Our purpose
The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) is the managing authority for Catholic maintained schools in Northern Ireland. It was established by the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order (1989) and is responsible for:
- Employment of teaching staff & school leaders
- Promoting the effective management of schools by Boards of Governors
- Planning effective and sustainable school provision
- Support & advice to Trustees and DE
Our schools makeup over 40% of schools in Northern Ireland and we are the largest teaching employer, employing approximately 6500 school leaders and teaching staff. Our founding purpose was to raise standards and we do this by:
- Empowering effective leadership in our schools
- Developing our family of catholic schools, their ethos and sustainability
- Advocating for all children and the Catholic maintained sector
- Shaping policy, provision 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.