"You'll have to come up to the school first for a walkaround so you can see what we're leaving - it'll give you something to compare with the new school."

Marie Lindsay, principal of St Mary's College in Creggan for the past four years, is having an even busier time than usual. She's preparing for a massive move which will see St Mary's saying goodbye to the buildings which have been its home for fifty years.

She says the school, founded by the Convent of Mercy, has been very much at the heart of the community in Creggan during that time. Holy Child PS is just over the fence, and just in front is the St Mary's parish church. They will miss a lot with the move to Northland Road.
Marie probably won't miss her office though. A science teacher when she arrived first twenty-five years ago, getting the top job meant she moved into a converted broom cupboard near the front door.

And walking around St Mary's, it's not hard to see how the case was made for a £20m new school. At the back is a set of prefabs which have been in use for 40 years. Other prefabs are dotted here and there. Space for play has always been very limited.

"We'll miss Creggan and we'll miss the view - and we're leaving behind a new techology block," she says. "But wait until you see the new school!"

The view, seen from the windows of an English class on the top floor, must be one of the finest in Derry, stretching far out over the Donegal and Derry hills and beyond the Foyle Bridge. A man who can wax lyrical about it is John O'Flaherty, from Strabane, a retired St Mary's science teacher who's helping oversee the new school project. He reckons that St Mary's remains the highest building on the West Bank, with Altnagelvin Hospital highest in the Waterside.

That view will disappear when the present school buildings are razed after the students move to Northland Road in September. The land will be used, mainly for playing fields, by the new St Cecilia's who also have a £20m new school nearing completion at Bligh's Lane.

The two new schools are part of one massive project, a public-private partnership involving the main contractors, O'Hare and McGovern, and support services group, Interserve. Maghera man John Donnelly, paid by the Department of Education to oversee projects like this across the North, reckons Derry was lucky to get approval for this project before funding became much tighter.

"The city's doing very well in terms of new build," he says. "When you add the Holy Cross school in Strabane, which cost £25m and is the biggest ever greenfield project of its kind in the North, you'd have to say it's great to see things happening in education in the North West."
He adds that he's very impressed with the workmanship and quality of finish from the workers of O'Hare and McGovern, how they've responded to ideas filtering in from the St Mary's side - and how they've stayed very much on schedule.

So it's off to the new school to see what all the fuss is about. Joining the expedition are eight first years from St Mary's and a sixth form supervisor Helena McLaughlin. A proud principal watches them approach the new school. "It's great to see the blue uniforms coming along Northland Road," she says.

The new St Mary's is still very much a building site, with a hundred workers or more there daily, but the finished article is taking shape. And it's certainly impressive, even with several months work still to come.

Going in at the back of the massive building, the landscaped pond is still very much a mucky puddle, and the planned vegetable garden and recreation area are full of work vehicles. But along a long, long corridor are bright rooms already being fitted out as state-of-the-art science labs. St Mary's is a specialist science school, so this will be a hub for the school.

Next on the whistle-stop tour is the giant sports hall, with stacks of planks for the floor. This is a very different design to many other schools. It has these massive rooms as its spine - the sports hall, gym, multi-purpose hall and dining room - with the classrooms wrapped around them.

Architect Sean Furey, who works in Derry with leading architectural firm RPP, explains: "We're on a natural hillside so this radical step allows us to disguise the size of some of these larger blocks and settle what is essentially a very large building into the landscape."
The total floor area of the school is 11,000 sq metres. Lots of family homes get by with 100 sq metres!

Striking

One of the striking features of the school is the entrance with its circular tower topped by a copper-coloured dome which will be lit up (and quite possibly get some sort of nickname locally).

Sean says: "Towers have been used throughout history as strong architectural symbols defining places of importance such as churches and civic buildings. This tower can be seen from the entire frontage along Northland Road as well as acting as a beacon from all areas of the school sports fields."

The sports facillities are stage two of this project. Work starts in September and will see the demolition of the former Templemore Secondary School next door, where St Cecilia's pupils are learning at the moment until their new school is ready. There will be a main grass field for gaelic and camogie, three smaller mixed pitches, a 400m running track, and javelin, high jump and long jump areas.

Marie is also looking forward to the fully-equipped gym, with all its cardio-vascular equipment - "You won't know the staff!" she jokes.
The Romans may be smiling down on the amphitheatre, with its rows of stone seating under construction at the moment to one side of the school. Another feature is a courtyard in the very heart of the school building, allowing in natural light. In fact, there's lot of glass and daylight throughout the building.

Of course, no tour is complete without a visit to the principal's office. And it's a big change from the broom cupboard - a spacious room opening out onto a courtyard where a worker is sealing roof covering with a blowtorch. "Is that for the barbecue?" someone asks.
It's a llittle bit of history for the eight girls from first year - the first pupils called into the principal's office.

Marie is preparing to go to a meeting of local residents in the Glen. She takes pride in the fact that St Mary's always had close links with the community in Creggan. She's hoping to develop strong relationships with people in the Northland Road area as well. Already someone from a slimming group has been in touch, wanting to use the school.
But if the move is away from Creggan, it's also a move closer to the heart of the city. And important differences in how St Mary's selects its pupils means that in future years the school will have a much broader mix of pupils from right across Derry.

All in all, it's a time of massive change - and a big step into a bright future - for one of our fine local institutions.