Member's statement: Forge Integrated Primary School: New Build
Member's statement by Ms Paula Bradshaw on .
- MLA
- Ms Paula Bradshaw
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 9 February 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Forge Integrated Primary School: New Build
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5369042
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise to raise concerns about the continued delay in the delivery of the new school build for Forge Integrated Primary School.
For over a decade, the school has sought a suitable new permanent site. The parents, pupils and staff have done everything that they can to push that forward and have shown remarkable patience, but continually shifting timelines and delays have caused understandable frustration for them and the wider school community in South Belfast.
Despite some progress having been made, since 2018, the project does not seem to have moved forward as it should have done. The former Knockbreda High School site was proposed and was meant to be the answer to the delays. Since then, extensive pre-application engagement with statutory bodies, the school community and others has followed. They have engaged in good faith. After three years of pre-application discussions and the full planning application's being submitted in 2025, the delays seem to be on the part of the Department for Infrastructure. The key issue seems to be road safety, and I understand that, given the new location for the school. However, I am yet to see any real efforts to move the project forward, and many in the school community believe that the goalposts keep shifting. I pay tribute to the school and the Integrated Education Fund for keeping the matter on the agenda. I recognise that the Infrastructure Minister says that she supports the development of the site. However, we, as South Belfast representatives, and the people who support the new scheme still wait for firm answers about the next steps. I urge the Infrastructure Minister to engage with her officials to get the answers that the school and the planning department so greatly need at this time.
292 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: 0.04 (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).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.89).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- 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
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.89 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.95 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.05 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:31 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.