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'.
Context Integrated 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.
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 were replaced with a £16.5m three storey building that meets 2021 design requirements. The plans were approved at the planning committee meeting in April 2021 with completion estimated for September 2023
Notable former pupils Patrick Brown, politician Dara McAnulty, naturalist and writer
See also List of integrated schools in Northern Ireland List of secondary schools in Northern Ireland
References
External links Official school website