Integrated College (IC) Glengormley was the fitting venue for a special celebration event held recently to thank Hagan Homes for their support for Integrated Education. Hagan Homes has donated a staggering £1 million over the past three years to support over 260 projects in Integrated schools through grants programmes administered by the Integrated Education Fund (IEF).
During these years there has been significant growth in Integrated Education, with the number of Integrated schools rising from 68 to 76, an incredible increase of over 3,000 more pupils receiving an Integrated Education. Integrated schools from across Northern Ireland came together to express their gratitude and to share the positive impact of Hagan Homes’s generous funding.
IC Glengormley hosted the event, as one of the schools who have received funding from Hagan Homes. The College received funding from the ‘Integration through Sport’ grant programme, the ‘Uniform Programme’ and the ‘Trust Programme’ which funded the College’s ‘Exploring our identities’ project.
Hagan Homes funded the ‘Integration through Sport’ grant programme, which has supported many schools across Northern Ireland. The aim of this programme is to help introduce new sports into a school and to provide opportunities for pupils to experience sports normally associated with just one cultural tradition in Northern Ireland. The increase in variety of sports helps to reinforce the Integrated ethos throughout the school.
Integrated College Glengormley shared their experience of how the students have benefited from the development and expansion of sports within the College. Principal of IC Glengormley
Ricky Massey said: “We are delighted to host Hagan Homes at IC Glengormley today. As recipients of the grant programmes which Hagan Homes has so generously funded, we want to say a sincere thank you for all their support.
One example is that we have received funding through the ‘Integration through Sport’ programme which has enabled the College to offer different sports, including hurling and camogie, as well as developing Gaelic with Sperrin IC. This has really helped us to reinforce the values and ethos of integration in a really practical, engaging and fun way.”
The ‘Impact of Growth’ grant was another way that Hagan Homes have supported the growth of Integrated Education. These grants provide financial support to help Integrated schools increase enrolments to meet demand. One notable example of the impact of this grant is Mallusk Integrated Primary School (IPS). The grant allowed the school to employ an additional teacher and therefore grow the enrolment figure significantly. Consequently, the school now offers an Integrated Education to more pupils in the Mallusk area. These pupils will have a significant impact on the area as integration expands beyond the pupils, teachers and staff into the wider school community, with parents meeting each day at the school gate.
Numerous schools have been successful in applying for an ‘Early Intervention and Additional Needs’ grant, which supports innovative projects that are designed to help ensure children can reach their full potential. At the event we heard from Millennium IPS’s Learning Support Coordinator Sara Browning.
She said: “Millennium IPS had identified the need for extra support for some pupils exhibiting major attachment issues and the school had self-funded daily nurture provision, which had proven to be very successful. We applied to receive additional funding to be able to continue offering this nurture provision. The funding has enabled us to embed nurture provision into the school and made a huge different to those pupils in need of additional support. We want to thank Hagan Homes for their generosity in funding this innovative, important and impactful programme.”
The ‘Trust Programme – Integration in Practice-‘ is designed to support Integrated schools with embedding the Integrated ethos within the structure of the school. Hagan Homes funding has enabled several schools to avail of this funding, including IC Glengormley who received funding for their ‘Exploring our Identities’ project.
Another way that Hagan Homes has made a huge difference is through supporting the wider school community, primarily parents and guardians, through the ‘School uniform programme’. This programme helps schools to provide financial support to a number of pupils whose parents or guardians are struggling financially to meet the rising costs associated with their child attending school. The grant helps meet the costs of school uniforms, other associated school clothing or towards specific resources for disadvantaged pupils who need a particular item of equipment to enable them to excel in a specific activity where they have a talent.
Paul Caskey OBE, Chief Executive of the Integrated Education Fund (IEF) said: “The IEF are delighted to be gathered here today with Principals, teachers, pupils and other guests to thank Hagan Homes for their incredibly generous and impactful support over the past years and in particular for their support for multiple grants programmes over the past three years. We have heard much today about the difference these grants have made in each of the schools and they will continue to make an impact through each of the pupils whose education has been supported and enhanced due to the generosity of Hagan Homes. Thank you for supporting the growth and development of Integrated Education.”