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Strangford_College Latitude and Longitude:

54°34′47″N 5°33′11″W / 54.5796°N 5.5531°W / 54.5796; -5.5531
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Strangford College
Address
Abbey Road


Coordinates 54°34′47″N 5°33′11″W / 54.5796°N 5.5531°W / 54.5796; -5.5531
Information
Typestate post-primary school
Religious affiliation(s) integrated
Established1 September 1997 (1997-09-01)
PrincipalClare Foster
Gender co-educational
Enrolment800

Strangford College, also known as Strangford Integrated College, is a school in Carrowdore, Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is an integrated co-educational secondary school with a grammar stream for 800 pupils. Clare Foster is the school's current principal. [1]

Context

Integrated Education is a Northern Ireland phenomenon, where traditionally schools were sectarian, [2] either Catholic or Protestant. On parental request, a school could apply to 'transition' to become grant-maintained and offer 30% of the school places to students from the minority community. Lagan College was the first integrated school to open in 1981. [3] As of January 2022, pupils at Strangford College are approximately 45% from a Protestant background, approximately 25% from a Catholic background and approximately 30% from "other" backgrounds. [4]

History

Strangford College opened 1 September 1997, with 64 students and 7 staff. It was awarded grant-maintained status in September 1999. [5]

A new build was approved by the Department of Education in April 2016 and a contractor appointed in 2021. [6]

In 2021, the college applied to raise its official enrolment number from 670 to 760; the minister at first refused the request, [7] but on appeal, reversed his decision. This allows the college to accept 130 year 8 students a year. [8]

The college applied unsuccessfully in 2019 to use transfer tests to select the 35% of pupils it admits to the grammar stream in Year 8. [9] It reapplied in January 2022. [4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Proposal 622 Strangford Integrated College expansion" (PDF). www.eani.org.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  2. ^ Lord Baker of Dorking, Daily Hansard, 18 July 2006 : Column 1189 www.parliament.uk, retrieved 22 July 2007
  3. ^ "The History of NICIE | Integrated Education Northern Ireland". Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Strangford College makes another bid to use transfer test results". BBC News. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  5. ^ "History and Ethos". Strangford College. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  6. ^ "New Build Consultation Boards" (PDF). storage.googleapis.com/siteassetsswd/399/. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  7. ^ Doyle, Simon (6 February 2021). "Heavily oversubscribed Strangford Integrated College loses bid for extra places". The Irish News. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Strangford Integrated College – Minister Retakes His Decision". Integrated Education Fund. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  9. ^ Meredith, Robbie (10 July 2019). "Strangford Integrated College 'cannot use academic selection'". BBC News. Retrieved 15 January 2022.

External links