Parents and supporters of a fledgling integrated school in Co Antrim are stepping up pressure on the UK department of education for funding that has been denied for a second year.
Lir Integrated Primary School in Ballycastle on the north coast opened its doors last year with a single teacher and nine Protestant and Catholic children.
Parents in the largely Catholic town say they want an alternative to the state school system.
"Integration at primary level reflects the new reality," said principal Sharon Lyons. "There are many more 'mixed' marriages now and others who are just not affiliated to one church or the other, and government policy is just not catching up."
The school is backed by the independent Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education and two generous overseas benefactors. It now has 24 pupils and a second teacher.
Lir has enough funds for the teachers' salaries, for a three-room prefab on a rubble-strewn building site and for new books and equipment. However, the money is only enough for this year unless it receives departmental funding.
Moves towards provision of integrated education in Antrim began in 2001. Two years later, parents with children at the local state school voted not to change it to integrated status.
Lir was set up by four volunteers. Ms Lyons said they "begged, stole and borrowed" to get the teaching materials needed. What could not be claimed or raised, she paid for with her own credit card. "People here want to have integration but there doesn't have to be a song and dance about it. We have to make this the norm and we won't win the battle until then. This is not a dramatic gesture."
Member of the integrated education council Colm Cavanagh is critical of the government's response to Lir's plea for recognition. "Given the current sectarian aggro in Northern Ireland, and the government's wish to promote its 'A Shared Future' policy document, the department of education's refusal to fund Lir Integrated Primary, opened by Catholic and Protestant parents, is shameful."
Parents say commuting 20 miles or more to other integrated schools is not realistic.
They have decided to press their elected representatives, including North Antrim MP the Rev Ian Paisley, to back their cause. With the support of the local council, many feel it is time to bypass the department and go straight to education minister Angela Smith with their case.
The department said it understood the school had submitted a new development proposal to the North Eastern Education and Library Board seeking grant aid status, and that a proposal would be published later this month.
"This will begin the statutory two-month consultation period, following which a decision will be taken by the minister. The department is therefore unable to comment further at this stage."