Ms Amanda McNamee:

I thank everyone for the invitation to attend. I have the proud role of being principal of Lagan College in south Belfast. I am having a lovely day out in Dublin.

As Ms Marshall stated, Lagan College is Northern Ireland's first integrated post-primary school. It was founded in 1981 against the setting of the Troubles. We started off very small with 28 students - 14 children of Catholic faith and 14 of Protestant faith. The school was originally housed in south Belfast beside the River Lagan, hence its name. Over the years, it has flourished. We now have 1,386 students from the ages of 11 to 18 years and 191 staff. We are an integrated, inclusive and united community on a beautiful National Trust site.

The school was established by parents with the mission statement: "To educate to the highest standards the [children] of Catholics, Protestants [and other faith traditions and none] and of all abilities, together." The four central values that underpin our school are respect, reconciliation, service and equality. The children are educated together every day. Self-respect and respect for others are strongly encouraged. The integrated ethos is taught and shared to ensure the inclusion of children from different religions, cultures, genders, abilities, socio-economic backgrounds, sexualities, preschool needs and special needs as well as children of newcomer status and looked after children. Anyone is welcome in our school.

Lagan College serves to celebrate all that we have in common and to encourage the children to understand that we must appreciate the things that make us different and unique as individuals. Our school chaplains state that if something is important to one of us, it should be important to all of us. Therefore, everything we do we do as one school community. We hold prayer, if that is the child's choice, together or we take time to reflect on things that are happening locally and in the world. We have assemblies, such as Remembrance Day assembly and Ash Wednesday assembly, together and we encourage our children to discuss controversial issues rather than shy away from them.

Over 38 years, Lagan College has built up a reputation for integrated practice, academic excellence and pastoral child-centred care. Lagan College is an all-ability school as well as a family school, in that we can take all of the children from the same family. We offer 32 GCSE and 25 A level courses at post-16 level. Aspects of the curriculum, such as religious education, RE, politics and history, are viewed by children through a shared lens. The learning that we offer is fun, innovative and challenging so that every child can reach his or her true potential.

I have been told by the children to mention our sport. We play sport for enjoyment, to build team spirit and to win. We have been the all-Ireland basketball champions. Last year, we won the JJ Riley Cup in Gaelic football, which the boys were really proud of, and we have a strong reputation in other sports, for example, football, hockey, netball and rugby.

Lagan College has been in a strong position and we have been supported by our local community. We have been the most oversubscribed school for the past decade, with 554 applications for 220 places this year alone. As principal of Lagan College in south Belfast, I believe that there is a greater demand that we as a school can meet. I call passionately upon all of those in government to support integrated schools as the norm for families to be able to choose if they wish. We are educating children not only for their own futures and career pathways, but to be the peace leaders of all our futures.

I thank the committee for having me.