Peace

Today a different blip. The 1150 schools in N Ireland are largely separated by religion, with state schools being attended by mostly Protestants and Catholic schools by Catholics. There is little crossover. Today I was at a local school in Bangor, which I had the pleasure of supporting through a process we call transformation, moving from a state school to become an integrated school - one of about 65 or 8% of schools with this status.. Integrated schools are voluntary and are attended by both traditions in roughly equal numbers. They are places of peace, where hard issues are discussed, small steps in creating a shared society. I was CEO of this sector for 25 glorious years when we grew from 22 to 63 schools. Courageous parents and teachers who want to make an investment in a shared future. I salute you all!