Northern Ireland

Thousands of children to receive 11-plus results

Unregulated 11-plus tests have been used for seven years
Unregulated 11-plus tests have been used for seven years Unregulated 11-plus tests have been used for seven years

Thousands of children will today receive the results of their 11-plus style tests - labelled by principals as "unnecessary and stressful".

For seven years in a row now, a majority of grammar schools have run their own entrance exams, ignoring the pleas of teachers, politicians and Church leaders.

The last state-sponsored 11-plus was held in November 2008, when this year's P7s were in their final pre-school year.

Schools largely remain split into two camps using either the Common Entrance Assessment (CEA) or multiple-choice papers set by GL Assessment.

About 7,000 pupils sat the GL papers at 34 different schools, the majority of them Catholic grammars. In addition, about 7,800 children took the three CEA papers.

A growing number of schools now accept the results of either test. Antrim Grammar is the latest to accept results of both. This brings to six the number of non-Catholic schools who admit children based on GL results. No Catholic grammars use the CEA.

The deadline for receipt of requests for re-marks is 2pm on Feb 12.

The Catholic Principals' Association (CPA), which represents the views of about 230 Catholic schools, has said it can think of no valid moral, ethical, social, logistical, demographic or educational grounds for continued academic selection.

The influential group believes, however, that a grammar school system totally free of 11-plus tests is "in sight" following a joint move by Omagh Christian Brothers' Grammar School and the town's Loreto Grammar to stop using tests entirely by 2020.

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

Two Catholic schools - Loreto College in Coleraine and St Patrick's Grammar in Armagh - have willingly ended selection and there is also a proposal to make Dominican College in Portstewart non-selective.

There are also discussions in Enniskillen about putting an end to the 11-plus in the Catholic sector.

In addition, St Ronan's in Lurgan is a non-selective grammar school.