Committee received Whitehouse Primary School Petition

The Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Education today received a petition from teachers, parents and pupils of Whitehouse Primary School and Nursery Unit demanding that their school be rebuilt following a fire that destroyed the school last summer.

Approximately 200 children, parents and staff brought the petition to Parliament Buildings today where a delegation which included the School Principal, Mr David McConkey, handed over several boxes of letters to Members of the Committee for Education.

Receiving the petition on behalf of the Committee, Chairperson Mervyn Storey said: “The Committee for Education is supportive of the plight of the pupils, parents and staff of Whitehouse Primary and Nursery school. I hope that by receiving this petition it will help to highlight the unacceptable conditions in which these children are expected to learn and I trust that reconstruction of Whitehouse Primary School and Nursery Unit will commence as soon as possible.

“On behalf of the Committee I shall be presenting this as a Public Petition to the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly at the commencement of Assembly business on 17 May. The Speaker will accept the Petition on behalf of the Assembly and forward it to the Minister of Education. It is then up to the Minister to respond to the Petition.”

ENDS