A REVIEW of Catholic education could end single sex primary schooling in Northern Ireland.
Outside prep departments, there are just five schools educating one gender exclusively - and they serve neighbouring parishes in north Belfast.
They have all been included in an annual action plan by the Education Authority (EA) which details areas where schools should be shut, merged or expanded.
The plan has named 22 schools where "sustainability is an issue" but any decision to close them would have to be subject to consultation.
It also lists further `work streams' where the EA or the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) will "ensure school places are located as required".
The idea is to create a network of schools "of the right type, of the right size, in the right place".
While the plan names individual schools, it stops short of making specific recommendations.
A reorganisation of Catholic primary education in north Belfast is among these work streams.
There are no further details, only that CCMS will "consult on options for future provision by March 2020".
Single sex education has been in decline in recent years.
Just five such schools remain, all in north Belfast, following the merger of Edmund Rice boys' and Star of the Sea girls' schools in the same area in 2013.
They are Holy Cross Girls, Holy Cross Boys, Mercy, Sacred Heart and Our Lady's, and serve close to 1,400 pupils.
All five comfortably meet government's recommended enrolment number of 140 for an urban primary school.
It is thought primary could follow the lead of the secondary sector, however, where the number of non-selective single sex schools in the area has reduced from six to zero in little more than a decade.
St Patrick's for boys merged with Little Flower for girls, St Gabriel's and St Gemma's both shut down while Mercy College now accepts boys and Edmund Rice admits girls.
Grammar schools have taken no part in reorganisation.
It is understood that the latest proposals include either one, two or three co-ed primary schools.
Change in north Belfast has been explored for at least 12 years, although focused mainly on the schools in Holy Cross parish.
This time both Holy Cross and Sacred Heart parishes are to be included.
Overall, the action plan for 2019-21 identifies 42 work streams across pre-school, primary, post-primary and special schools.
All actions that proceed to the `development proposal' stage will be subject to detailed consultation.
The plan includes schools where sustainability is an issue but, also, some schools that are sustainable as they may form part of a wider solution to issues in their area.
It also highlights areas where an increase in pupil numbers is required.
