More children will be able to access integrated education from an early age next term with a welcome increase in nursery places at integrated primary schools.

Phoenix Integrated Primary School in Cookstown is celebrating the news that the Department of Education has given the go-ahead for a nursery unit offering 26 part-time places from September. This date will also mark ten years since the school first opened, with just 12 pupils. It has grown to seven classes and an enrolment of 170. (more…)

The Integrated Education Fund, the charity which campaigns to make integration and not segregation the norm in Northern Ireland’s schools, has welcomed the report from the International Review Panel on teacher education in Northern Ireland.

The panel is calling for reform of the teacher training system in Northern Ireland and announced “We have rejected the status quo as an option, on the grounds that it is simply not robust enough to deliver the change that is required.”

The Review was set up to examine ways of making the service more efficient, saving money and raising standards. (more…)

Integrated College Dungannon (ICD) Year 8 Gaelic team made a little piece of history recently when they won the Tyrone Vocational Schools’ Gaelic Blitz held in Carrickmore. This was the college’s first success at this level.

The tournament was played in ideal conditions with the ICD team initially coming second in their group, narrowly losing out to Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore in the last match. However, second place in the group qualified the team for the final, where they would again meet a strong Dean Maguirc team. (more…)

Pupils from integrated schools around Northern Ireland wowed an international audience with music, drama, art and film at the Integrated Education Fund’s Carson Showcase on Thursday (19 June).

Visitors from the Ireland Funds (who were in Belfast for their annual conference) joined members of the Carson family and Baroness May Blood of the IEF at Cliftonville Integrated Primary School in North Belfast, to celebrate the winning entries in the Carson Prize scheme, and view the work of students supported by Carson Bursaries. (more…)

Congratulations to all the primary schools who have taken part in the Primary 6 STEM Challenge at Integrated College Dungannon over the past two terms.

The project, supported by the Integrated Education Fund, involved teams from Windmill, Saints and Scholars and Portadown Integrated Primary Schools visiting ICD for work in Maths and Technology, Art and Design and Music and Moving Image Arts. (more…)

The Integrated Education Fund has welcomed the positive conclusion of the judicial review brought against the Department of Education by Drumragh Integrated College. The High Court judgment, delivered in May, has far-reaching implications for education planning and delivery, underlining the state’s duty to encourage and facilitate the growth of integrated education. This would meet the consistent public desire to see integrated education more widely available.

In the High Court on the 5th June the case concluded with a formal order that the article 64 of the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 applies only to “integrated education” as a standalone concept. It was agreed that the Department of Education should pay all costs of the case. (more…)