Ms Amanda McNamee:

There are more than 44 feeder primary schools for children enrolling at Lagan College. Not all those young people have attended an integrated primary school and, therefore, when the children start secondary school, we have to make very clear the ethos and values of the school. Many of the children will have held many similar values through family life, having been raised by their families before coming to school, but we cannot take for granted that the children will know how to learn from and respect one another. That has to be helped and supported. We take from the Latin motto, Ut Sint Unum, that we are one school community. We tend to use sport as a great analogy for people forming a team and working together. Much of that is built and shaped by us as teachers and non-teachers to help the children understand who they are. There is often a misconception that integrated schools are sterile communities and that children's culture and faith background, family politics, passport and so on are cleansed out.

It is quite the contrary. We are proud of children saying what passport they hold and whether they support teams playing Gaelic games, rugby or soccer. We want to generate healthy discussions in our children and they should not be shy about it. We have not had a problem in Lagan College encouraging children of different backgrounds to engage in sport. Some of our best enrichment rugby players play Gaelic games and vice versa. The children enjoy learning about something that they may not have had a chance to learn about in earlier years. We support the children in having access to things they may not have had a chance to experience in primary school.

As far as language is concerned, my school works through the medium of English but every young person who comes to the school gets the opportunity to have enrichment Irish in their first year. We tend to look at the lovely aspects of poetry, prose, song and cultural placenames just to give the children understanding of where the school is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the North of Ireland or whatever way the children want to see themselves. It is about where their home is situated. Beyond their first year at Lagan College, children may choose to do Spanish, French, Irish right through to A level or the likes of Mandarin, which is new for us.