As pupils look towards the summer holidays and the school year begins to wind down in May, parents of Primary 7 pupils will now be getting them ready for the transition to ‘big school’ in September. However, the admissions process has come into sharper focus in recent years, especially during the pandemic.
2021 saw a significant increase in the number of school admission appeals brought in Northern Ireland. Then-Education Minister Michelle McIlveen reported that, in June 2021, 280 children in Northern Ireland did not have a secondary school place, having failed to secure a place in any of the schools they had applied for.
Minister McIlveen expressed concern at the number of instances in which schools had incorrectly applied their admissions criteria, and over 120 appeals were upheld, resulting in that child obtaining a place in their preferred secondary school.
