NEW education minister Michelle McIlveen yesterday vowed to ensure all children caught up in the post-primary transfer process get a place in a school.
During her first official engagement after taking on the new role, Ms McIlveen said she was aware that many children were left "dreadfully disappointed" after receiving their transfer letter on Saturday.
It comes after around 280 P7 children were not placed in any school, with some parents claiming they had been failed by the transfer process.
For the first time in decades, grammar schools did not use transfer tests to decide which pupils to admit this year after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the assessments.
The Education Authority (EA) said more than 98 per cent of children have been placed in a school of their choice, with almost 85 per cent securing a place at their first preference school.
During a visit to Ballysillan Primary in Belfast yesterday to present a Derrytrasna Pastoral Care Award, Ms McIlveen said around 129 children had been placed from Monday and she would be working to resolve the other cases.
"This is a really stressful time for parents and for pupils," she told PA.
"There is expectation and excitement about what's to come in September, and I appreciate that so many of them are dreadfully disappointed as a consequence of last weekend's information that came through to them.
"We have been working really hard with EA colleagues and also with schools and, quite good news in that we have placed 129 pupils as from yesterday.
"Obviously that work is going to continue over the next number of days and probably the next few weeks as the numbers start to dwindle down."
She added: "In line with that there are a number of pupils who have maybe been allocated spaces in schools where they are not particularly happy, so there will be some movement around that as well.
"So, we are working very closely with schools in order to alleviate and create mitigations that will reduce that further."
Ms McIlveen said it had been a "very different situation" due to the Covid pandemic and "while it is not perfect and adjustments will have to be made I think we are doing the best that we can in order to ensure that every child has a place in school".
Also setting out her priorities for the new role, she said her immediate focus would be on recovery and the mental health and well-being of pupils.
