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Michael Wardlow, Chief Executive Officer of NICIE said, “This Ministerial approval to transform to integrated status formally recognises the hard work that the school has undertaken.  We warmly welcome Fort Hill into the integrated community and look forward to working together with their governors, staff and parents for the benefit of the young people in the area.”

 

John Walsh, Principal of Fort Hill Primary School, said, “The staff and I are very pleased to learn that approval has been granted, allowing Fort Hill Primary School to transform to Controlled Integrated Status from 1 September 2009.  As a school sharing a 20 acre site with Fort Hill Integrated College, it has been a serious consideration for us over many years that providing Integrated Education for children from three to19 years old was the way of the future.

 

“Our vision is for a school which is totally representative of the whole neighbourhood and catering for all primary age pupils in an area which has seen great change during the past decade.  We believe that by becoming formally integrated our pupils will lose nothing but will have much to gain.  As such we would trust that everyone involved with Fort Hill Primary can now move forward together and create a new and exciting chapter in the school’s history.”

 

David P Dunlop, Chair of Fort Hill Primary School Board of Governors, said: “We are delighted that the minister has granted our school integrated status.  The Governors and school management have been considering this move for some years now and we believe that this is the right time for Fort Hill to go forward in this way.  

 

 

"It is very important that we give our children the best opportunities to grow and learn together, helping to remove fears and misunderstanding.  We see this as a stepping stone in building on what’s best in our school and embracing the opportunity to be able to give our children a greater understanding of the world around us.  Taking this step also presents a great opportunity for parents to have their children educated from nursery to secondary on one unique integrated site.”

 

The transformation of Fort Hill brings the total number of integrated schools to 61, 23 of which have transformed to integrated status – 18 primary and 5 second level schools.