Our Integrated Ethos

Integration is at the heart of everything we do. 

While the majority of Irish-medium schools accept children of all faiths and none, an integrated ethos means our pre-school plays an active role in bringing children and families of different cultural traditions together.

Only 8.4% of schools in Northern Ireland have a mix of Protestants and Catholics (where at least 10% children are from one community). Nearly 30% of schools have no mixing at all. Schools have to go out of their way to get a mixture of children from different backgrounds. 

We want to offer children in east Belfast a chance to experience integration in an Irish-medium setting. To offer children a broader range of friendships and experiences. To create a safe and shared space for cross-community events. This is not about diluting identities, but getting to know each other and learning about our different identities together. This gives children and families a lot of resilience in a divided society.

Our nursery and school committee is voluntary, and is made up of a diverse range of people from both of the main faith/cultural traditions in Belfast as well as those from other or non-faith backgrounds. 

Our nursery and pre-school are all ability, and inclusive of people from all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

We work closely with the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) to bring more varied integrated education opportunities to the east of the city.

As it says in our motto, we believe that 'happy children learning together' is the best gift we can give to future generations in east Belfast.