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Integrated Schools In Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has many types of government-funded primary and post-primary schools, including Controlled, Catholic Maintained, Integrated and Irish-Medium schools. At post-primary level there are also Controlled Grammar and Voluntary Grammar schools, the majority of which select pupils based on academic ability, usually through a transfer test.

As of September 2025, there were 76 government-funded Integrated schools, comprising 5 nursery schools, 50 primary schools and 21 post-primary schools. These schools are classified as either Grant Maintained Integrated or Controlled Integrated. Together, they educate approximately 28,500 pupils, representing 8 per cent of Northern Ireland’s school population. There is also an independent integrated school, Scoil na Seolta, that teaches through the medium of Irish.

The Integrated Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 defines integrated education as education together in an integrated school of:

  • those of different cultures and religious beliefs and none, including reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Roman Catholic children or young persons;
  • those who are experiencing socio-economic deprivation and those that are not; and
  • those of different abilities.

 

Below you can see the location of all integrated schools in Northern Ireland:

Grant Maintained Integrated Schools

Controlled Integrated Schools

Independent Integrated School and Naíscoil

Key Developments in Integrated Education, 1972 to 2025

1972 Cecilia ‘Cecil’ Linehan, a parent living in Holywood, County Down, writes a letter to the Belfast Telegraph suggesting the creation of religious education centres for Catholic parents whose children do not attend Catholic schools.
1973 A group of Catholic parents, including Cecil Linehan, form All Children Together, a group to campaign for greater integration in Northern Ireland’s schools.
1976 All Children Together later becomes a multi-denominational group and publishes its first policy paper titled ACT on Shared Schools.
1978 The Education (Northern Ireland) Act 1978, better known as the Dunleath Act, enables existing schools to transform to Integrated status.
1981 Lagan College, the first planned integrated school in Northern Ireland, opens in Ardnavally Scout Hall in south Belfast with 28 pupils.
1984 Anthony Spencer founds the Belfast Charitable Trust for Integrated Education (BELTIE).
1985 The first integrated primary schools, Forge Integrated Primary and Hazelwood Integrated Primary, open in Belfast.
1987 The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) forms as a body to develop and support integrated education in Northern Ireland.
1989 The Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 commits the Department of Education to ‘encourage and facilitate’ the development of integrated education.
1991 Brownlow Integrated College and Carhill Integrated Primary School become the first schools to transform to Integrated status; NICIE receives core funding from the Department of Education to support integrated schools.
1992 The Integrated Education Fund (IEF) is established as a charitable foundation to support the growth of integrated education.
1998 The Belfast / Good Friday Agreement includes a pledge ‘to facilitate and encourage integrated education’.
2003 All Children Together disbands and holds a farewell dinner for Sister Anna Hoare.
2012 NICIE becomes a non-departmental public body sponsored and supported by the Department of Education.
2013 Integrated AlumNI forms as a network of past pupils and supporters of integrated education.
2021 Seaview Integrated Primary School becomes the first Catholic Maintained school to transform to Integrated status.
2022 The Integrated Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 passes into law.
2025 Scoil na Seolta, an independent integrated primary and naíscoil teaching through the medium of Irish, opens in east Belfast.
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