Our History
On the 8th November 1987, a bomb exploded in the Reading Rooms in Enniskillen, opposite the town’s War Memorial, where a crowd was gathering to honour the sacrifice made by those who lost their lives during two World Wars and in the Troubles that blighted our island at that time. Eleven people died on the day, a twelfth died 13 years later after falling into a coma after the bomb and 63 people were injured.
In the aftermath of the horrific events of 35 years ago, a group called Enniskillen Together was set up by like-minded individuals to explore ways of promoting community relations within our town. One of those who joined up was John Maxwell, no stranger to tragedy at the hands of terrorists, having lost his son Paul in 1979 in the explosion that took the life of Earl Mountbatten and two others. John’s vision, along with the late Bill Barbour and others was the ideal of shared education between the two sides of the religious divide.
In September 1989, Enniskillen Integrated Primary School accepted its first pupils and our school was born. 64 pupils and 3 staff started off on that day on a journey which, as with most journeys, had its fair share of ups and downs and more than one diversion along its way.
The school was housed in second hand mobiles of questionable quality until 2005, when a new suite of classrooms was provided to facilitate the development of the site for our first permanent building which commenced in 2006. These works were completed in time for 220 pupils and over 20 staff to start the 2007-08 in the impressive new surroundings. Little did we as a school community think those years ago that we would be embarking on more major works within such a short period of time. However, as each year passed, we found ourselves turning away more and more 1st choice applications for both Nursery and Year 1, resulting in the decision to accept our first double intake in September 2012. Our growth continued over the intervening years necessitating additional accommodation and after going back to mobile classrooms (albeit of a different quality), we were accepted on to the Fresh Start Agreement Framework in 2016. The wheels of bureaucracy move at a different pace to what most of us would expect, but after a number of delays, none of which were Covid related, we were able to go to tender in February 2021. Woodvale Construction broke ground on the site on 16th June 2021 and after delays caused by a combination of Covid issues, material and labour shortages, our magnificent new build was handed over on Friday 20th January and occupied by all pupils on Monday 23rd January.
As an indicator of our development, 452 pupils and 52 staff now grace our new facilities, each one living out the ethos of integrated education in their own way every day. On behalf of all of those people, I would like to record the thanks of the Governors to all those who have contributed to providing this state of the art facility, Department of Education, Education Authority, Northern Ireland Office, our Integrated Design team led by Suzanne McCoy of Samuel Stevenson Architects and Woodvale Construction Company led by Contracts Manager Brendan Conway and Site Foreman Shane McCullagh. All this would not have happened however, without the leadership and drive provided by our Principal Adele Kerr. The finished article is vibrant testimony to her vision and skill in knowing what makes our school special and a welcoming environment for everybody.