Member's statement: Science On Stage Festival: Banbridge High School
Member's statement by Mr Doug Beattie MC on .
- MLA
- Mr Doug Beattie MC
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 May 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Science On Stage Festival: Banbridge High School
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4489555
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I hope to lift the mood a little. This year's Science on Stage Europe Festival will take place in mid-August in Turku, Finland. I will give a shout-out to Mrs Hawthorne, head of science at Banbridge High School, who has been selected to be part of the UK team that will travel to Finland to present its innovative teaching ideas. Mrs Hawthorne is the only teacher from Northern Ireland who has been selected to attend, and she will be one of 450 primary and secondary school teachers from all over Europe who will share their most creative STEM ideas at stands, workshops and highlight sessions. The theme is "Sustainability in STEM", and Mrs Hawthorne's ideas will form part of a programme of events that will include over 30 countries. Her fellow teachers, her pupils and their parents will all be proud of Mrs Hawthorne's achievements and will wish her well, and I know that the House will also wish her well. They are now in the game of fundraising to make sure that she can get there and has the equipment to be able to present her ideas. If anybody here has the ability to help with that fundraising or knows of a really good Minister who might be able to give some money towards it, that would be very much appreciated.
222 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.19 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.77 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.17 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.04 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.02 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:22 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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