Irish-medium schools: Rise in number of primary pupils

There were a total of 1,633 pupils enrolled in Belfast's 10 Irish-medium primaries in 2019/20

There has been a 20% rise in the number of pupils at Irish-medium primary schools in Belfast over the past five years.

There were a total of 1,633 pupils at Belfast's 10 Irish-medium primaries in 2019/20, up from 1,362 in 2015/16.

The figures are contained in a revised proposal for Coláiste Feirste to increase its pupil numbers.

Coláiste Feirste is the only Irish-medium post-primary school in Belfast and one of only two in NI.

Education Minister Peter Weir has approved a proposal for the school to increase the number of pupils it admits every year from 100 to 150.

Peter Weir approved a proposal allowing an increase of pupils at Coláiste Feirste

It would also gradually increase its overall pupil numbers to 910.

However, the move has had to be delayed by a year until September 2021.

That is because Coláiste Feirste needs at least six extra mobile classrooms as well as two more teaching staff to accommodate the rise in pupils.

According to the revised proposal published by the Department of Education (DE) there are already more pupils at the school than the 600 it was built to hold.

But the school has not been able to find a larger and more suitable site in Belfast to move to.

The rise in pupil numbers at Irish-medium primary schools in Belfast is one of the reasons that Coláiste Feirste wants to increase the numbers of pupils it can admit.

In 2020 for instance, 163 primary seven pupils named Coláiste Feirste as their first preference school.

The DE proposal states that "the overall pattern of enrolment has constantly risen over the past five years" in Irish-medium primary schools in Belfast.

As a result, there was a "surge in demand" for places in Coláiste Feirste in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 school years.

• Call to train more Irish-speaking teachers

• Belfast Irish medium school to expand by 50%

• 'Lack of teachers' in Irish-medium sector

All 10 Irish-medium primaries in Belfast saw increases in pupil numbers between 2015 and 2020.

Two, Bunscoil Mhic Reachtain and Scoil an Droichid, have more pupils than their approved maximum enrolment.

Scoil an Droichid is also awaiting a move to a new building.

"The evidence suggests that Coláiste Feirste requires additional places now and into the future as the popularity of Irish-Medium education is rising," the revised DE proposal concludes.

The most recent figures from the department show that there were more than 6,800 pupils in Irish-medium education in 2019/20.

Arbout 5,500 pupils were in dedicated Irish-medium schools and pre-schools, while more than 1,400 pupils were educated in Irish-medium units attached to English-medium schools.