A `prep' school that experienced a fall in pupil numbers has been told it will definitely shut down at the end of the summer.
In one of his last acts as education minister, John O'Dowd approved the closure of Cygnet House, the preparatory department of Glenlola Collegiate in Bangor.
No information about the closure was released publicly due to the pre-election 'purdah' period.
During purdah, the Executive is prevented from making announcements about any new or controversial initiatives.
It is understood that staff in the Department of Education were made aware of the decision on the day of the assembly election itself.
The school has been informed and has made parents and pupils aware.
Cygnet House is the fifth prep school to shut since the government slashed the sector's funding.
The amount of public money preps receive was cut by former education minister Caitríona Ruane.
An independent review said subsidising fee-charging schools was an "inequitable use of public funds".
Preps charge annual fees of between £3,500 and £4,500 per pupil.
Declining enrolments were blamed for shutting Bloomfield Collegiate Preparatory in Belfast and Connor House in Bangor in 2011.
Dalriada prep followed in 2013 while Down High prep shut last summer.
Cygnet House, which will close by the end of August, decided it could not survive with diminishing numbers and budget.
In the past it was for girls only but had been more recently taking boys.
Enrolments plummeted between 2011 and 2012 but picked up again after it became co-educational. It had 65 pupils last year - 55 girls and 10 boys.
Glenlola principal Eric Thompson previously said Cygnet House had always been a small school with a reputation for high quality education.
The closure of Connor House, he added, had generated substantial anxiety for Cygnet House parents, many of whom decided that, given the uncertainty, they would find places for their children in larger primary schools.
With a large P7 group leaving at the end of June last year and a smaller P1 group joining in September, concerns regarding pupil numbers resulted in more parents moving to larger primary schools in the area.
