The Ashbourne Parent's Association (A.P.A.) ceased their involvement representing the three Primary Ashbourne Schools; they formed their own individual Parents Associations in 1982. The A.P.A. was then to cease its role formally in Ashbourne but not before forming the Second Level School Committee in 1977 with a link later to the Ashbourne and District Community Council (A.D.C.C. in 1981) https://www.facebook.com/ashbourne.centre?fref=ts . The enthusiasm, efforts and patience over the following fifteen years and, with the help of the wider Community, the Second Level School Committee achieved their one objective, the provision of a Second Level School for Ashbourne and its surrounding districts with the opening of Ashbourne Community School (A.C.S) in 1992 - http://www.ashcom.ie/ . The last involvement of the Second Level School Committee with A.C.S. http://www.ashcom.ie/ was in 2002; on the Second Level School's celebration of their 10th birthday with President Mary McAleese and her husband, Martin, as Principal Guests for the occasion - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McAleese/ . The A.C.S. was the largest single project undertaken and completed in Ashbourne at the time and with Irish Architectural Awards accredited in mid-nineties. presently has an enrolment in excess of 1000 pupils with multiple educational facilities and sporting, cultural, and so many more connections, far too many to mention, within our Society. It is one of the major community hubs within Ashbourne; comes within the top fifty second level schools in Ireland and shortly will open its own "state of the art" sports and recreational centre, which it is hoped, will be yet another tremendous resource for all the community of Ashbourne.
