FIVE new students are starting at Scoil an Aingil Choimhéadaí today, providing a lifeline to the west Donegal school’s efforts to retain its second teacher.

The enrolments follow a recent initiative launched by the school to attract additional pupils ahead of a Department of Education census deadline.

In a bid to boost numbers, the Gaelscoil offered a €3,000 bursary to families enrolling new students this September.

With just nine students enrolled before the start of the school year, the school faced the risk of dropping below the minimum threshold of 11 pupils required to retain their two teaching posts.

The arrival of the five new students, who are all from one family who recently relocated to the area, means the school will now meet the required numbers ahead of the September 30 cut-off.

“We couldn’t believe it,” Principal Anne Marie Uí Icí told the Donegal News.

“It feels like we’ve won the lotto.”