Plans revealed to merge County Derry Catholic School with Church of Ireland School

Plans have been revealed to amalgamate a local Catholic maintained Primary School with a Church of Ireland School. If the proposed plans to merge Knocknagin Primary School with Desertmartin Primary School (pictured) go ahead, it would be Northern Ireland’s first shared faith school. The school would be jointly managed by the Catholic Church, Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. It is understood that the Board of Governors and staff of both schools support the move, however parents of the school children are only now being consulted. Knocknagin PS currently has 53 pupils while Desertmartin PS has 23 pupils enrolled. The proposed new school would have to follow the national curriculum except for religious studies, where they are free to only teach about their own religion. Jim Clarke, the Chief Executive of CCMS, said they were “committed to pursuing the concept of joint faith schools and were very supportive of the project in Knocknagin and Desertmartin.”