When students and staff vacate the present Devenish College site located on Algeo Drive for their new-build at the Tempo Road, it may not be long until the corridors are filled with students once again.

It is expected that students will attend the new Devenish College when school returns in September.

In a statement to The Impartial Reporter, the Education Authority (EA) confirmed its plans to retain the current Devenish College building and site.

In a statement, an EA spokesperson said: “The EA intends to retain Devenish College’s current building and site once the move to the new school at the Tempo Road is completed.

“EA will continue to work with the Department of Education to explore options around how this site can be best used to support the development of the new facilities for Enniskillen Royal Grammar School (ERGS).”

The EA did not make it clear what these options could be, but it had previously been suggested in reports in this newspaper that ERGS students could study at the Devenish College site at Algeo Drive while the new site for ERGS is being constructed.

Impressive plans were unveiled earlier this year for the new-build for ERGS where all of the students will study on the Loughshore site of the school and end the current split-site model.

The new-build Devenish College will accommodate 800 students aged between 11 to 18, and will be located at a new greenfield site on the outskirts of Enniskillen, at the Tempo Road – some 1.5 miles from the existing school site.

Plans were first lodged for such a site when Enniskillen High School and the Duke of Westminster amalgamated in 2005, and were long in place when Lisnaskea High School amalgamated into Devenish College in 2013.

The works progress began in 2019 – almost 15 years after they had been initially planned.