Northern Ireland

Thousands of Primary 7 pupils to receive post-primary school letters

Thousands of primary seven pupils will today receive letters today about the post-primary school they will transfer to in September
Thousands of primary seven pupils will today receive letters today about the post-primary school they will transfer to in September Thousands of primary seven pupils will today receive letters today about the post-primary school they will transfer to in September

THOUSANDS of primary seven pupils in Northern Ireland will today receive letters confirming which post-primary school they will transfer to in September.

Letters from the Education Authority (EA) are today due to be delivered to children to confirm their year 8 places.

Figures released by the EA last night reveal that there are 1,267 more pupils transferring this year compared with last year.

A total of 23,949 pupils are transferring in September, compared to 22,684 in 2018. This followed an increase of 952 last year over the year before.

According to the statistics, the vast majority of pupils are expected to be allocated their first choice schools.

Figures show 20,776 pupils have been placed in their first preference this year - in both grammar and secondary schools.

However. a total of 226 pupils are unplaced this year.

This compares to 313 pupils who were unplaced at this stage last year and had to wait longer until their place in a post primary school was secured.

In January, the children received the results of transfer tests for entrance to grammar schools after sitting the GL Assessment, which is used mostly for Catholic schools and/ or the AQE (Association of Quality Education) tests.

In recent months, the Education Authority and Department of Education has been "working to monitor the progress of the admissions process and to identify areas of demographic pressure".

As a result, more than 1,000 additional places for September 2019 admission have been provided.

The EA have a helpline in place for parents to contact, in the event that they do not receive a letter or their child has not been placed in a school.

The helpline telephone number is 028 9598 5595 and will be open today from noon to 5pm. It will re-open on Monday at 9am.

Parents can also email queries to postprimaryadmissions@eani.org.uk.