{"id":20663,"date":"2025-01-08T19:00:58","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T19:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/bangor-academys-bid-to-become-integrated-turned-down\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T19:00:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T19:00:58","slug":"bangor-academys-bid-to-become-integrated-turned-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/bangor-academys-bid-to-become-integrated-turned-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangor Academy’s bid to become integrated turned down"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Paul Givan has turned down bids by two Bangor schools to become integrated<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The Education Minister has turned down a bid by Northern Ireland’s largest school to become integrated.<\/p>\n

A clear majority of parents of pupils had backed the change<\/a> at Bangor Academy, which has around 1,850 pupils.<\/p>\n

But Paul Givan has decided that the plans should not proceed.<\/p>\n

Givan has also turned down a proposal by another school in Bangor, Rathmore Primary, to change to become an integrated one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Enough Catholics at each school? <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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According to documents published by the Department of Education, officials had recommended that both schools transform to become integrated but the minister decided not to approve that recommendation.<\/p>\n

In rejecting the bids, Givan said that there was not enough evidence that there would be enough Catholic pupils at each school for it to provide integrated education.<\/p>\n

He cited Stormont legislation which said that there should be “reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Roman Catholic children” in integrated schools.<\/p>\n

“Even on the most optimistic analysis, it would appear highly unlikely that reasonable numbers could be achieved,” Givan wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bangor Academy had submitted a formal proposal to change its status<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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BBC News NI understands that similar reasons were behind the minister’s decision to reject Bangor Academy’s plans.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the principal of Bangor Academy, Matthew Pitts, said the school community was “extremely disappointed” by the minister’s decision.<\/p>\n

“We have been on a significant journey as a school and the transformation process has been exciting and has helped us redefine our school’s vision for education moving forward,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“We are proud of the inclusive, diverse nature of our school and we will continue to deliver an outstanding education in the future regardless of this decision. <\/p>\n

“We are disappointed that the minister has gone against the significant number of parents who voted in favour of integration but I would like to thank them for their engagement, challenge and sense of optimism that this process delivered.<\/p>\n

“It is a privilege to work for such a forward thinking, positive and supportive community.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

’23 languages spoken’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Following its parental vote, Bangor Academy had submitted a formal proposal to the Education Authority (EA) and the Department of Education (DE) to change its status.<\/p>\n

The majority of the school’s pupils are from a Protestant background but more than 40% are from Catholic, non-Christian or non-religious backgrounds, according to Department of Education statistics.<\/p>\n

In its proposal to the EA, the school said that it planned to become formally integrated in time for the 2025 school year.<\/p>\n

It said that other integrated post-primary schools nearby in Holywood and Belfast were oversubscribed.<\/p>\n

“The transformation of Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College to controlled integrated status will allow the families in the area increased access to integrated education.” the proposal said.<\/p>\n

“The school community is diverse with 23 home languages spoken as well as pupils from all faiths, religions and none attending.<\/p>\n

“Given approval, the school will continue to intentionally develop the integrated ethos and its contribution to peace and reconciliation.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Seeking answers’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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A law requiring the Department of Education to give more support to integrated education was passed by assembly members in April 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the commitments contained in the new law led some schools, education bodies and church representatives to claim it would “elevate integrated schools” above other types of school<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About 70 out of more than 1,000 primary and post-primary schools in Northern Ireland are integrated schools.<\/p>\n

They aim to mix pupils of different cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and religious beliefs, including “reasonable” numbers of both Protestant and Roman Catholic children and young people.<\/p>\n

The first integrated school in Northern Ireland, Lagan College, opened in 1981<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But while the numbers of integrated schools in Northern Ireland have grown in recent years, only about 8% of pupils attend formally integrated schools.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Alliance Party’s Connie Egan said that the minister needed to “set out his rationale for effectively blocking integrated education across north Down”.<\/p>\n

“It is difficult to think of one, given the overwhelming public support for the moves among parents of pupils and also the wider local community,” she said.<\/p>\n

The chair of Stormont’s education committee, Alliance MLA Nick Mathison, also said he was baffled by Givan’s decisions.<\/p>\n

“I will be seeking answers from him in the assembly as a matter of urgency, as those who overwhelmingly voted to transform to integrated status will no doubt be asking serious questions about the minister’s judgement,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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BBC Paul Givan has turned down bids by two Bangor schools to become integrated The Education Minister has turned down a bid by Northern Ireland’s largest school to become integrated. A clear majority of parents of pupils had backed the change at Bangor Academy, which has around 1,850 pupils. But Paul Givan has decided that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[7879,7878,1034,7880,2138],"class_list":["post-20663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-n-ireland","tag-academys","tag-bangor","tag-bid","tag-integrated","tag-turned"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20665,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20663\/revisions\/20665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}