AQW 35299/22-27
Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford
Tabled Date: 12/11/2025
Answered On Date: 14/11/2025
Priority Written: Yes
Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail whether schools are permitted to change their school uniform policy, without publishing it in their prospectus.
Answer:
The Education (School Information and Prospectuses) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 require the Board of Governors to publish certain information in the annual school prospectus. The requirement in relation to school uniforms for primary or post-primary schools is to publish “The policy or rules of the school, if any, in respect of the way in which pupils are to be dressed including, in particular, any recommendations or rules relating to the wearing of school uniform.” Whilst it is therefore to be expected that the prospectus will set out the school uniform policy in full, it may be the case that it summarises the uniform rules and refers parents to the school’s website (for example) where the full policy is almost always published – whether this be as well as, or instead of, fully within the prospectus itself. The important point is that the Board of Governors satisfy themselves they are compliant with all statutory requirements and that parents have access to information about the school uniform policy of a school before they express their preferences for the school they wish their child to attend. My Department’s letter of 14 October 2025 explicitly advised schools to ensure that nothing was published in their school prospectus for 2026/27 in relation to school uniform that did not align with the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill – information about its requirements was also provided. I trust that schools will have acted upon this appropriately.
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