Education
Over the years the estate has been served by quite a number of schools within its boundaries. The primary sector included the state controlled Rathcoole Primary, Abbot's Cross Primary and nearby Whitehouse Primary schools. The Catholic Maintained sector was served by Stella Maris Primary school. Three schools provided for secondary level education; Rathcoole, Hopefield for controlled sector and Stella Maris secondary for the catholic maintained sector. As the post–World War II baby boom generation grew older, school populations declined rapidly in the area, and in the 1980s and 1990s, Stella Maris Primary and Secondary Schools and Rathcoole Secondary School (State Controlled) were closed. The Stella Maris site has now been redeveloped as a retail park as part of the larger Abbeycentre trading area. In an attempt to increase the mixture of housing tenure types in the estate the Rathcoole Secondary site has now been redeveloped into privately owned housing. State controlled sector education is now the only form of education facility in the estate with the three primary schools still going strong whilst secondary education is now concentrated on the old Hopefield site, now remodelled and extended as Newtownabbey Community High School. Children requiring grammar school education need to travel further to facilities such as Belfast High School, Belfast Royal Academy and Ballyclare High School.
Read more about this topic: Rathcoole (Newtownabbey)
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