A year of great progress overshadowed by the passing of Baroness May Blood.
As 2022 draws to a close, the Integrated Education Fund (IEF) wants to thank you for your continued support and provide you with a brief summary of some of the key highlights of the year – a year overshadowed by the sad passing of our great friend and champion Baroness May Blood, who will remain forever in our hearts and minds.
We know May was very proud of the momentum building behind Integrated Education this year and here are some of the reasons why:
In September, two more schools opened successfully as Integrated schools; Integrated College Glengormley & Bangor Integrated Nursery School.
Through the year our ‘Integrate My School’ campaign helped support seven positive school parental ballots held in favour of transforming to an Integrated school:
In March, we witnessed the passing of the Integrated Education Bill (now an Act) at Stormont brought forward by Kellie Armstrong MLA.
That same month saw the ending of the ‘Teachers’ Exemption’ from the Fair Employment Treatment Order, a Bill brought forward by former MLA Chris Lyttle.
Throughout 2022 several events took place celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Lagan College, the first planned Integrated school, and now the most oversubscribed school in Northern Ireland despite having 1,425 pupils.
Thanks to the support of our donors, the IEF was able to provide over £300,000 in grants to support Integrated and Transforming schools in 2022.
We are also immensely grateful for the increased support for Integrated Education shown by both the British and Irish Governments.
Baroness Blood’s last ever formal event for the IEF saw her launch our new IEF Strategic Vision: Towards 100 Schools in June. Our objectives boosted by the single largest corporate donation in Northern Ireland made by Hagan Homes in May’s honour.
May’s dream was that we would set the groundwork to be well on our way to achieve 100 Integrated schools by 2025.
She said it might not happen in her lifetime and sadly she was right.
We can assure you that we will never ever give up on trying to reach that landmark. With your continued support, we know we can do it.
Wishing you all a peaceful and happy Christmas & New Year.