Proposal for 1,835-pupil Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College to transform is rejected by Education Minister
The decision on Bangor Academy comes despite overwhelming support from parents.
Another North Down school, Rathmore Primary, which has almost 600 pupils attending, was also unsuccessful in its bid to become an integrated school.
Explaining the decision, Mr Givan said the proposals “were carefully considered”, but approval could only be granted where a school was likely to provide integrated education.
Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College.
“Over recent years, the percentage of Catholic children attending both Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College and Rathmore Primary school has been around 3%,” he said.
“When a school transforms to integrated, the precise religious balance within the school will vary depending on local circumstances.
“When considering the demographics of the local area, the extremely limited and historic enrolments from the Catholic community and the availability of both Catholic maintained and other integrated options, I believe there is insufficient evidence that reasonable numbers could be achieved in the future.
“I would anticipate that changing the status of the two schools to integrated would only have a marginal impact on the number of Catholic children attending the schools. Even on the most optimistic analysis, it would appear highly unlikely that reasonable numbers could be achieved.”
Education Minister Paul Givan
Mr Givan said both development proposals “contained insufficient evidence of how these issues could be overcome”.
“I understand that this news will be disappointing for the two schools, the pupils and parents who supported the proposals for integrated education,” he added.
Bangor Academy and Rathmore had separately balloted parents of school pupils, with almost 80% supporting Bangor Academy’s proposal and over 82% backing Rathmore’s.
Alliance MLA Connie Egan said Mr Givan is “effectively blocking integrated education across North Down”.
“These are not only exceptionally disappointing decisions by the Education Minster but deeply concerning ones,” she said.
“This move will cause hurt right across North Down, with 79.4% of parents at Bangor Academy and 82.3% of parents at Rathmore now feeling as if their views have now been ignored. This will hurt people right across North Down.”
Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College has been denied transformation to integrated status
News Catch Up – Wednesday 8 January
Alliance MLA Nick Mathison, chair of the Assembly’s Education Committee, said he was baffled by the decisions.
“Parents have spoken clearly and unambiguously on this, so it is baffling to see the decisions reached by the minister.”
He added: “I will be seeking answers from him in the Assembly as a matter of urgency, as those who overwhelmingly voted to transform to integrated status will no doubt be asking serious questions about the minister’s judgment.”
Parents at Bangor Academy originally voted in favour of integrated status in June 2023.
At the time its principal Matthew Pitts said he was delighted at such an “overwhelmingly positive result”.
The current school enrolment shows that just 2.9% of those attending are from a Catholic background, with 59.1% Protestant and 38% identifying as other religions or none.