AN integrated school has lost its bid to introduce 11-plus tests.
Strangford College wanted to roll out "selection by academic ability or aptitude" from next year.
The Department of Education rejected a proposal to allow it to use exams to admit 35 per cent of Year 8 pupils.
While academic selection is typically the preserve of grammar schools, it exists to a significantly lesser extent in the integrated sector.
Lagan College in Belfast and Slemish College in Ballymena are both `bilateral' and are permitted to use entrance tests to award 35 per cent of its Year 8 places.
In a case for change document, Strangford said it had a strong trend of being over-subscribed. Last year, expression of interest questionnaires were distributed to parents of P6 and P7s in feeder primary schools. Two-thirds expressed support for grammar entry places.
Strangford has operated an informal academic admissions policy since 2015, which allows parents to request consideration for `grammar' entry by providing evidence of their children's academic ability. They can use any form of standardised test. The information provided, however, can only be used to stream after a place is awarded using non-academic criteria.
Department permanent secretary Derek Baker turned down the plan after officials pointed out pupils could gain grammar stream places without the use of academic selection. His advisors said there was nothing to prevent children with high 11-plus scores who wanted an integrated education applying.
The proposal, if approved, they added "would set a precedent that could be difficult to defend should other integrated and other non-selective schools decide to select pupils on the grounds of ability".
Mr Baker said the proposal was "interesting and somewhat unique".
"At its heart lies the issue of academic selection, and the range of arguments presented in support of and by way of objection to the proposal reflects the complexities of the debate surrounding, and the differing views about the appropriateness of, selection," he said.
