We are so proud to see our CEO Roisin Marshall being honoured with an OBE for services to Education and to Community Reconciliation in Northern Ireland, in the King’s birthday honours list.

Having dedicated 32 years of service to education Roisin has always had a true focus on enabling peace, reconciliation, and inclusion.

This award is a recognition of the collective hard work and effort of all those people who have worked tirelessly to educate young people together every day in the same classroom, it is also for everyone who dedicates themselves to creating opportunities for peace, reconciliation and bringing communities together to create a more shared society. 

Special thanks go to all staff, pupils and parents in Integrated schools, all those exploring Transformation, those who volunteer their time on Board of Governors and everyone who works hard to enable our children and young people to be educated together.

On receiving news of the award Roisin commented “I feel truly blessed that I have been able to contribute in the way that I have to the inclusion of children of different religions, cultures, races, socio-economic background, ability, disability and gender. To all my students from the past, I want you to know that I learnt much more from you than you ever did from me. It has been a pleasure to have worked in the field of education and in the building of peace and reconciliation through my professional career and volunteer work. This award goes to all those who I have met along the way, and learnt so much from, and in the words of Michelangelo, ‘I am still learning’… every day.”

On moving forward Roisin highlighted that “we’ve got to think strategically about what we want and coming out of a post conflict situation we have begun to make peace, we’ve obviously made peace over the last 25 years, but the next 25 years we’ve got to spend actually building peace. It is important that we work together in order that our children and young people grow up safe and happy and actually feel like that this is a place that can be shared, not shared out.”