Labour MP in Derry on fact-finding visit

Senior students at Oakgrove Integrated College were treated to a visit by Labour’s NI spokesperson Tonia Antoniazzi who was on a fact-finding mission about integrated education in practice.  

Ms Antoniazzi heard from John Harkin, Acting Principal about the school’s 30 year history and hopes for the future.  Students and staff engaged in questions and answers with Ms Antoniazza who encouraged them to believe that there was nothing they could not achieve.  

Topics under discussion included: the Legacy Bill, the Irish Language Act, rugby internationals and the importance of democratic participation.

The visit was hosted by the IEF (Integrated Education Fund) and attended by Director, Ken Cathcart.  He spoke about his family experiences of integrated education, including Oakgrove Integrated College.  

After the school visit, Ms Antoniazzi toured historic areas of the city including the Fountain and The Bogside.  Ms Antoniassi is MP for Gower and has spoken on NI matters since December 2021.  She was previously a teacher of languages in Wales and north-west England.

Ms Antoniazzi paused at the school’s entrance to light the candle in memory of all “lost lives” in the conflict in Northern Ireland.  The Welsh MP remembered the life of Private Robert Davies, 19, son of her constituents; he was killed in an IRA gun attack in Lichfield Station in 1990.   The Oakgrove candle burns each day at in memory of all whose lives ended or were damaged because of violence in NI.  

Oakgrove Integrated College continues a year of events and conversations to celebrate the school’s 30th anniversary.