The Department again was 'not convinced about the viability of an integrated college in an area where the minority religion represented only 9%–11% of the population'. Yet another Development Proposal was submitted to try and obtain full government funding for the 1998–99 academic year and yet again the Department of Education turned the college down. Interest in this new integrated college from parents in the area was overwhelming. With additional financial assistance from the IEF, Ulidia Integrated College did survive. The college had to survive on its own finances for another year before a new development proposal could be submitted. ![]() ![]() The department did not feel that such a school in such an area was viable. It also had its most valuable asset – 63 students and religious balance!Ī further development proposal was submitted to the Department of Education, but again this was rejected. Ulidia consisted then of six teachers, second-hand temporary accommodation, second-hand furniture and equipment, but first class, quality teachers. The college eventually opened on a disused hockey pitch, in Whitehead, on the 1 September 1997, under the leadership of Eugene Martin, an experienced teacher and manager from Northern Ireland's first integrated school, Lagan College. The steering group, having secured guaranteed funding for three months went about enlisting the necessary 60 students (with a 30% balance from the minority religion), and the recruitment of principal and staff. ![]() Their sister organisation, the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), obtained funding for the college for a period of three months only, with the promise that the IEF would fund-raise for the college to help maintain it throughout its first year. The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) was approached in February 1997 for support. Under the guidance of Tom Pennycook, a parent, the steering committee steadfastly refused to give up hope and decided to open the proposed new integrated college, independently, without financial assistance from the Department of Education. The Department of Education refused the request and financial assistance. This proposal was for the opening of a brand new integrated college in Whitehead, a few miles north of Carrickfergus. However, the steering group behind Castle Integrated College refused to give up and started planning again for an integrated college in East Antrim.Ī proposal for a new college was lodged again with the Department of Education in early 1997. Castle Integrated College failed because of massive opposition from interested parties in the East Antrim area. The history of the college begins with the failed attempt to open an integrated college in Carrickfergus in 1995. Under the Education Reform Order (NI), 1989 a school wishing to obtain Grant Maintained Integrated status must convince the Department of Education that it can draw a minimum of 30% of its population from the minority tradition of the area it wishes to serve. The School prides itself in educating pupils from any religious background. East Antrim is considered the only area in Northern Ireland in which the separate communities of that area have become more polarised since The Troubles began.
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