The North West Education Action Group set up following the original proposal to close St. Mary's High School, Brollagh, near Belleek, has vowed to keep educational provision in the area for more than 130 pupils.

They were responding to an announcement by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) this week recommending closure of the school within two years. This followed a consultation that took place last week between them and the school representatives. Following their review, CCMS has recommnended that the school close completely in September 2015 with no first year pupils accepted in September 2014 and that arrangements are made for the existing pupils to access other schools to complete their secondary education. The CCMS has now begun a process of consultation.

The recommendations are for pupils to move to Enniskillen schools however some of the parents of pupils at Brollagh say they are against sending their children the long distance to Enniskillen schools.

One parent said, "We are so far away from Enniskillen. I have a daughter already at Mount Lourdes and during the G8, she was lifted at 6.50am and not back home until 5pm." Theresa Leonard, Chairman of the Action Group, said while they accept the school at Brollagh is not financially viable under current rules, they want to explore alternatives for the pupils in their catchment area. They are still pursuing a cross-border model where pupils could travel the relatively short distance to Colaiste Cholmcille community school in Ballyshannon. From school to school it is just six miles but for some pupils, it would be even shorter. However a journey to Enniskillen is around 30 miles.

This cross-border model of education has never been tried before.

Theresa says they have explored their proposals with councillors and MLAs from all political parties as well as presenting their case at Stormont and Leinster House and they have been given a fair hearing.

"After this week's announcement by CCMS we will regroup and plan a strategy," she said.

Theresa says they have been greatly heartened by the cross community support for their case with around a quarter of the membership of the Action Group representing Protestant churches in the area.

She also revealed that cross-border education was nothing new in the area.

"My mother who is 81 was from Belleek and went to school in Ballyshannon and she knew of others who did this," he explained.

Although the practicalities of funding pupils from Northern Ireland at a school in the Republic have not been fully explored, Theresa would envisage a five-year transition period.

One of the main issues facing St. Mary's High School is its budget deficit. However Theresa said that because 12 pupils are Special Educational Needs pupils and need a taxi to bring them to school, the cost of this transport to Enniskillen schools would equate to a large part of the current deficit.

Mr. Gerry Lundy, Deputy Chief Executive of the CCMS said: "The CCMS has carefully considered the sustainability and viability of St Mary's High School and has recommended that the best option to provide for the needs and the entitlement of the pupils is for the school to close and arrangements put in place for the pupils to access other schools for their post-primary education." "As a consequence CCMS has begun a consultation process with the governors, staff, parents and pupils of the college on the recommendation to close the school. The recommendation is that there will be a phased closure of the school starting from September 2014. If approved this means that no Year 8 pupils will start the school in September 2014 and that no Year 11 will begin GCSE in September 2014. The school would then close completely by September 2015.

Mr Lundy continued: "The CCMS will carefully consider the responses made before moving to the formal statutory stage of consultation which entails the publication of a Development proposal by the Western Education and Library Board. On publication of the Development Proposal there will follow a period of formal consultation which lasts two months during which views can be expressed directly to the Department of Education. Following this the Minister for Education will make a decision as to the approval, or not, of the proposal. Once a decision has been made CCMS will work closely with the school to maximise the opportunities for the pupils and staff affected by the decision."