Scottish Catholic Observer

A Catholic church came to the rescue as pupils set to sit their Higher prelim exams were displaced from their Greenock school due to a fire.

Pupils from Notre Dame High School due to sit their maths higher and advanced higher prelim exams were transported to nearby St Joseph’s Church after a power surge caused a fire at their school last Monday, forcing closure of the school until Thursday.

Mgr Charles Cavangah, parish priest at St Joseph’s, was only too happy to help out for the day so that the prelims were not interrupted.

Buses were laid on by Inverclyde council to transport around 90 fifth-year and sixth-year pupils from the school to the church for last Wednesday’s exams.

By Thursday the Notre Dame community was returning to some semblance of normality, although further prelim exams have had to be rescheduled for a later date.

Work had been carried out at the school on Monday evening after a blaze.

Notre Dame was closed for the following two days as work continued and to ensure repairs were completed.

A spokesman for Inverclyde Council confirmed that St Joseph’s Church offered the ‘best alternative’ accommodation to avoid pupils missing out on sitting vital exams.

“Clearly the closure of the entire school has had an affect on the prelim timetable, so it is vital that, where possible, pupils are given the opportunity to sit their exams,” the spokesman said.

“St Jospeh’s Church Hall is only a few minutes away by bus and offers the best alternative exam accommodation with the minimum disruption to pupils’ preparation or concentration.”

Grant McGovern, Notre Dame headteacher, was grateful that Mgr Cavanagh was able to help the school.

“The timing of the fire was very unfortunate and it added to the stress levels of the pupils at this time,” he said. “It was first class for Mgr Cavanagh to offer us the use of the church hall and the facilities were fantastic.

“Everything went very well and the pupils said the venue change didn’t impact their preparations.”

Notre Dame is currently located in the site of the former Wellington Academy as the staff and pupils await the opening of their new school building, currently under construction on the school’s original site in the town’s Dunlop Street.

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