AQW 4718/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Education
To ask the Minister of Education what actions her Department is taking to progress Section 6.4.5 of the Education Authority Operational Plan 1: 2022-24 and establish a new Integrated primary school to meet the needs of pupils in the East Belfast, South East Belfast and Castlereagh area.
Asked by Connie Egan MLA on 14 October 2022
- Answered
- Written
- Priority
- Tabled
- 14 October 2022
- Answer due by
- 19 October 2022
- Answered
- 19 October 20225 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Education
- Priority question
- Yes
Answer
The workstream contained within the first Operational Plan (OP1), published by the Education Authority (EA) on 1 September 2022, is a medium-term workstream. OP1 states that “medium term workstreams are exploratory in nature and may require collaborative and innovative work to provide sustainable education provision for a geographical/school cluster area. Medium term workstreams may require a longer timeframe and therefore may span a number of Operational Plans”.
The specific workstream given at Section 6.4.5 of OP1 provides the Background/Engagement as “Establish a new Integrated primary school to meet the needs of pupils in the East Belfast, South Belfast, South East Belfast and Castlereagh area. The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education [NICIE] is working with the Integrated Education Fund [IEF] to bring forward further integrated provision for the area”.
The establishment of a new school requires the publication of a Development Proposal (DP) and currently it is only at this is the point at which my Department becomes engaged.