Member's statement: Hazelwood Integrated Primary and Nursery School: 40th Anniversary

Member's statement by Miss Nuala McAllister on 13 October 2025.

MLA: Miss Nuala McAllister
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 13 October 2025
Type: Member's statement
Business: Members' Statements
Heading: Hazelwood Integrated Primary and Nursery School: 40th Anniversary
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5175423

Text

I take this opportunity to pay tribute to and congratulate Hazelwood Integrated Primary and Nursery School on its 40th anniversary. Hazelwood and Forge Integrated Primary School were two of the very first integrated primary schools in Northern Ireland. Last Friday, I joined my colleague Councillor Sam Nelson in attending a fantastic celebration that was organised by the school to mark the occasion. It was also attended by some of the founding teachers and parents of children who attended back in 1985. Those parents and teachers demanded better for their children during what were some of the darkest days in the history of North Belfast and Northern Ireland. Local parents joined them and took inspiration from the bravery of those in South Belfast who had established Lagan College just four years previously. Asking for children from all backgrounds to be educated together was a bold move at the height of the Troubles. The founders chose the symbol of the dove to represent the peace and reconciliation that they hoped to be part of. That symbol is still part of the badge of Hazelwood Integrated Primary and Nursery School, and, on Friday, doves were released to mark the 40th anniversary of the school. Many in the community joined in that joyous occasion.
It was a bold move by the founders and parents back then to introduce integrated education to their local community. It feels as though the integrated sector should be further along than it is, 40 years later. That is the case not because of a lack of vision or lack of bravery from the many who took the step to introduce it in the early 1980s but because of a lack of support and vision from those in leadership. That is evidenced by the decision to turn down proposals for two integrated schools — Rathmore Primary School and Bangor Academy — despite 82% and 76% of parents, respectively, supporting the move. Integrated education plays a unique and significant role —
Apologies, Mr Speaker. Integrated education plays a unique and significant role in bringing together children from all backgrounds. Friday was a joyous occasion that was celebrated by all the children and the school itself. I pay tribute to all the teachers, past and present, at Hazelwood Integrated Primary and Nursery School and to the principal for continuing to stand up for our community 40 years on.

396 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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: 0.11 (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 (0.94).
Subject area: Education structures, integration and community division.
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

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.15	No
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.02	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.06	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.03	No
Controversy escalation	0.09	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.36	No
Overall judgement	0.11	At or below not-flagging threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing (chosen)	0.94
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.06
Adopts it	0.00

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
Education structures, integration and community division	0.99
Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations	0.01
No identity-related subject	0.00
Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials	0.00
Parades, bonfires and commemorations	0.00

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:27 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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