Portadown Integrated Primary School
Portadown Integrated Primary School (PIPS) was opened in Portadown (NI) in 1990 in Chambers Park - Portadown RFC - in some portacabins in the car-park. It was one of the first primary schools in the Portadown area that openly educated children from Roman Catholic and Protestant communities together. It had a very small number of pupils at first - around 20-30, and lunch was actually held in the rugby changing rooms!!. The head teacher was Mrs Maghee.
After growing quite rapidly, it moved to a new semi-perminant building around 1992 (?) in kernan - near the hospital. There are currently ~223 pupils enrolled.
It was opened by by The North Armagh Group for Integrated Education (NAGIE), and supported by The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education NICIE According to 'In the Frame' it was a grant maintained integrated primary school, which means it comes under the direct authority of the Department of Education for Northern freland (DENI), though for the first few years it was not directly funded by any education authority.