Projects Supported 2008

Ballycastle Controlled Integrated Primary School
Ballycastle CIPS transformed to integrated status in 2006 and now has over 124 children in the Primary and Nursery School. The Australian Ireland Fund supported the establishment of Lir IPS, the first integrated school in Ballycastle, which closed with the majority of children transferring to the transformed Integrated Primary.

In 2007 the town’s Nursery School also moved onto the site of Ballycastle CIPS providing a very solid foundation for the School for years to come.

In June, the School unveiled a new plaque charting the school’s history which includes the acknowledgement of the Australian and Sir Warwick Fairfax Trust’s support for Lir IPS. As part of this move and the ongoing expansion and development of the Primary School The Sir Warwick Fairfax Trust and the Australian Ireland Fund are assisting Ballycastle to create a new modern outdoor play facility for the Nursery and Foundation aged children, something sorely lacking in the School.

Rowandale Integrated Primary School
Rowandale Integrated Primary School is the most recently established new Integrated Primary School in Northern Ireland. The school was opened in September 2007 and had 33 children as of September 2008. This new school is based in Moira near Lisburn, Co Down on a temporary site. Rowandale is growing fast and needs an additional accommodation for a library and resource area to benefit the children and staff. The Sir Warwick Fairfax Trust and the Australian Ireland Fund are supporting Rowandale to attain these much needed facilities. Now and going forward this unit will be dedicated and named in honour of the Sir Warwick Fairfax Trust and Australian Ireland Fund and the Ballycastle Controlled Integrated Primary School.

Youth Action
YouthAction Northern Ireland is a leading voluntary youth development agency, working with disadvantaged young people to enable them to be active and equal citizens whose voices are heard, respected and valued.  It engages with 2,500 young people each year in developmental work and has a membership of 156 further affiliated youth groups. 

Past grants have assisted YouthAction to build a dynamic new youth facility in a neutral location in Belfast City Centre to provide a range of opportunities for young people at risk of social exclusion. The Australian Ireland Fund was recognised through the naming of one of their training rooms. 

The Australian Ireland Fund grant is currently assisting YouthAction with its “Cross Community Leadership Programme”, a unique apprenticeship scheme targeting young people aged 18-24 who live in marginalised and economically disadvantaged communities, emerge as young community leaders to gain skills, qualifications and motivation to contribute to peace building in Northern Ireland.

Drumlins Integrated Primary School
Drumlins Integrated Primary School was established in 2004 and was supported by the Australian Ireland Fund with an early years support grant which is proudly acknowledged and displayed on a plaque in the main hall. The school is thriving and as of September 2008 had 85 pupils based on a temporary site in Ballynahinch, Co Down. The school’s enrolments are being capped by the Dept of Education as it is growing faster than anyone would have predicted. The site is large and there is good space for the children to play outside however they lack equipment and have requested support to make the most of their play area. The Sir Warwick Fairfax Trust and the Australian Ireland Fund are supporting Drumlins with much needed indoor and outdoor play equipment. The school has school has soldiered on despite the odds and we would like to recognise them for that. Our support will be recognised by the school now and going forward.

Blackwater
Rowallane Integrated College and Down Academy join forces to become Blackwater Integrated College. 69 new pupils were welcomed into Blackwater Integrated College in September 2008. The new College represents the coming together of two existing integrated schools, Down Academy and Rowallane Integrated College, to meet the increasing demand from parents for integrated education in the area and is seen as a major achievement.

According to Paul Caskey, Campaign Director of Integrated Education Fund, “The Ireland Funds worldwide have played a massive part in this project, helping to contribute around 25% of the associated costs, and for that we are immensely grateful. I am confident we will see this as a massive return for investment”.

The Australian Ireland Fund is pleased to have given $200,000 to this project in 2008.

Soundhouse is an Australian initiative with two Soundhouse Outreach kits having been placed in Ireland, North and South such as The Nerve Centre in Derry in Northern Ireland, 174 Trust in Belfast and Hazelwood Integrated College.  The Outreach Kit is a Plug and Play Soundhouse in a box.  Initially, it was created for those too geographically removed to visit a Soundhouse, or for whom travel can be difficult or expensive.  The Kit allows people to compose, create and communicate using contemporary technology, however isolated they may be. 

There are now seven Soundhouse bases in Ireland such as The Nerve Centre in Derry, The 174 Trust in Belfast,  Hazelwood Integrated College, Belfast and The St. John of God, Dublin – to name a few. Through their mobility and the flow-on of teacher understanding and interest, the spread of the Soundhouse music experience, especially with the Special Access model, has been extraordinarily positive and immensely rewarding. There is no doubt that music plays a powerful role in bringing individuals and communities together. The success of the Australian Ireland Fund’s investment in Soundhouse is recurring evidence of this global reality.    We are pleased to support this initiative that is touching so many lives. 
• more on SoundHouse >

Tara Counselling and Personal Development Centre, Omagh, was founded in 1996 in response to a request from the local Health and Social Service Board to provide a counselling/ psychotherapy service, in the voluntary sector, for those in dire need of psychological and emotional assistance in order to deal with the trauma of ‘the Troubles’. In the aftermath of the Omagh bomb 1998, the services provided by Tara, the only professional provider of such services in Omagh at the time, proved to be invaluable.  Past grants have assisted Tara complete the extension and refurbishment of the building which is now complete.

