Nora Doyle, Raquel Kielty, Aoife Kielty and Bríd Griffin (teacher) pictured at the Open Day at Edmund Rice Senior School, New Ross. Pic: John Walsh

A VERY significant event in the history of education occurred in New Ross last week when the doors of the new state-of-the-art primary school complex opened its doors for the first time.

The Edmund Rice Senior School and Catherine McAuley Junior School formed from the amalgamation of the St. Joseph’s, the CBS and Michael Street National Schools.

The campaign to have a new school built in the town began almost two decades ago and Thursday morning saw pupils entering the new building for the first time.

The previous day there was an open event to allow parents view the premises and give children an opportunity to view their classrooms. A number of familiarisation initiatives were held prior to the schools officially opening to give the children a chance to see their new surroundings.

There were some concerns expressed prior to the opening about traffic management and some parents did experience long delays when dropping their children off at the schools campus, however, everyone concerned is optimistic that any teething problems will be sorted out in the coming weeks.

A number of traffic calming measures have been implemented by the local authority and work on installing new pedestrian crossings in the Irishtown continued at the weekend.