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What I like about Newry High School is that there are many people with different race/ethnicity, religions, cultures etc.
It's unlike other schools in Newry which are near enough all Irish Catholics,
I feel the cultural mix at Newry High makes it a more understanding and welcoming community as well as giving pupils better knowledge of other peoples culture.
There are quite a few Muslim pupils who have recently joined although it’s nowhere near the numbers you would find at schools in England. I think in the near future it will most likely become even more mixed than it already is.
When it comes to pupil nationalities, from my own knowledge I'd say there are Irish, English, Lithuanian, Polish, Syrian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Brazilian, French, Spanish and Russian. There certainly could be a few that I've missed but these are the ones I can think of right now and when you look at it that is actually quite a lot of different backgrounds, all in one school! I don't think you would see that in any other schools in Newry?
There isn’t really anything done differently in Newry High compared to other schools, at least that I know of. It's really just the same, we just have more people from different backgrounds.
I don't think there are any additional facilities in my school to help different faiths practise their religion but that's not so much of a problem for me as I can do that when I get home but others may wish to have that available.
Some of my friends do have different backgrounds although all of us were raised here while other friends are all originally from Newry, but they’re very understanding and not judgemental at all.
I think all schools should be open to the idea of having a mixed school as it gives teenagers more knowledge on others and may help in adult life when your working with people from different backgrounds.
Inas Abdulrazzaq - A Teenagers Perspective
