“There are still too many small/unsustainable schools,” reads a blunt assessment of the situation in Northern Ireland.
That is the verdict of an Education Authority (EA) draft plan for the next five years, a wide-ranging document that weighs up the future of primary and post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. The draft plan is currently out for consultation.
The EA also highlights that some special schools have more places than they are supposed to and that there are shortages of places in some areas - issues that may make it necessary to build more special schools.
The cost of running small schools in Northern Ireland
Here are some of the key points from the EA, in its report and related commentary:
- The cost of teaching a pupil in a relatively small school can be from 30 to 80 per cent higher than in a larger school.
- 230 out of 800 primary schools in Northern Ireland have fewer than the recommended number of pupils.
- Most of those small schools are in rural areas: 193 out of 440 rural primaries have fewer than 105 pupils (the “minimum threshold” for rural schools in Northern Ireland).
- 18 out of 38 rural post-primary schools have fewer than the minimum 500 pupils recommended by the Department of Education.
- 36 out of 155 post-primaries in urban areas also have fewer than 500 pupils.
- The average spend per pupil in primary schools with fewer than 60 pupils is £5,805, but £3,533 in primaries with between 105 and 210 children and £3,104 in primaries with more than 500 children
- The average cost of educating a pupil in a post-primary school with fewer than 250 pupils is £6,233, but £4,793 in schools with more than 700 pupils.
Former education minister Peter Weir said as long ago as 2016 that there were too many small schools in Northern Ireland.
However, small schools often have strong support in their communities and some argue that a bigger problem is the number of schools in Northern Ireland’s various sectors: controlled, Catholic-maintained, integrated and others.
Consultation responses to the draft plan must be received by the Education Authority no later than 5pm on Tuesday 12 April.
Planning for Sustainable Provision: Draft Strategic Area Plan 2022-27 - Primary and Post-Primary Schools can be read here.
