Lagan College
| Motto |
Ut Sint Unum "That they may be one" |
|---|---|
| Established | 1981 |
| Type | Integrated |
| Principal | Amanda McNamee |
| Location |
44 Manse Road Belfast Co. Antrim BT8 6SA Northern Ireland Coordinates: 54°33′48″N 5°52′56″W / 54.5633°N 5.8822°W |
| Local authority | SEELB |
| Students | 1100+ |
| Ages | 10+ |
| Website | www |
Lagan College is an integrated secondary school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1981 as the first integrated school in Northern Ireland and contains students of mainly Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths, however students from other faiths also attend the school but more Catholics attend
The school is currently situated on National Trust land, overlooking Belfast. It is named after the River Lagan, which flows though the city. Today the school contains 1,235 pupils and over 100 teachers, and remains one of Northern Ireland's most oversubscribed post-primary schools.
Lagan College was founded as a response to the conflict in the community and to the religiously divided school system in Northern Ireland. Most Catholic children attended Catholic-maintained schools, while Protestant school children mainly attended state schools.
Since 1974 the All Children Together (ACT) movement had been lobbying against the segregation in schools in Northern Ireland, however even by 1981 there had been virtually no initiatives from either the churches or the government in the direction of integration. Consequently, a small group of parents with children at the age of transfer from primary to secondary school decided to take the initiative with the support of ACT. They founded the school in September 1981 in temporary premises at Ardnavally Activity Centre beside the River Lagan in South Belfast.
On the first day the school contained 28 pupils and seven staff members, including the Principal, Mrs Sheila Greenfield, one full-time teacher and five part-time teachers. At the end of 1981 the college needed to be relocated, and it was moved into a vacant primary school situated at Castlereagh, overlooking Belfast from the south-east, in time for the start of the Easter term. From September 1983 the new first year pupils were taught in the Manor House at Cultra, until a new building became ready in October 1984.
For the first three years of teaching, Lagan College received no government funding. Parents of pupils contributed what they could afford towards the costs. However over £500,000 still needed to be raised, so an appeal for benefactions by private individuals and charitable trusts was launched to bring the school to the point where it could develop into an economically viable institution. Lagan College gained maintained status in 1984, making the school eligible for full funding from the Department of Education. From this point 100% of running costs were met by the Department of Education and the school governors were responsible for 15% of capital expenditure. The school's first Chairman was Basil McIvor, a former Ulster Unionist MLA and Minister of Community Relations, who was a proponent of integrated education in Northern Ireland.
...
Wikipedia