WORK on a multi-million pound shared education campus - expected to be the first to be completed in the north - is underway.
Education Minister Peter Weir today cut the first sod on the project to build new facilities in Limavady, Co Derry.
The project represents an investment of more than £11 million by the Department of Education across the St Mary's and Limavady High School sites.
The schools stand on Irish Green Street in the town and are separated by a footpath.
They have enjoyed a close relationship for several years with pupils coming together for classes and extra-curricular activities.
The town also witnessed a previous high-profile 'hands across the divide' gesture in the 1980s when Presbyterian minister Rev David Armstrong exchanged Christmas greetings with Catholic priest Fr Kevin Mullan. Afterwards Rev Armstrong received loyalist death threats and was forced to flee, however.
The campus plan was announced in 2015. It is expected to open within two years.
It will include a high-tech building for science, technology, engineering and mathematics and study/common rooms for careers, drama, media and sixth form pupils.
Mr Weir said the facilities would provide much-needed education benefits for pupils, staff, teachers, parents and community.
"I appreciate that schools are very much the hub of any community. I expect that this investment will have a major impact not only on the school community but also on the wider local community, promoting good relations, and creating many positive outcomes," he said.
"Shared education has been in existence between St Mary's and Limavady High since the 1970s. It is clear to me that the Limavady Shared Campus is leading the way for others to follow. I hope the use of these shared facilities will promote good relations and equip the young people of Limavady to meet the challenges of being an adult in a shared society."
East Derry MLA Caoimhe Archibald welcomed the beginning of work as a positive step.
"St Mary's and Limavady High School have a strong history of working in partnership and this project will bring social, economic and most importantly educational benefits for our young people," she said.
Green Party councillor Simon Lee said the shared education model was "just sanitised segregation".
"It still reinforces the two communities narrative that is holding us back. Why do Catholic/Protestant students need to be separate? They don't. They shouldn't. Very sad," he said on Twitter.
