Successful start for Portlaoise secondary school a priority for new ETB chairperson

The new Portlaoise-based county councillor elected as chairperson of the Laois Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB) says a priority will be successful start for the Laois' new secondary school.

Cllr Dwane Stanley was elected Chairperson at this month’s meeting of the LOETB in Clonaslee which took place this week.

“It is a great honour to be the Cathaoirleach of LOETB. I look forward to my term in the chair. This is the first time a Sinn Féin nominee has become the Cathaoirleach of such a body in Laois/Offaly as there was never a Sinn Féin Chair of the Old Vocational Education Committee.

"My priorities for the year ahead are that the LOETB continues to provide a range of courses for adults who missed out on educational opportunities and to ensure that the new secondary school, Dunamase College, at Railway Street, Portlaoise is opened in September and gets off to a successful start,” she said

The LOETB is a patron of the new shcool.

LOETB provides education services in eight community colleges across the two counties. All schools are coeducational and multidenominational and are inclusive of all students.  Students are supported in realising their full personal and academic potential.

A School Completion Programme (SCP) is also administered by LOETB. The SCP is responsible for identifying and tracking potential early school leavers, and implementing supports to change this course of action.