Islamic Studies

It was a proud night for Islamic Studies on Monday, as Dana Jaber, our first Muslim student, returned to Shimna to present the certificates and awards to our GCSE and A level students. Among all the other awards, Dana presented GCSE certificates in Islamic Studies to the first cohort of students to achieve the qualification. She also presented the Assisi Award for Muslim/Christian understanding to Johanna Ross of the Islam class. In her day, Dana had helped trial the materials for teaching GCSE Islamic Studies, and she continued with her studies with Chris Skillen's support when her family moved to Belfast and she transfered to Lagan College. Shimna now works with a network of schools, including BRA, Belfast Inst, Victoria College, Wallace High School, Malone Integrated College and Ulidia Integrated College. Dana's father Masoud also came along, which was great, as he continues to provide an active link for us with the Belfast Mosque.

Advent Message

Rev. Gordon Graham came in to talk to our 6th form assembly for Advent. He is full of the excitement of the the US election result and the possibility of big change. As an Obama supporter, he had to be Integrated and face the fact that one of our visiting US students is also an Obama supporter, while the other is a McCain supporter. At the end of the assembly, all three set off animatedly discussing their US future. For a while, our NI politics were inspiring too! Will we ever see inspiring again?