Our purpose
The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) was established by the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order (1989) in order to support the effective management of the Catholic maintained sector. Our schools makeup over 40% of schools in Northern Ireland and we are the largest teaching employer, employing approximately 6500 principals and teaching staff.
Our mission is to give children the best start in life by:
- Advocating for all children and our sector
- Empowering and supporting effective leadership in our schools
- Developing our family of catholic schools, their ethos and sustainability
- Influencing policy and transformation
We also work in conjunction with the Department of Education and our sectoral partners on a wide range of issues impacting education including shared education, Irish medium and integrated education.