Future of integrated school to be probed

Future of integrated school to be probed

3 October 2012

THE future of Blackwater Integrated College in Downpatrick was put under the spotlight last night during a public meeting to discuss the best way forward for the school.

Governors joined parents and young people associated with the school for the meeting, which was held as part of a consultation process launched by the Department of Education following an audit of all local schools.

This audit was ordered by the Education Minister, John O’Dowd, in a bid to tackle the number of empty seats in schools across Northern Ireland and to draw up a more viable and effective education system. This consultation, which opened on September 4, will continue until the end of the month.

Secondary schools with enrolments of less than 500 pupils are likely to be most vulnerable to change through the review, following government recommendations that this should be considered a minimum thresh hold for viability. Blackwater Integrated College, with its enrolment of 270, falls into this category.

Several options are being considered as part of the review including, most dramatically, its potential merger with Shimna Integrated College in Newcastle.

Other options are the use of one governing body and principal across the two integrated colleges to increase the potential for savings, sharing some staff and resources or the establishment of joint committees for finance, staffing and buildings.

Mr. Alan Hutchinson, from Blackwater College, said many things were “up in the air” for all schools involved in the review.

He said the meeting was an opportunity for parents to put across their ideas for the school and its future.

He said no particular solution would be focussed on at the meeting with organisers looking instead at a variety of options.

Councillor Cadogan Enright, who attended last night’s meeting, said he was very concerned about the potential for a merger with Shimna College in Newcastle and said he believed such an amalgamation should only be considered if the newly created school was spread across two sites.

He said this would be the only feasible option for children from the wider Killyleagh area, who make up a good proportion of Blackwater College’s intake. He said these children could not be expected to travel to Newcastle on a daily basis.

“Blackwater Integrated College has seen dramatic improvements in its academic success in recent years under its integrated school ethos,” he said.

“One has to question why the Department of Education bus Downpatrick students every morning to other integrated schools like Lagan College and Shimna rather than building up the numbers at Blackwater?”