SCHOOLS are to be allowed to expand again as they brace themselves for another bumper transfer year.
There has been a steady rise in the number of children transferring from primary to post primary.
In the last three years, the number transferring has increased by more than 10 per cent.
This means hundreds have been left unplaced due to popular schools being oversubscribed - even though there are thousands of empty desks elsewhere.
The 2020 cohort is estimated to be 24,017, up slightly from last year and from 21,732 in 2017.
New Department of Education guidance said the outcome of any given year's post primary process was "impossible to predict with absolute certainty".
The number of unplaced pupils at the end of the 2018 process (313), 2019 (226) including an additional 413 Year 8 places, it said, reflected the extent to which availability of school places met parental preference.
The department said it anticipated several areas may face significant pressure in 2020.
These include Belfast, Newtownards and north Down, Dungannon, south Derry, Antrim Town and Newry.
Newtownards is listed even though there is plenty of space at Movilla High School. A proposal to close it down and instead boost every other school in the area was abandoned.
Extra places have already being sought at Catholic grammar schools in Belfast and there are similar plans for schools in Ards and north Down.
"Without proactive action, the evidence would suggest that an increasing number of children will fail to secure places during the admissions procedure and may have an extended wait to gain admission to a post primary school," the department said.
"There is also the risk that the admissions process may not conclude on time and this may cause unnecessary distress to children and their families and uncertainty to schools."
Schools with significantly more applications than places in under-pressure areas can apply to the department for consideration of a temporary increase to their admission number for either one or two years.
"The outcome of the review is that where additional places may be granted to individual schools will ensure pupils can access school provision within the desired sector ensuring that pupils are placed in line with parental preference," the department said.
"Failure to act may have led to the position whereby children seeking a denominational education may have been unable to access this in certain areas, while children seeking a non-denominational education may have faced such challenges in other areas. This approach will aim to prevent such disparities."
