AQW 21270/17-22
Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry
Tabled Date: 01/07/2021
Answered On Date: 07/07/2021
Priority Written: No
Question:
To ask the Minister of Education for her Department’s advice to pupils applying to multiple post-primary schools, when those schools will only accept pupils who have selected it as their first choice.
Answer:
Legislation provides Board of Governors (BoGs) of individual schools, and not my Department, with the power to determine which criteria schools will use for selection. My Department has provided schools with guidance on the post-primary admissions process, including on the criteria it is recommended that schools should and should not use. BoGs must, by law, ‘have regard to’ this guidance. My Department specifically recommends that schools should not use preference criteria. Such criteria limit the operation of parental preference and in some cases mean parents may feel that they have to apply to schools in an order other than would normally be their preference. My Department’s advice to parents is that they should select at least four preferences on their child’s application, including at least one non-grammar school. Parents are also advised to read schools’ admissions criteria carefully and consider how they might apply to their child, as well as checking how many applications the school has had in recent years. The Education Authority (EA) publishes how many applications post-primary schools have received in recent years at each preference and how many at each preference were accepted by each school. The schools themselves would also be well placed to advise parents on the potential outworking of their admissions criteria. Parents should consider all of the information available to them before submitting applications, including to those schools that make use of preference criteria.
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