The Department of Education are committed to a process of encouraging schools across Northern Ireland to partner together more systematically.  In particularly, they want schools that traditionally serve the protestant or catholic community to come together.

The goals of developing these partnerships include:

• Improving the standards of achievement of all our pupils;
• Increasing the skills of staff in partnering schools;
• Enhancing the use of resources of the schools involved;
• To help children develop more friendships across the community;
• To empower all stakeholders to be able to embrace diversity;
• To impact community relations now and in the future.

In August 2015 St. James’s Primary School & Nursery Unit and Whitehouse Primary School & Nursery Unit were delighted to receive funding for Shared Education for a three-year period. This has now been extended to allow us to continue our work together.

Both schools have a very genuine friendship that extends back well over twenty years.  The schools have engaged in a range of projects that have impacted our pupils and parents during this time. 

Shared Education funding has, however, allowed us to bring our friendship and ability to cooperate to a new level of excellence.  Our project is called ‘A Catalyst of Change’.  It has three main strands that we hope will make a big difference to our schools.  The three key strands are:

• An 'Outdoor Learning' project involving all pupils in Nursery and Foundation Stage.
• A STEM programme, involving all pupils in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
• A PDMU programme involving all pupils.

We also want to use our programme to connect with the community as much as possible.

Through the tabs on this section we would invite our community to track our progress and get involved in supporting this exciting work.