South Belfast MP Claire Hanna and Matthew O'Toole MLA are calling on the Education Minister, Michelle McIlveen, to take urgent action to find post primary places for the many children still unplaced.

The move follows the news that 280 primary seven children are still without any post-primary school for September 2021, a large number of whom are in South Belfast.

The SDLP woman said: "I have been speaking all week with parents who are trying their best to comfort some really upset kids, and to school leaders who have been working almost round the clock to help ensure everyone has an appropriate place.  

"While we’re lucky in South Belfast to have so many excellent schools, there is acute pressure on places, exacerbated by a flawed transfer system.

"I will be continuing conversations with local principals to try and identify how we can best address these issues in the short term and the long term, and raising outcomes with the new Education Minister."

Meanwhile, her party colleague and fellow South Belfast representative, Matthew O’Toole MLA, added: “The frustration of parents is entirely understandable. As an elected representative there is an obligation to try and address the longer-term failings.

"While I know there may be no easy solutions, it is clear that the system is failing children and that the process places a great deal of pressure on kids and their families annually."

Mr O'Toole said he recognises that there are no easy solutions, but said that the issue cannot end up on the "too difficult pile".

"It is clear we need to work towards implementation of a system that is not so high stakes for kids and that does not place such emphasis on ‘good’ or ‘bad’ schools," he said.

"With a growing number of young families each year South Belfast needs and could sustain development of further post-primary provision and I have indicated my support for this with the Department.

"I realise this does not resolve the problem for those impacted this year, and I have been lobbying the Education Minister to grant additional places to those schools that have made clear they can comfortably accommodate that, to try and take some pressure off this year."

The Alliance Party's Paula Bradshaw said that she is "so angry" about the situation.

The South Belfast MLA said: “I wrote to the previous Education Minister on multiple occasions on behalf of concerned families highlighting the issues with the criteria that was used in the absence of academic selection, and yet he refused to intervene. I further raised these issues with him in my adjournment debate at the Assembly on post-primary school provision in South Belfast. My colleague Chris Lyttle, as Chair of the Education Committee, repeatedly warned of the need for a common contingency criteria for schools. 

“This week, I have been contacted by many parents who have been shocked by the school that their child has been offered. Pupils have been given their seventh, ninth, and even twelfth preference, whilst others were left without any place at all. It seems there has been little point in selecting preferences when the selection criteria of the chosen schools puts a child at such a disadvantage. With so much emphasis placed on eldest children, these decisions do not just affect individual pupils but whole families, and it could mean nonsensical commutes to school for years to come.” 

“Children with an older sibling who attend a same-sex school or a Special Educational Needs school, at which they are unable to attend, have been particularly badly treated” she said. 

Ms Bradshaw added that the former Education Minister has failed these pupils, first of all by refusing to plan for the inevitable cancellation of transfer tests, and secondly by refusing to offer guidance to schools on admissions criteria. 

Ms Bradshaw also believes that the situation has not been helped by what she describes as "a lack of planning" for the increasing population and demographic changes in South Belfast which are leading to schools in the constituency being oversubscribed. 

“The new Education Minister needs to get on top of this issue, not just for parents and pupils this year, but for all those coming through the education system in the constituency," she added. 

"I welcome her commitment to ensuring every child has a school place, but this needs to be her top priority going forward. The Department should explore further temporary variations on school places for this year and review the whole transfer process.

"We also need contingency planning for next year, as there is no guarantee that tests will be able to go ahead.

“I welcome that a temporary variation of twenty places has been granted at Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School and this is good news for those parents and pupils. I urge the Minister to find further solutions to limit the damage that has been done to the public’s confidence in the system over this debacle.”

Addressing their concerns, Education Minister Michelle McIlveen said: "On Saturday parents of children still to be placed were provided with a list of schools with places still available across Northern Ireland.  

"Over 2,700 places remained available at that time.  Parents of the majority of children who had not been placed have already submitted applications to these schools and these applications will be considered promptly by schools.  I expect a large number of these children to have secured a school place in the coming days.

“Parents may consider lodging an appeal to an admissions appeal tribunal. I would say to parents that nominating further preferences now does not affect an admissions appeal and if it is successful they can still avail of a place at a preferred school.  Therefore I would encourage them to nominate places for their children as soon as possible.”

The Department of Education can allocate additional places where there is a need and planning for this year’s transfer process commenced in 2019.  While parental preference cannot be modelled, and the absence of entrance tests made this work even more challenging, the Department, working with the education authorities has already secured places for almost 99 per cent of children. 

Minister McIlveen added: “Where there is demand my Department will allocate places and in fact have already done so. By the weekend a total of 828 additional Year 8 places had been allocated to schools across Northern Ireland to cater for oversubscription and this will continue. My Department will continue to consider where places need to be allocated, taking into account the needs of individual children.

“With my Department, parents, schools and the Education Authority working together we can ensure every child secures a school place well before the start of term.  

“In my new role as Education Minister I will ensure the needs of children are put at the heart of our decision-making, and facilitating placements for all P7 children is my top priority at this time.”

In the days after students received their offer of a school place, an Education Authority spokesperson told the South Belfast News: “Admissions criteria for each school are established by the Board of Governors for that school.  In our correspondence to schools prior to the application process for post-primary admissions, EA reminded schools of their responsibility to have regard to Department of Education guidance on admissions criteria.

“If a pupil remains to be placed in a post-primary school or if a pupils parent/guardian wishes to appeal a placement they can find information on the process on our website  and clicking on the link entitled ‘Information on your Post-Primary Application and what you need to do now’.

“We appreciate how important the transfer from primary to post-primary school is for families and we have a dedication admissions helpdesk to support parents/guardians by phone at 028 9598 5595 or via email on postprimaryadmissions@eani.org.uk."