Start of building work at Strule Shared Education Campus a ‘touchstone moment’

The start of construction work at the largest ever school building project in Northern Ireland is a “touchstone moment” for shared education, Paul Givan has said.

The Education Minister was speaking at the site of the planned £375 million Strule Shared Education Campus in Omagh on Thursday.

Six schools will move to the 125-acre site of the former Lisanelly Army barracks.

These cover a number of sectors including grammar, secondary and special schools, educating more than 4,000 children and young people from all backgrounds.

The schools will work together to provide a shared curriculum and a range of extra-curricular activities.

The event was also attended by local schools and education, community and political representatives.

A number of pupils gave addresses about their hopes and aspirations for the shared campus.

The minister said: “Today is a very special milestone in the life of Omagh.

“Strule is a vision for the future of education in Northern Ireland – a vision for a truly high-quality education system for all our young people and today is an opportunity to celebrate all that has been and all that is to come.

“It also marks a touchstone moment in the development of shared education for Northern Ireland.”

He added: “We all have a collective responsibility to ensure that shared education can achieve its aims and bring our communities closer together.

“The shared campus here at Omagh will provide a sustainable, long-term model of sharing and collaboration that will prepare our children for the challenges and opportunities of life, work and citizenship in the 21st century.”

The Department of Education has said the construction project will bring over £1 billion pounds of investment to the local economy and create many new jobs across the local area.

The schools involved are Arvalee School and Resource Centre, Christian Brothers Grammar School, Loreto Grammar School, Omagh Academy Grammar School, Omagh High School, and Sacred Heart College.

The Arvalee setting has already been constructed on the site.

The new campus is scheduled to open in September 2028.

It was originally due to open in 2020, but the project has been beset by delays and uncertainty over funding.

Stormont ministers agreed earlier this year to provide £150 million over the next three years to build the campus after Mr Givan said his department could not meet the cost from its own budget.

Costs for the project rose to £375 million from an initial estimate of £168.9 million.