Green light for Strule Shared Education Campus
Date published:
Education Minister, Paul Givan, has welcomed today’s decision by the Executive for the Strule Shared Education Campus to proceed to contract award and construction.
The Strule campus, which will open in September 2028, is a pioneering project that will provide a state-of-the-art shared centre of learning. The Strule Programme represents £375m of investment which will deliver world-class educational facilities and wide ranging educational, societal and economic benefits for the Omagh community and the west of Northern Ireland more broadly.
The Minister commented:
“The Strule Campus will be the largest education construction project ever delivered. It is a new and pioneering approach which will inform the future development of education in Northern Ireland over the coming decades. Shared Education has a key role in developing a peaceful and shared society and the Strule Campus is a vital component in the Executive’s vision of delivering a more peaceful and prosperous society for all.”
Strule will bring together six schools from across the community and incorporate grammar, non-selective and special school provision on the former Lisanelly Army Barracks. Over 4,000 children and young people from all backgrounds, will come together to learn on the campus. The schools will work together to provide a shared curriculum and a wide range of extra-curricular activities.
The Minister continued:
“I am delighted we have reached this key milestone in the delivery of this iconic and unique shared education campus. The Strule Campus will be an education campus of world and international renown and a flagship for the shared post-conflict society we are aiming to develop.”
Notes to editors:
- The Strule Shared Education Campus Programme will provide six core schools (five post-primary and one special school) and associated shared education facilities on a 125 acre site in Omagh, to cater for the needs of more than 4,000 pupils.
- The six schools are drawn from the controlled, special school, Catholic maintained and voluntary grammar sectors.
- 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.
- Arvalee Special School has already been constructed on the Strule site. The Strule Main Works Contract is scheduled for award in coming weeks and includes five school buildings, a shared sports centre, shared education centre, a sports pavilion and associated synthetic pitches, infrastructure and site development works. Shared facilities for sports and teaching are central to the campus.
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