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Four girls' and boys' schools to merge in north Belfast

Little Flower Girls School in north Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell
Little Flower Girls School in north Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell Little Flower Girls School in north Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell

A PLAN to end single sex Catholic secondary schooling in north Belfast has won ministerial approval.

Education minister John O'Dowd made decisions on proposals affecting four Catholic maintained schools on Thursday.

Two girls' schools and two boys' schools are to be involved in one of the largest re-organisations ever undertaken in the north.

The plan involves four non-grammar schools - Little Flower and Mercy College for girls and St Patrick's, Bearnageeha and Edmund Rice College for boys. Two other Catholic schools have been shut down in the area in recent years - St Gemma's and St Gabriel's in Ardoyne.

Teachers and parents are concerned about numerous aspects of the plan, which now mean children can only receive a single sex education in the Catholic sector if they go to a grammar school.

Little Flower and Bearnageeha will be "discontinued" with a view to facilitating the establishment of a new Catholic 11-19 co-educational post-primary school.

The new school, which is likely to operate across a split site initially, will have an enrolment number of 1,300 including 325 sixth form places.

Edmund Rice and Mercy Colleges will both expand and become co-educational schools, each with up to 750 pupils.

The changes will take effect from September 1 2017 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Little Flower parents last night said they had not yet given up hope their school could be retained. Just this week they demanded education chiefs scrap the plan to merge it with St Patrick's, claiming a `case for change' document was flawed.

Explaining his decision, Mr O'Dowd said children deserved equality of access to sustainable and viable schools capable of effectively delivering the required number of GCSE and A-level subjects.

"This suite of development proposals provides for strong and sustainable education provision for the future that will meet the needs of all pupils in the area and provide them with greater choice and opportunity to access a broad and balanced curriculum," he said.

"These proposals are the result of several years of planning and I commend CCMS and the schools involved for their work in this regard. It has been a challenging road for all concerned, but I am satisfied that my decisions will future proof Catholic provision in this area for many years to come."