Integrated school taken with Liam’s high praise

IT’S not every day you get a message from Liam Neeson telling you how proud he is of you.

But that’s exactly what happened to pupils at a Northern Ireland primary school who received a special message of encouragement and praise from the Hollywood star.

The Ballymena-born actor sent the message to Mallusk Integrated Primary School in Newtownabbey all the way from Chicago.

He told them they had the “most fantastic little school” and congratulated the teachers, staff and pupils.

He said: “Because you respect each other and make sure no-one is left out, you keep each other very safe and happy, you share with each other and every day you try your best.

“I’m very proud of you, keep up the great work.”

The Taken star is a huge advocate for integrated education in Northern Ireland.

In February, he released a short video supporting an initiative to make it available in almost every school across the region.

The school’s principal, Suzanne Kinsella, told the Belfast Telegraph, with that in mind, they wanted Liam to know what their school was doing.

She said: “We transformed two years ago and have been developing the ethos of the school, growing our enrolment, and working with the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education and the Integrated Education Fund to progress the school.

“We have been revamping and updating everything going on in the school.”

The children were very excited when they received the video message. Ms Kinsella said: “We’ve got a lot of Star Wars fans in the school — the staff and the parents were even more excited.”

The comments Liam makes about the children sharing with each other is part of their ethos.

She said: “Those are the rules for the school that the children made themselves.

“He was referring to that, about them keeping those.

“They receive prizes for that and for being friendly and respecting each other.”