On 12th March 2010, we received the news that Shimna has been successfully redesignated as a Specialist School in Languages and the International Dimension.  In order to achieve redesignation, we had to provide evidence covering success in languages, across the whole curriculum, in our primary and post-primary links and in our community links.  The redesignation is therefore a tribute to the work of our students and our staff and to the support of: parents and guardians; our Board of Governors; our primary partner schools; our post-primary partner schools; community partners in particular Newcastle Chamber of Commerce, Greenhill YMCA, the National Trust and Down District Council; sponsors in particular the First Trust Bank and the Communication Workers Union.

Shimna is one of the first twelve Specailist Schools to be designated in Northern Ireland, and therefore one of the first to go for redesignation.  We are very proud indeed of our success.  The four years of Specialism have been a tremendous challenge and have involved all our staff in the excitement and additional demands of the international dimension.  Specialism is a marvellous vindication of integrated, all-ability, academically excellent education.