The Chairman and vice Chairman of the Education Committee at Stormont, Mervyn Storey, DUP, and Dominic Bradley, SDLP, spent the morning in St Mary's, Brollagh last week where they met teachers, students and members of the Board of Governors as the fight to save the school continues in earnest.
The two MLA's have co signed a motion with local MLA member, Tommy Gallagher that will be heard by the Assembly. If carried, it will put a freeze on all new school closures until a more definite decision is made on the future of education in Northern Ireland.
Mr Gallagher confirmed that the motion was likely to be heard after the Christmas recess, but said he was happy that a decision would be made before Primary 7 parents in the area themselves decided where to send their pupils in the new year.
Mr Storey and Mr Bradley are also hopeful that this motion will be passed by the Assembly.
When speaking to 'the Herald' after their visit last week, both urged the local community to get behind the school and do 'everything they could' to secure its future.
St Mary's is currently waiting on a recommendation from CCMS following the pre consultation period which has just concluded.
It is hoped that this recommendation will also arrive before P7 pupils' parents make that all important decision.
Mr Storey, who is an MLA for North Antrim, said it was vital that CCMS made their recommendation as quickly as possible, now that the pre consultation period is over.
"There needs to be a clear message from CCMS and the Department of Education. If not, the feeling of uncertainty will be fuelled even more and, at this time the parents and students need to be given some reassurance."
Mr Bradley spoke of the need to copperfasten the rural school. He said there needed to be more 'creative thinking' for education rather than a 'one size fits all' model which is currently being suggested.
Picking up on this point, Mr Storey said that 'from what I can see, there is already a great co-operation between schools,'. He suggested that this could be built on in the future.
On their visit, the two VIP's were quite obviously enthused by what they had seen and, in particular the passion that both pupils, teachers and Board of Governors have for St Mary's Brollagh.
"It was a very enjoyable visit", they agreed, " and it underlined the value of the rural school. There is a definite sense of pride that people have in their school.
"It was great to meet the pupils and Board of Governors and the sense of pride that they had in their school was obvious."
Tommy Gallagher, who lives locally and is a former Vice Principal of Brollagh, said he was delighted with the visit in that it showed the Chairman and Vice Chairman the distance that the children would have to travel to Enniskillen should the school be closed.
"It was a very useful exercise for a number of reasons.
"It showed just how isolated the pupils were in this part of Fermanagh and how arduous and long a journey to Enniskillen would be.
"And it also served to show the teachers and Governors of the school that there would be a proper consideration given to Brollagh by the Assembly members."
A public meeting with John O'Dowd, the Sinn Fein spokesperson for Education, concerning the proposed closure of St. Mary's High School will take place in the school at 8.00pm tomorrow (Thursday) night.
As the MLA reports directly to Education Minister Catriona Ruane, all interested parties are asked to be in attendance at this important meeting in order to air their views.
Parents of children hoping to attend the school in the near future are particularly welcome, while all parents of current pupils along with past pupils, GAA clubs, societies, and organisations who use the school in any way are encouraged to attend.
