To ask the Minister of Education why preschool and primary school have 22 days to apply for a post primary place, but post-primary only have 15 days with the process opening 5 days before the AQE/GL results, giving only 10 application days for children applying for a place.

Pre-school and primary school online applications open at noon on 7 January 2021 and close at noon on 29 January 2021. Post-primary online applications open at noon on 1 March 2021 and close at 4pm on 16 March 2021.

Applications are not considered on a ‘first come first served’ basis and provided applications are submitted by the deadline, they will be considered as punctual.

With applications for post-primary opening in March, parents will have longer to consider their preferred options; to consult the information available on the transfer procedure from schools, the Education Authority and my Department; and to discuss preferences with their children, prior to the nomination of schools. The move to online applications will provide a similar window for parents of children applying to post-primary school to consider options after the issue of entrance test results as was the case with hard-copy applications.