Pamela Louderback, Day 56

Today, I was scheduled to visit with Principal Fionnguala Mc Cotter at the Scoil an Droichid but the school was closed due to weather conditions.  I took a few photos of the school area. 

Sign on the corner of Ormeau and Cook Street noting where the Scoil an Droichid was located.

There is a nursery and preschool, a primary school, after school club and cultural centre

billilngual signs noting where offices and parking were located.

No real builings, as such.  There were several prefab trailer units.

This trailer unit was nicely decorated with a mural. 

Note the bilingual sign stating in Irish (and English) that there was "No access for cars beyond this point".

Entrance (on foot) from that point on to another prefab building

Another prefab unit

This was the school office building

Parting shot of entrance to the school noting where offices and parking were.  Note in the background the lovely mural from an earlier photo found on one of the prefab buildings

I had plenty of time to make my next appointment which was at the School of Education for a seminar on the "Convergence and divergence in post-compulsory education and lifelong learning across the UK: Where is Northern Ireland headign in 2011 by Ann Hodgson and Ken Spours of the Institute of Education, University of London.  The seminar lasted two hours and was quite informative with lively Q & A opportunities.  My interests lay in the questions of how division conflict is managed where the dimensions of governance appears to be entralized around the diverse communities and antheir specific identities -- and with recent government agreements, it appears to be almost a mandatory coalition government (reflecting the nuances of the groups facilitating to differences and compromising solutions) where as one individual in the audience described it as a group "fighting for scraps instead of looking at the banquet laid before them". 

Well, goodbye Institute of Governance...farewell festive Belfast...at least for a few days as I go home to pack for my trip to Dublin to pick up the family for the holidays!  Sunday cannot come soon enough for me.

Shot of the corner of University Square and University Road looking out from the Institute of Governance office.  The Queen's Film Theatre is on the left-hand side about 2/3 down.  I live on University Street, the next street over.  Goodnight all!