AQW 34169/22-27


Mrs Michelle Guy
Alliance Party
Lagan Valley


Tabled Date: 22/10/2025
Answered On Date: 04/11/2025
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail the number of pupils leaving special schools each year, broken down by (i) year group; (ii) age at leaving; and (iii) post-school destination category, including (a) further education; (b) training; (c) adult services; (d) employment; and (e) not in education or training, in each of the last five academic years.


Answer:
Information gathered from the annual school census has been used to track pupils from one academic year to the next. The table below shows the number of pupils who were enrolled in special schools in October 2021 and were not enrolled in any primary, post primary or special school in the October of 2022. This is the most recent information available due to the impact of action short of strike that affected the collection of pupil level information during the October 2023 school census.
The number of pupils who were enrolled in a special school in 2021/22 that were not enrolled in any school in 2022/23 by age
Age at 30 June 2022
Number of pupils
4
*
5
*
6
6
7
*
8
5
9
*
10
*
11
5
12
*
13
5
14
*
15
*
16
67
17
37
18
61
19
219
Total
426
Source: Annual School census
* denotes figure fewer than 5 pupils suppressed due to sensitive nature and potential identification of individual pupils
Although basic data about leavers from special schools is collected as part of the school leavers survey, information is currently not validated and therefore not included in Official Statistics publications relating to school leavers. With the objective of having schools on the new Bromcom information management system for the 2026/27 academic year, the expectation is that additional data, in relation to destinations, will be collected.