Sperrin Integrated College is a co-educational, all ability grant maintained integrated College located on the outskirts of Magherafelt. The College was established in 2002 following parental demand for Integrated Education in the Mid-Ulster and surrounding districts. Sperrin Integrated College now attracts pupils from a wide catchment area, across the Mid Ulster Region and beyond.
As an integrated school Sperrin, strives to promote equality of opportunity for all pupils, a desire for learning and encourage partnerships with parents, to ensure all pupils reach their full potential. The approach to learning focusses on pupils developing the necessary dispositions required to pursue educational excellence; therefore, our College motto is, ‘Pursuing Excellence Together’.
Sperrin College offers pupils an enriching experience by providing them with opportunities to develop not only their own cultural identity but to share and learn from their peers. Pupils develop a deep understanding of the richness of cultural and religious diversity by working alongside, in the same school, those of different views and faiths. They are provided, within the curriculum and the extra-curricular programme opportunities that cultivate their understanding of themselves and others. Our pupils develop confidence and self -worth and have respectful attitudes to others.
The College is participating in the FMOSH project as it aligns perfectly with the values of Sperrin in promoting peace, equality and participation. We hope to build on the College’s history of sporting participation and achievement and use it as a springboard for an effective and mutually beneficial relationship with the Children’s Football Alliance.
12/10/22
Celebrating Peace Through Play
Twinning Sperrin Integrated College’s Peace Pitch with Flanders Peace Field through the Football Makes Our Shared History Project.
Our students had a purposeful experience involved in the Football Makes Our Shared History project and threw themselves into their research wholeheartedly. They developed a structure around which to look into their own past and present experiences in integrated education and juxtaposed those experiences with those of their parents and other family members. They used this information to consider how integrated education can be used to shape the future of Northern Ireland.
The students used their experience of sport in school, at home and in their own communities as part of a wide range of sporting clubs including football, rugby, Gaelic football, hurling, camogie, gymnastics, athletics, boxing, cheerleading, swimming and horse-riding.
The students then gathered a wide range of audio-visual evidence and material to demonstrate their experiences and presented this in a common PowerPoint presentation which was delivered to the whole school. Some of the evidence on display represented their experience with their teams and in individual competition at local, county, provincial, national and even international level.
21/06/22
CROKE PARK
Sperrin Integrated College started their Football Makes Our Shared History (FMOSH) research at Croke Park, Dublin. A big big thank you to the GAA and Gerry, Museum Tour Guide, for a fantastic day and helping our project kick off with a memorable experience.
21/05/22
Sperrin Integrated College outlined their FMOSH at the Project Webinar.
A cohort of 20-30 year 9 students (2021-2022) would form the group for participation. The group would be curated to included students who have some involvement in school sports and sports outside school. The cohort would also be curated to include a range of abilities across the 5 year 9 learning tutor groups and a demographically diverse mix of gender, ethnicity and backgrounds.
The idea behind the project would be to create a ‘living exhibition’ of objects and paraphernalia to illustrate and demonstrate the experiences of our children and their families. This would include medals, trophies, video testimonials, interview transcripts and visual material. It is envisage the school trophy cabinet as the best place to house this in order to ensure the security of the objects, while the TV in the foyer would be able to play the testimonials.
To facilitate this exhibition and the learners having the knowledge and skills to curate this exhibition the group first enjoyed the project webinar hosted by the Children’s Football Alliance. The group have planned a visit to Croke Park and later a visit to Ulster Museum.
The project to culminate in an event in Sperrin on 21st September focusing on the ‘Games We Play’ which would be organised to invite feeder primary school pupils to participate in a range of games that we offer here in SIC and this would be led by the students in the group. This would take place on the school pitch and finish with an event to unveil the Project Plaque by the school’s designated Ambassador for Peace and the signing of the peace declaration outlined by Ernie Brennan, Director, Children’s Football Alliance.
The project would finish with the planned trip to QUB by the group in November 2022.
There will be a continuous update of the school webpage and the FMOSH webpage provided on the Children’s Football Alliance, Football and Peace website.
Timeline
- Before Easter holidays = select and meet students to outline project
- May = Webinar
- May/June = Trip to Croke Park
- 21st September = ‘Games We Play’ event in SIC (plaque & declaration)
- November = QUB trip
