To ask the Minister of Education to outline for how many years is a school classified as a new school.

My Department does not have a classification for “new schools”.

When a school is newly established it is done so through the approval of a Development Proposal to establish a grant-aided school of a specific management type and size in an identified location.

For a school to be newly established it must meet certain requirements to become a grant-aided school and initially be eligible for recurrent funding and in time to be eligible for capital funding. I refer the Member to my answer to her earlier question (AQW5356/16-21 refers) published on 28 October 2016 which set out the requirements under the Sustainable Schools Policy (SSP) for minimum Year 8 intakes for newly established post – primary schools.

For a newly established primary school to be eligible for recurrent funding it must have 15 Year 1 pupils in the first year and 20 pupils Year 1 pupils in all subsequent years to reach a total of 140 for urban areas and for rural areas a school must have 12 Year 1 pupils in the first year and 15 Year 1 pupils in subsequent years to reach a total of 105. To become eligible for capital funding a school must demonstrate stable enrolment trends at or above the SSP minimum over a period of 3 consecutive years following its establishment.

During the development phase a recently established school is expected to grow in line with the minimum requirement set out in the SSP from Year 1 for Primary schools or Year 8 for Post-primary schools. This phased growth will be considered during the Area Planning process against the SSP criteria.

However, should a recently established school be unable to demonstrate sustained pupil growth I expect the relevant school planning authorities to review the situation and take appropriate action to address sustainability. The overriding consideration must always be the pupils involved.