Transfer tests: More than 23,500 children find out school places

It is the first time in decades that almost all grammar schools have not used transfer tests

About 23,000 children in Northern Ireland have been told which post-primary school they will go to in September.

For the first time in decades, grammar schools have not used transfer tests to decide which pupils to admit.

BBC News NI understands that a number of grammar schools were significantly oversubscribed.

Decisions on places were issued on Saturday but about 280 children have not been given a school place.

In a separate process, many children with special educational needs (SEN) have also found out which school they will move to.

'I don't know where I am going to be next year'

Christian Cowley was among those who did not find out which school they would be going to in September.

He applied for four schools but was upset when he found out he did not get a place in any of them.

"A lot of my friends have got into the same school - I finish next week and I don't know where I am going next year," he told BBC News NI.

His mother Emily Campbell said it had already been a stressful year with exams having been cancelled when Christian had been working hard on practice papers and was doing well.

"We thought this would be a happy day," she said.

"Whatever school he got into we were going to go out for dinner and celebrate and now he is the only one in his class not to get a school.

"We cannot take it in - he said to me this morning: 'Why can't I just be normal?'"

Ms Campbell said they found out about the decision in an email and had not been able to log in online to see the results.

"The email said we would have to go through appeal and tribunal and all morning I have tried to log on and all I can see is an error message," she said.

"We uploaded all the necessary criteria the school asked for and we don't understand what we have done wrong."

There are 193 post-primary schools in Northern Ireland - 66 grammars and 127 non-grammars.

Both providers of the school transfer tests cancelled the exams due to disruption to schools caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, almost all grammar schools have not used any academic criteria to select pupils for September.

Parents of primary seven pupils were encouraged to name at least four schools they wanted their children to transfer to, in order of preference.

For the first time, the process managed through the Education Authority has been fully online and pupils also found out which school they are going to online rather than by letter.

However, individual boards of governors made the decision on which pupils their school would admit based on their criteria.

On Saturday morning the Education Authority apologised for "an issue that some parents are experiencing with the queue system for post-primary notifications".

There were 16,257 entrants in total for the AQE and Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) tests when they most recently took place in 2019, although some children sit both.

It is understood that a number of grammar schools were significantly oversubscribed

Non-selective schools use relatively similar criteria each year but with no transfer tests in 2020-21 grammars have had to draw up alternative criteria to those they would have used previously.

The Education Authority said that 23,535 children were due to transfer to post-primary in September.

It said almost 85% of pupils would get a place in their first-preference school, while more than 98% would be placed in a school that was listed among their choices.

• No academic terms in most grammar schools' selection

The EA ran a telephone helpdesk on Saturday until 17:00 BST and it will reopen on Monday.

The helpdesk number is 028 9598 5595.

"Work is also under way to secure placements for children with a statement of special educational needs, which is a separate process," the EA said.

"The majority of parents will have already received their child's amended statement naming their placement for September.

"Where places have not been confirmed by 14 June 2021, our special educational needs team will contact parents directly to update them on their individual consultation process."

There is a separate special educational needs helpline run by the EA on 028 9598 5960.