FOOTBALL MAKES OUR SHARED HISTORY brought Killeyleagh Integrated Primary School together. Project Manager, Jason Millighan reports;
- We explored our towns footballing history, particularly those who represented NI at international level.
- We contacted Trevor Carson, David Healy and Terry Cochrane and completed some research into Hugh Davey.
- Current internationals Trevor and Abbie Magee came in and chatted with pupils.
- Terry Cochrane sent a video for the kids telling them how football changed his life and he played with English world cup hero Bobby Moore.
- We invited Seamus Heath to come and tell the pupils how the IFA is working hard to increase the availability of football to both boys and girls across NI. He also shared his experiences from during his own playing days.
- Following on from looking at the Christmas truce and spontaneous football match along the western front in WW1 we arranged for the Somme centre to visit the school and talk to the children and allow them to explore uniforms, weapons and other artefacts from that period.
- We took the children on a trip to Down County Museum, to investigate the Ballykilner Hut, which is a new exhibition sharing personal stories from each period of conflict from WW1 to The Troubles.
- Finally we organised a Football tournament inviting a number of local primary schools to our local football club. The children had the opportunity to play each of the other schools.
Killyleagh Integrated Primary School is a small, rural school near the shore of Strangford Lough in County Down.
We are very excited to be involved in the Football Makes Our Shared History project as the school has a strong history of sporting success of our former pupils.
This project enables us to explore and celebrate the values inherent in sport and appreciate how it brings people from all communities and cultures together in a shared experience.
As a school we place great importance on the potential of sport to break down barriers between communities. This project will help us to promote the values of team-work, resilience and respect whilst providing pupils with the opportunity to have fun and learn about their history.
In participating in the project we aim to develop our school ethos and motto:
Better Together
