Larne and Newtownabbey schools' ‘disappointment’ as integration plans turned down by Education Minister
The principals of two County Antrim primary schools whose applications to transform to Integrated status were rejected by Education Minister Paul Givan have spoken of their disappointment at the decision.
The majority of parents at Ballyhenry Primary School in Glengormley voted in favour of the school transforming to Integrated status in 2023, with Larne and Inver Primary School following in 2024.
The next step involved compiling a development proposal, with the Minister for Education to make the final decision.
However, the schools were notified on September 1 that their development proposals had been turned down.
In both cases, the Minister noted that he did not believe that the “achievement of reasonable numbers of Protestant and Roman Catholic pupils was likely”.
Lanre and Inver PS principal, Mr Kirk Patterson said: "So much work has already gone into this; it's disappointing for everybody. We put forward a very robust plan, but there are criteria we didn't meet."
The school is yet to make a decision on how to proceed, Mr Patterson added: "It's obviously still very fresh at the moment and we will have to decide if we want to appeal, or apply again down the line when we meet the criteria. What is certain is that there are improvements that have been made during the transformation process and that will continue. With regards to the opportunities the children are getting, that isn't going to change."
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster on September 3, Ballyhenry PS principal Lynn Knocker said that the school “lives the values of integrated education already”. She added: “We put in our bid for integration before [the Minister] defined what reasonable numbers were, and yet we continued to engage respectfully in the process to achieve that goal.”
Legal framework
The news of the Minister's decision comes as he published a Department of Education Position Paper on Integrated Education.
It aims to “provide clarification on the legal framework governing Integrated Education, and outline measures designed to support schools considering transformation to integrated status”.
Paul Givan said: "Integrated education was established to bring together children from Protestant and Roman Catholic backgrounds in a society historically marked by division. The requirement for reasonable numbers of pupils from both traditions is a core element of integrated education and a statutory requirement embedded in legislation.
"The reality is that many schools seeking to transform face significant challenges in demonstrating how they will achieve and sustain meaningful representation from both communities. In many cases, demographic factors and historic patterns of enrolment make this a difficult hurdle to overcome."
Parental demand ‘cannot be ignored’
Meanwhile, the Council for Integrated Education and the Integrated Education Fund issued a statement expressing “enormous disappointment” at the decisions taken by the Education Minister to refuse Integrated status to several schools in Northern Ireland. “The evidence suggests that the majority of these schools have succeeded in increasing their minority intake over time,” the statement added.
"However, Integrated Education cannot be reduced to just numbers of Protestant and Catholic children alone. Many parents who chose Integrated schools do not fit into these traditional categories.
"Parental demand for Integrated Education cannot be ignored. The Department of Education has a legal duty to not only measure demand, but it must also aim to meet that demand.”