Irish language integrated school planned for east Belfast

Linda Ervine says the school has grown since its opening three years ago

Northern Ireland's first integrated Irish medium primary school is hoping to open its doors in east Belfast later this year.

Naíscoil na Seolta has been running as an integrated Irish language pre-school since 2021.

It's now trying to attract pupils for its first primary one intake in September 2024.

The management team said it believed there was a demand for integrated Irish language provision in the area.

The school has been canvassing parents through leafleting and social media posts and is hoping to receive enough expressions of interest to make a primary school viable.

Language activist Linda Ervine helped set up the pre-school and has steered the project over the last number of years.

"We started off quite small, but we've grown," she told BBC News NI.

'New opportunity'

She said she believed parents within east Belfast wanted integrated Irish medium education so their children could be educated together but "also have the benefits of bilingualism".

"If you have a child who is school age or below then you can go in and express an interest in integrated Irish medium education within the east Belfast area," Ms Ervine said.

"We want to provide new choice and new opportunities."

Primary school applications for September 2024 open across Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

Natalie is a parent at the school and has also been learning Irish

Natalie McDowell's daughter Méabh currently attends Naíscoil na Seolta pre-school. She's hoping she can continue into primary one at the site.

"To see our child thriving with a second language is something that we could never have given her at home but now we, as a family, are getting to explore and gain and learn together," she told BBC News NI.

Ms McDowell said it was the integrated ethos and the wish for her child to have a second language that sent them in the direction of Naíscoil na Seolta.

She and her husband only started to learn Irish three years ago but now have a whole new community of likeminded people based around the school.

Gearóidín loves seeing the pupils' vocabularies grow

Gearóidín Monroe, one of the teachers at the pre-school, said she enjoyed helping young children's vocabularies expand.

"We concentrate initially on nouns and suddenly the children realise that each word has an alternative word, so the children experience the richness of language in both English and Irish," she added.

The pre-school has been operating at a site in east Belfast since 2022.

It had initially planned to open in 2021 on the premises of Braniel Primary School in east Belfast, but an online social media campaign against the move meant it had to relocate to another space.

At the time, Linda Ervine said untrue rumours had been spread by a "small number of people" and that the team behind the "ground-breaking" school would not be deterred.

Natalie wants her daughter Méabh to attend primary one at the school

How will it be funded?

More than two years later, she said the school was due to receive money from the Shared Island Fund "to actually get a building of our own".

Ms Irvine said the school was also working with the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) on a development plan.

NICIE said it was advising Naíscoil na Seolta about what was needed to apply for government funding through the development proposal process.

"We are currently preparing a proposal for them and the group members are conducting a campaign to collect expressions of interest from parents to demonstrate demand for an Integrated Irish Medium setting," said a spokesperson.

"The application will be for a Grant Maintained Integrated Primary School and Nursery Unit where the teaching is through the medium of Irish."