The tenth anniversary of the bomb has stirred buried trauma in the lives of many who were most severely affected by that tragedy. Some have chosen to deal with this pain by pursuing a civic action to bring the perpetrators to justice. The vast majority have not gone this route. In the intervening ten years they have attempted to put their lives together and move on. Some availed of therapy of one kind or another either through voluntary/community services such as the services offered at Tara or those offered by the statutory sector. The ubiquitous focus on the tenth anniversary has had the effect of opening old psychological and emotional scars for many. Tara is experiencing a huge increase in the applications for counselling and complementary therapy from this group of victims of the event. Examples are: a young couple, engaged to be married at the time of the bomb, who went ahead with their plans at the time but are now dealing with things like the death of a little two year old who was to have been a flower girl at the wedding and the groom’s guilt at the memory of the fact that this wee girl was in his arms as he walked through the carnage on the day of the bomb. She died in hospital from her wounds shortly after wards; another young couple who also went ahead with their planned marriage despite the bride’s loss of her two eyes in the tragedy; her mother was their strongest support throughout the early years – this mother has recently had to give up work to cope with her post traumatic stress disorder. The list goes on….

This year the Australian Ireland Fund grant will assist Tara to cope with the extra demand for their services at this time.
• more on Tara >

The Speedwell Trust since 1991 has been bringing together Catholic and Protestant children, schools and their communities to develop mutual respect and understanding.  Under Eamon McClean they work through the medium of Environmental Education, learning to respect each other and the world we share. Speedwell is based in Mid-Ulster, in a region known as Murder Triangle and cares for children from communities which are bitterly divided by sectarian violence and distrust.

This year, the Australian Ireland Fund grant will assist Speedwell to focus and develop their “Reaching Out to Schools” community relations programme, which in line with the new Revised Curriculum of Northern Ireland, deals with current and relevant issues in society. In 2007 and 2008, Speedwell had over 5000 children in Northern Ireland and Border Counties booked to participate in this unique programme bringing Catholic and Protestant children and children of other faiths together to learn, to work and to form lasting friendships, and to develop the vital skills necessary for peace to flourish in Northern Ireland.
• more on Speedwell >

The 174 Trust was established in 1982, and the property 174/176 Antrim Road purchased which became the focus of a work dedicated to tackling many of the problems confronting the local community and addressing the real needs of those living in a materially and socially disadvantaged area. Past grants have enabled the repair and refurbishment of the main activities hall, now named Australia Hall.

This year the Australian Ireland Fund grant will support the 174 Trust Disability Project to sustain and develop the vital cross-community youth aspect of the project. The project provides a social outlet for young people, Protestants and Catholics, with either a physical or learning disability and allows them to do what everybody else their age does – go to the cinemas, enjoy meals out and to have their own friends. This is an important point because the project benefits more than just those who attend – families get a break from time to time, and attend special events and activities. The lives of 380 people are improved every week because of this project, it also means that Protestants and Catholics from these families encounter one another when they otherwise would never meet someone from the other community.
 • more on 174 Trust >

The Rock Challenge is an Australian initiative, is a drug and crime prevention vehicle in the form of a performing arts competition for secondary schools. The focus of this friendly and vibrant competition is on young people leading healthy lifestyles and being their best without the need for tobacco alcohol or other drugs.

The event was established in the UK in 1996, and at that time involved 11 schools with 800 participants in Portsmouth.  It has grown to the extent that in 2007, 17,000 students from 245 teams took part in 36 events throughout England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Today, in Belfast alone, 8 schools took part and attracted 690 participants. Especially pleasing for 2008 was that Cambridge House Grammar School and Limvady Partnership Schools were both first time participants whilst Ballee Community School and Larkin Community College returned to the event.  The Australian Ireland Fund is proud to support this initiative.

Northern Ireland Children’s Enterprise (NICE) - which assists young people, parents and families, Catholics and Protestants, in strife-torn areas of Belfast by providing a place where those young people can meet to reconcile their often violent situations.  In recognition of our support, NICE has named its facility in Belfast “Australia House”.

NICE continues to provide a very important first point of contact for many young Catholics and Protestants. Recent statistics showed that seventy nine percent of the young people with whom NICE works had never met a Catholic or Protestant before doing so through NICE. 

Duncan Morrow, Chairman of the Community Relations Council, said at a recent conference “There is still so much to do here in Northern Ireland to secure a lasting peace for future generations. Our experience over the years has taught us that everyone living in Northern Ireland regardless of class, creed, or ability needs time to reflect on the violence and separation this community has endured if peace is to be lasting. This work is needed more so now than any other time”.

This year the Australian Ireland Fund grant will assist NICE to continue and reach more people through its “Citizenship in a Divided Society Programme”.
• more on NICE >

Education for a shared future
Four conferences were held in August of 2008, entitled “Education for a Shared Future”. They were carried out for teachers, classroom assistants and principals of Primary, and Post Primary integrated schools across Northern Ireland. The training days gave participants an opportunity to reflect on the ethos of integration, focusing on classroom practice and school development, and aimed to embed diversity and inclusion into all aspects of school life.

Nearly 1,000 participants attended the events across four venues, representing 39 integrated schools. Michael Wardlow, NICIE Chief Executive Officer, said: “The tremendous response to this initiative demonstrates the importance teachers place on the permeation of the integrated ethos through all aspects of school life. The conferences further supported the development of relationships, between staff in a range of schools, so that real partnerships and learning can flourish”.

Participants were given the opportunity to consider the contribution of their work as educators within an integrated school, towards a shared future, for students from all faith backgrounds, and none. Skills were shared in promoting positive attitudes towards diversity while highlighting prejudice awareness and the need to challenge bias in order to create safe spaces for young people to grow and learn.

Various workshops were held throughout the day, giving participants a chance to sample practice to be developed in individual school environments, for example, restorative justice, forgiveness education, conflict management and anti-bullying.

The Australian Ireland Fund and Sir Warwick Fairfax Trust were acknowledged on all of the agendas for the conference for its part in sponsoring the event.