Shared Education has been a huge part of school life in Long Tower and Fountain Primary Schools for many years. We have been working together as a partnership for over 30 years, long before Shared Education was introduced in Northern Ireland. When Shared Education was announced we thought of no better way to get our school communities to engage with each other and signed up as partner schools, being located so close to each other was a massive bonus.

Shared Education aims to bring children from all different religious and socio-economic backgrounds, working together, working and co-operating for the benefit of everyone.

We share resources and work collaboratively to run a programme for the children in our schools, allowing them to form life-long friendships with peers they may not have the chance to meet otherwise.

Staff also play a huge role in Shared Education. Teachers from both schools spend time together to plan and deliver lessons they have designed for our children. Building good relations between staff is a key way in which we can show the children the many benefits of taking part in Shared Education. Sharing our resources and working together also allows us opportunities that we may not have as individual schools.

In our Shared Education lessons, we aim to promote equality, good relations, respect for identity, diversity and community cohesion. There are over 600 schools in Northern Ireland involved in Shared Education and we are proud to bring our schools together to work towards a better future for everyone.