Givan 'entitled' to reject integrated schools' bid, says judge

A judge dismissed claims Stormont Education Minister Paul Givan breached a legislative obligation

Stormont's education minister was legally entitled to reject attempts by two north Down schools to become integrated, the High Court in Belfast has ruled.

A judge dismissed claims Paul Givan breached a legislative obligation and "cherry-picked" plans to make a case against the proposed transformation of Bangor Academy and Rathmore Primary School.

Mr Justice McAlinden held that the minister had clearly indicated a problem around obtaining reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Catholic children.

"There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that such a demand (for integrated education) exists within the local Catholic community," he said.

Givan welcomed the judgement calling it "clear and comprehensive".

He said it confirms that his "decisions were made lawfully, carefully and in line with the statutory duties governing integrated education".

He added that the "ruling sets a significant precedent for future integrated education proposals and reaffirms the importance of legal and evidential rigour in shaping Northern Ireland's educational landscape".

The verdict came in a legal challenge mounted on behalf of pupils at the two schools.

A clear majority of parents of pupils had previously backed the change at Northern Ireland's largest school, Bangor Academy, which has about 1,850 pupils.

In a ballot, almost 80% of parents and guardians at Bangor Academy who voted backed the change.

Rathmore Primary School's plans to make the switch received a similar level of backing.

According to documents published by the Department of Education, officials had recommended that both schools transform to become integrated but earlier this year, the minister decided not to approve that recommendation.

Givan said there was insufficient evidence that enough Catholic pupils would attend the schools for the provision of integrated education.

Citing legislation about having reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Catholic children in integrated schools, those targets were assessed as highly unlikely to be met.

Catholic enrolment levels at both Bangor Academy and Rathmore Primary in recent years were said to be about 3%.

'Blatant policy challenges'

Lawyers representing pupils at the two schools' claimed Givan breached Article 64 of the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 which imposes a duty to encourage and facilitate the development of integrated education.

It was claimed in court that the minister ignored the reality that much of the work to meet the "reasonable numbers" requirement can only be done once a school is approved for the change in status.

It was also alleged that Givan had failed to take into account a number of relevant factors, including: the advice of the Education Authority and officials; the demographic realities facing schools seeking to transform; and the data showing growth of transformed schools.

A counsel for the department of education responded that the proposals had been assessed as being "under-cooked".

He argued there was not enough scrutiny on the key issue of increasing the proportion of Catholic students from 3% to "something close to reasonable numbers".

Ruling on the two applications for judicial review, Mr Justice McAlinden rejected all grounds of challenge.

"The courts are not here as tools to be used by one party or another in disputes or arguments on socio-economic, cultural, educational, healthcare or other policies," he said.

"All too often now, matters are brought before the courts in the guise of a legal challenge when in fact they are blatant policy challenges.

"Such litigation strategies are to be deprecated."