Over three quarters of County Derry primary schools under subscribed

More than three quarters of all primary schools in County Derry are currently operating within their capacity, the County Derry Post can reveal.

Data provided by the Department of Education (DoE) has shown that 90 of the county's 117 primary schools are under subscribed, with the remainder operating at or above their capacity.

The data compared the schools' potential enrolment as approved by the Department with the actual enrolment recorded in the 2021-22 academic year.

Just under a quarter (23.1%) of primary schools in County Derry had a higher or equal actual enrolment to their approved enrolment figure.

Culcrow Primary School in Aghadowey was the most over-subscribed school in the county according to the data, with an actual enrolment of 111, 34 in excess of their approved enrolment of 77.

76.9% of the county's primary schools, however, are operating below capacity, with some larger schools having an actual enrolment of up to 341 below their approved numbers.

Of the schools operating at or above capacity, 48% are Catholic Maintained, 41% are Controlled, 7% are Integrated and 4% are in the Irish Medium sector.

20 schools (74%) of those schools operating at or above their approved numbers were under the 'rural' classification, with the remaining 7 (26%) classed as 'urban'.

59% of schools that were under subscribed were in the Catholic Maintained sector, with 34% Controlled, 2% Integrated and 5% Irish Medium.

46 (51%) of the 90 schools under capacity were classed as rural by the Department, with the remaining 44 (49%) deemed urban.

Under its guidance for Area Planning – the process by which it is trying to streamline the education system in NI – the Department sets a threshold for assessing schools as 'sustainable'.

On last year's enrolment, 22 of the schools classed as 'rural' are below their sustainable threshold of 105, with only two of those schools currently at or above their approved enrolment.

There are currently 10 'urban' schools under their sustainable threshold of 140, with just one operating above their current capacity.

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen.

Overall, the data revealed that 77% of Northern Ireland's schools had a lower actual enrolment than their approved enrolment.

Dungannon Primary School, County Tyrone was the most over-subscribed school in the North, with an actual enrolment of 304, 81 in excess of its approved enrolment of 223.

The Department of Education said that although enrolment was only one consideration in its Area Planning roll-out, it plays a role in establishing a school's 'longer-term viability'.

“Area Planning seeks to establish a network of educationally and financially viable schools. Matters relating to individual schools are for that school’s managing authority.

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At one point the EA stopped putting the route out to tender.

“Enrolment at rural and urban schools is only one aspect of sustainability considerations and proposals for changes to schools which fall under the recommended minimum enrolment will be subject to review against all six Sustainable Schools Policy (SSP) criteria and the 34 indicators that underpin them.

“Sustainability is wider than issues of enrolments and budgets, since a school’s longer-term viability may also be significantly affected by other factors such as quality of educational experience, school leadership and management, strengths of links to the community and accessibility.

“All schools with enrolments below the SSP minimum thresholds have a critical role to play in the Area Planning process and should engage with their managing authorities to discuss sustainability pressures.”