William Doherty

Cranmore Integrated Primary and Nursery School
  
School website: www.cranmoreips.co.uk
Subject:  Principal.
Your place of birth: Belfast.
Studied at: Belfast Boys' Model and Stranmillis College.
First job: Primary 5 teacher Cedar Integrated Primary School, Crossgar.
What it taught me: That integrated education may not be the only method for bringing communities together but it is the most efficient and effective way of educating pupils, staff and parents about the benefit of respect, cooperation and treating people fairly.
Best advice anyone ever gave you: To achieve anything, first of all you must believe in yourself.
Best advice you could give someone thinking of a teaching career: While it is defintiely not the path of least resistance it is very rewarding to know that you made a difference in someone's life, for all sorts of reasons and in all sorts of ways.

After graduating from Stranmillis College, I began my teaching career in Cedar Integrated Primary, Crossgar. Until that time, I didn’t know much about the integrated sector and had grown up in an area of North Belfast that was deeply affected by the Troubles.
In 2007 I was appointed Vice Principal of Cranmore Integrated Primary School on Finaghy Road North and went on to be appointed Principal in 2013.
Northern Irish society has been transformed in the last 20-plus years and whilst we have achieved an uneasy peace there is much more work that needs to take place to secure a truly peaceful society.

I have a passion for integrated education as I really believe it is one of the best ways of educating everyone to accept difference, to promote reconciliation and to transform the wider society.
At Cranmore I am very lucky to lead a team of staff who are deeply committed to all our pupils. Being Principal of Cranmore is a tremendous privilege and allows me to work with our whole school community to ensure that children feel supported and that they fulfil their potential through what we always refer to as ‘the Cranmore Way’.