Irish language: Plan for two more Irish language post-primaries

This would mean an increase from two to four Irish-medium post-primaries, with a new school in Belfast and in the west of the region.

Two new special schools and a number of new integrated schools are also planned in the next few years.

But some other schools could eventually close or merge.

This is due to a longer-term decline in pupil numbers.

The proposals are contained in the EA’s just-published operational plan for 2022-2024.

It sets out where there needs to be more or fewer schools in Northern Ireland in future, based on an analysis of schools and pupils in the 11 council areas.

The EA’s plans were drawn up with input from other bodies like the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS), Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (CnaG) and the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE).

A number of other education bodies, including the one which represents the three main Protestant churches in education - the Transferor Representatives’ Council - were also involved.

The EA document said that the number of school-age children in Northern Ireland overall was expected to fall over the next decade.

However, the demand for special-school places has risen substantially in recent years and is expected to keep growing.

Rising numbers

According to separate figures from the EA, there are about 7,150 pupils in special schools in September 2022, a rise of 500 in just a year.

Over the past decade, many special schools have seen “substantial increases” in pupil numbers, according to the EA, and some have almost doubled the number of children they teach.

The EA plan said there needed to be more places in special schools and also in mainstream schools for pupils with special educational needs in every council area in Northern Ireland.

Two new special schools are planned.

Consultation is due to begin in autumn 2022 on a proposal for a new special school in Belfast and the EA is also proposing a new special school in the Mid Ulster council area.

BBC News NI understands that Cookstown is the most likely site for a new school in Mid Ulster, though that is not yet confirmed.

Principal of Arvalee School and Resource Centre in Omagh, County Tyrone, Jonathan Gray, welcomed the announcement but said costings still had to be worked out.

He told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme of pressures on the sector that, at the beginning of term, some parents still did not know what was happening with special school places.

“We have done our best to accept any children that have been referred to us, as we have a belief that the children need us, but it is difficult,” he said.

He said time would tell if the proposals were sufficient.

The EA also said it plans to expand the Harberton North campus in Belfast to provide more special school places in the city.

There is also expected to be an increased demand for Irish-medium schools in the coming years.

There were more than 7,000 pupils in Irish-medium education in the 2021-22 school year, a rise of about 1,300 pupils in five years.

There are currently two Irish-language post-primaries in Northern Ireland - Gaelcholáiste Dhoire in Dungiven and Coláiste Feirste in west Belfast.

However, the principal of Coláiste Feirste recently warned that the school was facing an accommodation “crisis” as its enrolment has risen substantially in recent years.

The EA document includes plans for two new Irish medium post-primary schools in north Belfast and in the west of Northern Ireland - to meet the demand in the Fermanagh and Omagh, Mid Ulster, Derry City and Strabane council areas.

Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta is proposing to establish the schools “to meet the needs of pupils”.

But as both schools are described as “medium-term” projects, there are no details about the exact potential location of either yet.

The EA document also details plans for some new Irish-medium primary and nursery schools.

That includes the first Irish language pre-school in east Belfast, Naíscoil na Seolta, developing to become a primary.

Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, executive director of Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, an Irish-language cultural centre in the west of the city, said resources and a strategy were needed to bring the plan forward.

Mr Mac Giolla Bhéin said he had seen an “unbelievable growth” in the Irish-medium sector over the past decade.

“This is in the context when overall enrolment in schools generally has gone down,” he said.

The number of integrated school places is also set to rise in some areas.

A new law requiring the Department of Education (DE) to give more “support” to integrated education was passed by MLAs in April and is due to come into effect in October.

It means that the department has to increase the number of integrated school places and set targets for the number of children being educated in them.

The EA document includes plans for a new integrated primary school in Londonderry and another in Belfast.

A number of existing integrated post-primaries - Ulidia College in Carrickfergus, Slemish College in Ballymena and Lagan College in south Belfast - also intend to increase pupil numbers.

Four other schools are planning to “transform” to become formally integrated schools.

The EA has previously said that Northern Ireland has too many small and “unsustainable” rural schools.

As pupil numbers are expected to fall, some schools may close or merge in future.

The EA document names seven specific schools “experiencing low pupil numbers” but stops short of saying that they are set to close.

However, there are also a number of other areas where the EA said that school “sustainability” is an issue.

That includes areas like Ballynahinch, Crossgar and Saintfield in County Down where EA and CCMS are “proposing to review non-selective post primary school provision”.

But the document does not give more details about what that review may mean for the future of schools there.

The full operational plan was published on the EA website on Thursday morning.