Shimna Integrated College is an
integrated secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
based in
Newcastle, County Down
Newcastle is a small seaside resort town in County Down, Northern Ireland, which had a population of 8,298 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Census. It lies by the Irish Sea at the foot of Slieve Donard, the highest of the Mourne Mountain ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. The all-ability school was founded in 1994 with the hope of integrating young people from both sides of Northern Ireland's religious divide and giving all of its students '
self-esteem
Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth, abilities, or morals. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Macki ...
'.
Context
Integrated Education
Integrated education in Northern Ireland refers to the bringing together of children, parents and teachers from both Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions in childhood education: the aim being to provide a balanced education, while allowing the ...
is a Northern Ireland phenomenon, where traditionally schools were segregated, either run as Catholic schools or Protestant schools. On parental request, a school could apply to 'transition' to become Grant Maintained offering 30% of the school places to students from the minority community.
Lagan College
Lagan College is a grant maintained integrated secondary school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It holds a total of around 1475 students (as of 2024) It was formed in 1981 as the first integrated school in Northern Ireland and contains students o ...
was the first integrated school to open in 1981.
History
It opened in September 1994 with 60 pupils.
[
In March 2011, Shimna became the first school in Northern Ireland to organize a gay-straight alliance.
]
Site
The original buildings are in the process of being replaced with a £16.5m three storey building that meets 2021 design requirements.
Notable former pupils
* Patrick Brown, politician
* Dara McAnulty, naturalist and writer
See also
* List of integrated schools in Northern Ireland
Integrated schools are part of integrated education within Northern Ireland, aimed at bringing children together from both sides of the main religious communities through education.
Integrated schools can be Controlled Integrated or Grant Mainta ...
* List of secondary schools in Northern Ireland
This is a list of secondary schools in Northern Ireland, according to the Department of Education (Northern Ireland).
__NOTOC__
See also
* List of Irish medium nurseries in Northern Ireland
* List of Irish medium primary schools in Northern ...
References
External links
Official school website
{{authority control
Secondary schools in County Down
Integrated schools in County Down
Newcastle, County Down