To ask the Minister of Education to detail how he is ensuring his Department is providing sufficient places in integrated schools to meet demand, such as in the North Down and Ards area, as required by legislation.

Section 1(1) of the Integrated Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 defines what integrated education means. It provides,

“Integrated education” means the education together, in an integrated school, of—

(a) those of different cultures and religious beliefs and of none, including reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Roman Catholic children or young persons;

(b) those who are experiencing socio-economic deprivation and those who are not; and

(c) those of different abilities.”

My Department will aim to meet demand, as required by legislation, as set out in the Section 10 report published in April 2024. In this report six locations, including North Down and Ards (Strangford Integrated College), were identified as having oversubscribed schools.

On conclusion of work to update guidance for schools considering transformation to Integrated status, my Department will commission the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) to engage with these oversubscribed integrated schools and the Education Authority (EA) in the six localities identified. The affected schools will be encouraged to review their enrolment numbers and school capacity and prepare and bring forward DPs to increase their enrolment numbers (if such changes are significant in nature).

DE acknowledges that while this approach may partially address oversubscription issues, it is unlikely to resolve them in full. DE will therefore commission NICIE, working in partnership with EA and CSSC to issue a ‘Call for Transformation’ suggesting schools in the identified localities consider Transformation to integrated status to meet demand.

To further monitor demand across Northern Ireland, Departmental officials have included societal level questions on demand and the factors parents consider when makings school admission decisions in the annual Northern Ireland Life and Times survey. Results will be available in late Spring with a report in the Summer.

Officials are also working closely with colleagues in the Education Authority to develop and conduct a survey of parents who have recently made school preference decisions through the admissions portal. This survey will be carried out in April 2025 and will ask parents and guardians, in line with the Integrated Education Act, whether they have a preference for Integrated Education and how various factors have influenced their school preferences.

Both surveys will allow my Department to consider existing and future demand and provide data on which existing Area Planning structures can take action to aim to meet that demand in the context the overall sustainability of the school estate.