A high-profile school for physically disabled children will not admit children into its nursery unit in September.
Officials from the Education Authority (EA) yesterday appeared before the assembly education committee.
EA chief executive Gavin Boyd was quizzed about Fleming Fulton in Belfast, a special school for children aged 3-19.
All pupils have physical disabilities and the more recently enrolled have increasingly complex educational needs.
Although located in Belfast, it takes in pupils from across the north, some travelling long distances each day.
The school was placed into the formal intervention process after inspectors found provision to be "inadequate".
In 2014, inspectors reported that there were "insufficient numbers of pupils for the nursery classes to continue to operate". It has not had a nursery unit since, even though some parents said it was their first choice for 2016.
Mr Boyd told the committee yesterday that he expected that the school would emerge from formal intervention in a strong position.
He said, however, that there were not enough children with physical disabilities to open the nursery again in September.
Members heard that the type of children who required placements had "more severe to profound" learning difficulties - they were "a more complex kind of child".
Such children, therefore, did not meet the profile for Fleming Fulton.
"Fleming Fulton has places for physical disability. Demand for this type of provision has decreased significantly in recent years as more and more are being supported in mainstream education," Mr Boyd said.
Pupil numbers at Mitchell House in east Belfast, the committee was told, had been increased meaning every child requiring a full-time nursery place from September would receive one.
Mr Boyd said inspectors found the quality of education at Mitchell House to be "outstanding".
"The provision for those children who meet the profile for Fleming will be met full-time at Mitchell House. They can be catered for on a full-time basis," he said.
Sinn Féin's Catherine Seeley praised the quality of teaching at Fleming Fulton and questioned why when parents sought places at the school, they were not being made available.
"I really cannot comprehend why we are not availing of that," she said.
Carla Lockhart of the DUP added: "If a child meets the profile, why can they not go to Fleming Fulton?"
The EA also gave evidence about Fleming Fulton at a meeting on June 15, after which it was accused of misleading the committee.
At that earlier meeting, EA director of children and young people's services Clare Mangan said the school's governors did not want issues to be discussed in public. In a letter to assembly members and the EA, sent the next day, principal Karen Hancock said that was not the case.
Yesterday, Dr Mangan told the committee that she was satisfied that the information provided at that time was accurate.
