Shimna Integrated College
Shimna Integrated College is an integrated secondary school based in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland. 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'.[1] ContextIntegrated Education 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 was the first integrated school to open in 1981.[2] HistoryIt opened in September 1994 with 60 pupils.[3] In March 2011, Shimna became the first school in Northern Ireland to organize a gay-straight alliance.[4] SiteThe original buildings are in the process of being replaced with a £16.5m three storey building that meets 2021 design requirements.[3] The plans were approved at the planning committee meeting in April 2021 [5] with completion predicted for September 2023. Notable former pupils
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