Bangor Academy parents vote for integrated status

Bangor Academy is Northern Ireland's largest school

A clear majority of parents of pupils at Northern Ireland's largest school have voted for it to become integrated.

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

Schools can change to become formally integrated as part of a process that includes a parental vote to see if a majority are in favour.

At least half of eligible parents and guardians in a school have to vote in the ballot.

The legal process by which a school changes to become integrated is called transformation.

Bangor Academy will now put a formal proposal to the Education Authority (EA) and the Department of Education (DE) to change its status.

After a wider public consultation, it will then be up to an education minister or the permanent secretary at the department to approve the move.

The legal process by which a school changes to become integrated is called transformation

The non-selective school, which has about 1,850 pupils, initially announced its plan to transform to become integrated in March.

'Overwhelmingly positive'

The majority of its pupils are from a Protestant background but more than 40% are from Catholic, non-Christian or non-religious backgrounds, according to DE statistics.

In a statement released through the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), Bangor Academy's principal Matthew Pitts said he was delighted at such an "overwhelmingly positive result".

Principal Matthew Pitts described the vote as "overwhelmingly positive"

"The entire school community, teachers and Board of Governors look forward to working closely with The Council for Integrated Education and the Integrated Education Fund to proceed through the process to become fully Integrated," he said.

Parents at a nearby large primary school in Bangor, Rathmore, have also voted by a clear majority for it to become integrated.

More than 27,000 pupils are currently taught in integrated schools in Northern Ireland but that is about 8% of the entire school population.

A law requiring the Department of Education to give more support to integrated education was passed by assembly members in April 2022.

But the commitments contained in the new law led some schools, education bodies and church representatives to claim it would "elevate integrated schools" above other types of school.

However a subsequent DE strategy to provide more integrated school places has been called "an action plan with no action" by campaigners for integrated education.