CPC access project complete

A €500,000 construction programme to make Cross & Passion College completely accessible to students with disabilities has now been completed.

Phase 1 was completed last summer, when the accessible toilet facilities were upgraded and accessible desks were installed in all class rooms.

Phase 2 has removed barriers such as steps throughout the school building and grounds. The main part of the project involved the building and installation of a lift shaft and a lift to allow access to the second and third floor of the original Cross & Passion convent building. Although much of this building has now been taken over by KARE, several rooms on each level remain part of the CPC complex.

Also included in the work is a state of the art electric lift at the back of the stage of the school’s Assembly Hall. This allows wheelchair users to ‘climb’ the stairs access to the backstage.

A special car ‘bay’ was also constructed near the main entrance to the school to allow parents of wheelchair-using students bring their cars right up to a ramp area for such students.

“We’re now probably the most accessible second level school in the region in every respect,” says CPC Principal Paul Tyrrell, pictured on right with Vice Principal Noel Clare. “It completes the part of our Mission Statement where we want to provide a school that is totally inclusive to all students.”

All that is left to do now is restoration and decoration, which should be completed by the time the school reopens after its summer break.

The project was spearheaded by a steering group of parents and teachers including Denis Dennehy (staff), Breda Kelly & Geraldine Kelly (parents), Gabriel McGinley (architect), and Susan Forde (Enable Ireland).

Phase 2 took 16 weeks - right up to the end of the school year. The contractors were Weslin Construction. The project was funded through the Department of Education and Science.

Brian Byrne.

(This article was first published in last week's Kildare Nationalist.)