AQW 28221/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 05/06/2025
Answered On Date: 13/06/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail any legal powers the Education Authority has to direct the placement of a child with a statement of special educational need in a given school.

Answer:

The Education Authority (EA) has advised that:

The placement of children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) is in accordance with the legislative requirements provided for by the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 and the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.

Article 44 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 sets out the general principle that:

‘so far as is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and training and the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure, pupils shall be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents’.

Paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 to the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 provides as follows:

Where (the authority) makes a statement in a case where the parent of the child concerned has expressed a preference in pursuance of such arrangements as to the grant-aided school at which he wishes education to be provided for his child, the (authority) shall specify the name of that school in the statement unless:

The school is unsuitable to the child’s age, ability or aptitude or to his special educational needs, or,

The attendance of the child at the school would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for the children with whom he would be educated or the efficient use of resources.

The Education Authority must name the parents’ preferred school in Part 4 of the statement unless there is clear evidence that there are no reasonable steps that could be taken to prevent such an incompatibility.