Northern Ireland

Poorer children take six out of 10 Belfast nursery spots

THE extent to which children from poorer families dominate nursery school places in Belfast has been revealed by new statistics.

Almost six out of every 10 places in statutory, teacher-led nursery settings in the city are filled by children who are eligible for free school meals.

This greatly surpasses any other area of the north - and is more than three times higher than the figure for schools in another former education board region.

Across the north, more than one third of all nursery school places are now being allocated before working parents even fill out the application form.

A disproportionately high number of places continue to be offered to children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

The latest set of figures will cause further anger among parents whose children still have no place for this autumn. While almost nine out of every 10 children will attend their first choice pre-school this year, huge demand means hundreds remain unplaced.

Where a pre-school has too many applications, priority must be given to families in receipt of income support or jobseekers' allowance. This has become a greater problem in recent years as applications soar.

While it has been known that those on benefits have priority, the actual proportion of poor children occupying places is rarely disclosed.

Free school meal (FSM) entitlement is the simplest and most common measure of social disadvantage in schools. Free lunches are usually provided to children whose parents receive benefits or whose family income is less than £16,190.

Government statistics, revealed in response to an assembly question by the DUP's Stephen Moutray, show 35.6 per cent of nursery places are presently filled by children entitled to free meals - compared to 29.2 per cent across all schools.

In schools in the former Belfast Education and Library Board area, the proportion of nursery children entitled to FSM is 57.4 per cent. It is 36.5 in schools in the old south eastern board area, which also covers parts of Belfast. In the former north eastern board area, which covered parts of counties Antrim and Derry, the figure was just 18.6 per cent.

Only about 23 per cent of children are said - again according to government research - to be living in relative income poverty.

The percentages fall dramatically in voluntary and private pre-school settings. In Belfast, just 19.1 per cent of pupils are eligible for FSM while the Northern Ireland total is 11.4 per cent.

Observers have suggested different reasons for this gulf. One is many of these settings have a limited number of free spaces but also charge for other places.

In addition, most parents apply for statutory nursery places over voluntary and private centres. Given the criteria advantage those on benefits it is, therefore, more likely that nursery spots are offered to them in greater numbers. Consequently, this means greater numbers of non-FSM children are offered voluntary and private places.