Omagh High School and Sacred Heart College get together for Strule Shared Education Campus project

Year 9 and 10 pupils from Omagh High School and Sacred Heart College, Omagh used poetry and hashtags to express their hopes and fears; and the challenges and opportunities presented by the Strule Shared Education Campus.

A Rural Centre for Shared Education initiative, facilitated by the Pushkin Trust and funded by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, the schools got together in March to create the ‘Young Minds, New Futures’ publication which features a range of photos and poetry.

Omagh High School and Sacred Heart College are two of the six schools which will be moving to the Strule Shared Education Campus. The ground breaking, ambitious project is on schedule to be fully operational by September 2020. Shared Education at Strule offers a pioneering approach to delivering education in the region, bringing together pupils from local schools of both traditions with representation from the controlled, maintained and voluntary school sectors.

Amy – Leah Maude, Year 10 teacher at Sacred Heart College said “This has been a really enriching experience. The children really enjoyed it and it was a great way for them to get to know each other and make new friends.”  Cyanne Gwynne , teacher at Omagh High School added “This was a fun and creative way for the pupils to express their hopes and fears about the new Strule Shared Education Campus. It was also great for them to be able to work together on a project ahead of moving onto the Shared Campus.”

Speaking during the launch of the publication at Baronscourt Estate, Catherine Ward from the Rural Centre for Shared Education said “Congratulations to both schools on producing this fantastic publication. Their hard work has clearly paid off and we would encourage everyone to have look at the hashtag photos and read the superb, thought provoking poems. Thanks to the Pushkin Trust for their facilitation and to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council for funding. This is part of a wider shared education project we are running which included taking a number of local schools on a visit to a joint-faith school in Liverpool earlier this year and hopefully working with more schools in the future.”

To read the ‘Young Minds, New Futures’ publication CLICK HERE