A Derry secondary school celebrated its 30th birthday last week and the community it has instilled over the past three decades.
Oakgrove Integrated College, which is located in Gransha Park, marked 30 years of educating post-primary children on December 10.
Representatives of the founding Governors of Oakgrove Integrated College visited the school to mark its anniversary. The school first opens its doors in 1992.
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Staff, pupils, parents and founding Governors alike shared memories of the excitement of the founding days, the struggles to get government approval, and the financial decisions they took to put up the money to run the school if the government did not.
In the year ahead, the school will be holding a raft of events to mark the occasion.
Originally opened with just 78 students, Oakgrove now counts 4,813 students who have passed through its doors.
John Harkin, Acting Principal, said: "It is the 30th anniversary of the official opening of this school. It was the courage of individuals which opened a school without government approval, and the courage of governors, staff, parents and students who have since kept alive the vision of the founders.
“Integrated Education has been about bringing people together, to recognise that there is more which unites us as humans than divides.
"During this year, we will reflect on the meaning of integration, to remember past success, and build the foundations of the next chapter of this school and city’s journey of bringing people together.”
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