as outstanding. As a former past pupil myself, I can personally attest to the quality of education I received there.
“There has been no attempt to calculate the social or economic value that the school adds to the community, and what impact a closure would have, and what loss this would be.
“Instead, what we see is a rigid application of a policy focused on financial costs and enrolment thresholds over lived reality, community impact and educational outcomes.”
He said meaningful alternatives had not been properly explored, the council had not been adequately consulted, and that while community views appeared to have been acknowledged, they had “not truly been considered”.
“The impression created is that closure had been the preferred outcome from the beginning. This consultation seems to simply be about justifying the decision thereafter,” he told the committee.
“This is bigger than one school. This is about what kind of rural communities we want to preserve within Mid Ulster.
“If we continue removing schools, services and institutions from villages like Caledon, we cannot act surprised when rural communities decline. Once a school closes, it almost never comes back.”
Dr Sherry urged councillors to send “a strong message” to the Department of Education and CCMS that the proposal “does not adequately reflect the educational, social, equality, and rural implications of closing St Joseph’s Primary School” and to “continue to stand with our community… before irreversible damage is done.”
Committee chair Councillor Eva Cahoon thanked both speakers for their contributions and confirmed: “You’ll be aware that the Council have responded and issued correspondence in relation to this, as agreed at our last Council meeting.”
