The sun shone brightly at Cranmore Integrated Primary School in Belfast earlier this week when pupils and staff delightedly welcomed a delegation of educational students and professionals from the University of San Diego, California.

The group had visited the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) earlier in the day to learn more about integrated education here.  This was followed by a visit to Cranmore IPS were the group were treated to tours of the school led by P7 pupils.  Pupils proudly shared examples of their work, highlighted what they enjoyed about Cranmore while giving visitors a sense of how special Cranmore is.  The delegates were also delighted to learn more about the learning, teaching and educational experiences available at Cranmore.  The Cranmore Choir provided the entertainment before finally raising the roof with an amazing rendition of “Hallelujah”.

Mr William Doherty, Principal of Cranmore IPS commented, “I am extremely proud of the children and staff here at Cranmore.  Today has been a lovely experience for our children and visitors.  Occasions and experiences such as this are important for children, staff, parents and visitors as it gives us all the opportunity to reflect on how special Cranmore is to all of us, as expressed through the eyes of our children.  It was a great delight to share our experiences of integrated education here at Cranmore with our friends from San Diego.  We very much look forward to welcoming them again in the future and we really hope that they can manage to bring the sunshine with them.”

Professors Lea Hubbard and Linda Dews from the University of San Diego highlighted how much they had loved visiting Cranmore and meeting the children, staff and parents.  Commenting on the visit, Lea said “I was particularly delighted to spend time in Cranmore Integrated PS.  It is such a lovely school and I was very impressed with the children we met.  They keenly talked about what they valued at Cranmore as well as sharing examples of the wonderful things they had learnt and taken part in.  We certainly hope that they have enjoyed our visit as much as we have.  It has been an absolute joy and we are very grateful to William Doherty, the staff, pupils and parents of Cranmore Integrated PS and Denise Morgan from the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education for making this all possible for us.  We will take many happy memories back to California with us and look forward eagerly to visiting again next year.”