Portmarnock Community School is one of the first community schools to be built in Ireland.
The new Portmarnock Community School is a public secondary school in the coastal village of Portmarnock eight miles from Dublin. It is one of the first community schools to be built in Ireland.
A community school is an amalgamation of existing secondary and vocational systems rather than the traditional development of separate secondary and vocational schools.
Portmarnock Community School opens two weeks after other schools begin the new academic year in September.
It has a student population of 80 in first and second year.
In a few years, it is expected to grow to 600 pupils.
While the school is not complete, students have settled in and are participating in the full range of subjects. A popular subject choice for boys is woodwork, with Kathleen Dillon being the only girl in the class.
Interim principal Mr Leonard expects the school buildings to be complete by Christmas and then,
A full range of adult education facilities will be available to the community.
Like Blakestown in County Dublin, Portmarnock is under interim management and Mr Leonard will only serve for a few months while the school is being established. He is also an inspector under the Department of Education.
But for the pupils, talks and deeds of trust are remote.
One Portmarnock Community School student is very happy with the school and likes the smaller class sizes.
There's only a few in each class, there's only 17 or 18 in each class.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 12 October 1979. The reporter is Dermot Keogh.
In 1980 Pat O'Leary was appointed as Principal of Portmarnock Community School.
