I got immeasurable pastoral support at a controlled school after my dad was murdered

On May 3 1985, at approximately 7am, I found my father’s body after he was shot twice in the head by the PIRA at our rural home.

I was aged 12. Many people can appreciate and relate to the profound trauma children like me experienced due to the ‘Troubles.’

At that time, I was in attendance at Castlewellan High School and there I received immeasurable pastoral support and counselling as a consequence of my experience. I was nurtured and protected in my setting and encouraged by the staff to denounce any harbouring of prejudice or bitterness.

Like many now, I am passionately protective of school sectors which were so influential in the lives of so many children who were victims of the ‘Troubles’. We must never devalue or revise the role these schools played in the lives of young people through a brutal period in our history.

As parents we sent our children to controlled schools where they have been recipients of a great education and where they have experienced an even greater progressive environment of learning alongside other young people of all faiths and none.

There is relentless pressure being exerted on many schools to embrace this integrated concept by online groups, such as ‘Integrate my school’ and others. For those who have changed status, it’s very apparent much has remained the same. Only now these schools enjoy a rebranded title with the purging of another.

The school is then marketed as if there has been some sort of progressive revolution within. In most cases the demographics in that setting probably won’t change and schools in the controlled sector already promote these shared ideals and an inclusive vision for the future.

Meanwhile, very few Catholic maintained schools have obliged the cause of this Integrated branding. One can only deduce that the schools in this sector are rightly confident in who they are and that’s evidently not for changing.

It’s now encouraging to view the Controlled Schools’ Support Council (CSSC) and Controlled Principals challenging, more effectively, those who have habitually demeaned schools in our sector as relics which perpetuate division in Northern Ireland.

The Private Members Bill, currently being discussed for the advancement of integrated education, is clearly rushed, lacks extensive consultation and will be detrimental towards thousands of children from both communities.

It’s incumbent upon politicians to ensure this bill is stopped, through employing the necessary Petition of Concern.

If this proposal is advanced we will witness further stigmatisation and an educational disparity against Controlled and Maintained schools in the future.

Sammy Heenan, Rathfriland

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