AQW 47752/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 03/06/2026
Answered On Date: 15/06/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education, pursuant to AQW 45321/22-27, to detail any works planned for the identified (i) former school sites; and ii) seven Education Authority sites.

Answer:

A total of 72 classrooms have been delivered or are in planning across 10 former school sites. The former Orangefield High School site is under consideration for a new 500-pupil special school in East Belfast. The former Castle High School, subsequently the School of Music, has undergone two phases of refurbishment to create a 24-classroom second campus for Harberton School and a final phase of refurbishment is currently progressing in planning for a two-storey extension. The former Mount Gilbert Community College is planned, subject to the receipt of the relevant statutory approvals, to be the 275-pupil senior campus of the new special school in West Belfast.

The Education Authority’s (EA) Springhill Playing Fields, subject to the receipt of the relevant statutory approvals, will be the 225-pupil junior campus of the new special school in West Belfast.

There are currently eight classes on the EA’s Grahamsbridge Road site for Longstone School, and the whole site is under consideration for a new build 320-pupil school.

30 classes have been delivered, or are in planning, on the North-West Teachers Centre, Antrim Board Centre, Ballee Centre, Camowen Centre and Cookstown Youth Resource Centre.