Northern Ireland

Christian Brothers schools trust supports ending 11-plus

Kevin Burke, chief executive of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust NI
Kevin Burke, chief executive of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust NI

An influential education body says it remains committed to a Catholic Church call to end academic selection.

The Edmund Rice Schools Trust (NI) said it is fully supportive of the northern bishops' policy of ending testing at 11.

The trust is responsible for schools formerly owned by the Christian Brothers religious order.

Three of its nine schools are in the grammar sector - Abbey Grammar in Newry, St Mary's in Belfast and Omagh Christian Brothers Grammar.

This week, Omagh CBS announced that it would stop using 11-plus tests to determine admissions by 2020.

Abbey and St Mary's are continuing to use entrance exams, however.

A plan to end academic selection at St Mary's as part of a shake-up involving a neighbouring Christian Brothers School was scrapped.

Trust chief executive Kevin Burke, a former St Mary's principal, said while this plan for west Belfast was dead, it was the policy of the trust to end selection in its schools over time.

"That is still the policy of the ERST in support of NICCE (the Northern Ireland Commission for Catholic Education). That has not changed," Mr Burke said.

"In Omagh, there has been a lot of contact between the schools under the auspices of post-primary review. We've been working closely with Loreto and the diocesan school, Sacred Heart. In looking to the future, the grammar schools are happy to work together."

The all-girls Loreto Grammar in Omagh also plans to phase out its use of 11-plus tests by 2020.

The Omagh announcement is being seen as hugely significant - the area has a large Catholic population and a good grammar pedigree.

That two prestigious schools have decided to end selection is expected to convince others to follow suit.

Mr Burke said while plans for a single non-selective Christian Brothers' school in west Belfast had been shelved, trustees were looking again at area-planning across the greater west Belfast area.

"St Mary's was clear at the time that it would start to move from academic selection in tandem with other Catholic grammar schools, but there's been very little or no movement. In Belfast, it is quite complicated and you have to look at the ramifications," he said.

"The original proposal to close CBS and increase numbers at St Mary's, and end selection, is now dead and we are back to looking at the bigger picture in west Belfast."