This article covers the organisation of full-time compulsory secondary education for students aged 11 to 16. It includes:

• Key Stage 3, 11-14 years, ISCED 2
• Key Stage 4, 14-16 years, categorised as ISCED 3.

The main focus is on general (academic) education. There is no separate vocational track, although students may take vocational (applied or technical) courses in Key Stage 4.

Types of institutions 

Secondary schools in Northern Ireland are known as post-primary schools. They may be mixed- or single-sex.

Post-primary schools include both grammar schools, which can select their pupils on the basis of academic ability, and secondary schools which do not.

They have a high degree of autonomy, but all grant-aided (publicly funded) post-primary schools must provide:

• the statutory Northern Ireland Curriculum within the wider curriculum provided for pupils
• religious education and a daily act of collective worship
• a programme leading to national qualifications, predominantly the single subject General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications taken at around age 16.

As well as these common features, there are differences between schools in terms of their legal framework and religious character in particular. These differences are set out in the sections below.

Legal categories of school 

Schooling is organised along denominational lines, with most Roman Catholic children enrolled in Catholic maintained schools and most Protestant pupils enrolled in controlled schools. There are also officially recognised integrated schools (controlled integrated schools, and grant-maintained integrated schools), which bring together pupils and staff from Catholic and Protestant traditions, as well as those of other faiths and none, and voluntary grammar schools. (Some grammar schools are controlled schools.)

The differences between schools lie in their different legal frameworks and governance arrangements rather than in the programmes they offer.

Grammar schools 

The majority of grammar schools in Northern Ireland select their pupils using academic criteria. The right of individual post-primary schools to use academic selection as the basis for admission for some or all pupils is supported by the Department of Education (DE), and was clarified in statutory guidance published in 2016.

The Post-primary Transfer Guidance from September 2016 reflected a change in policy since the 2008/09 school year. At that time, the ‘transfer tests’ for entry to grammar school education were abolished and the DE recommended that post-primary schools should not select their pupils using academic criteria, although it did not prohibit them from doing so. (See the ‘Note on transfer tests’ below.) The 2016 policy change reflected public support for academic selection to grammar schools and the DE’s belief that academic selection has the potential to enable social mobility – a key policy priority.

In the 2018/19 school year, 66 of Northern Ireland's 196 post-primary schools were grammar schools. Source: Annual Enrolments at Schools and in Pre-school Education in Northern Ireland 2018/19 (page 8)

Although pupils usually transfer from primary education to a secondary or grammar school at the age of 11, in one area of Northern Ireland (Craigavon), they transfer automatically from primary school to what is known as ‘junior high school’ at this age. Academic selection for either grammar school or senior high school then takes place at age 14. This system is known as the ‘Dickson Plan’.

Note on transfer tests: Until the 2008/9 school year, when legislation abolished them, specially designed, regulated ‘transfer tests’ in English (Irish in Irish-medium schools), mathematics, and science and technology were used to assess academic performance for entry to grammar schools. The tests were also known as ‘eleven plus’ (‘11+’) tests. Only pupils wishing to be considered for a place at a grammar school took the tests. Grammar schools were required to admit pupils who obtained higher grades in the transfer tests before those with lower grades, although no grade guaranteed admission to a grammar school. Transfer tests were centrally administered and marked by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA).

There are now two main commercial tests which grammar schools use for selecting pupils. These are the AQE’s Common Entrance Assessment (CEA), and the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium’s GL assessment, commonly know as the ‘AQE’ and the ‘GL’ respectively. These tests are unregulated assessments, organised independently by schools and marked by the test provider. Most schools only accept the AQE or GL, although some schools accept both. However, as noted in this 2017 discussion paper, the DE is considering the possibility of re-establishing a single system for academic selection to selective grammar schools.

A September 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service briefing note provides an overview of academic selection.

Irish-medium schools 

The Department of Education (DE) has a duty to encourage and facilitate the development of Irish-medium education. This is set out in the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998. In 2000, it established Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (CnAG, the Council for Irish-medium Education) to promote, facilitate and encourage Irish-medium education and Irish-medium schools, and to do this in a planned, educationally efficient and cost-effective way.

While Irish-medium education at pre-school and primary level has been expanding, only two of the 30 grant-aided Irish-medium schools in Northern Ireland in 2018/19 were post-primary schools. There were also three Irish-medium units attached to English-medium post-primary schools (of 10 in total). Source of statistics: Annual Enrolments at Schools and in Pre-school Education in Northern Ireland 2018/19.

Geographical accessibility 

Providing school places 

There is an oversupply of schools and school places in Northern Ireland. This is the result of a school system which includes denominational schools, single-sex schools and selective secondary schools, and of the rural nature of much of the country. The Northern Ireland Assembly’s Research and Information Service estimated in its (2013) rural schools research paper that a fifth of post-primary schools in Northern Ireland are in rural areas.

The Department of Education is addressing this oversupply through its ‘Sustainable Schools Policy’ and 'area planning' process. The purpose of the policy is to ensure that children and young people have access to high quality education that is delivered in schools that are also educationally and financially sustainable. Accessibility is one of the sustainability criteria used – ‘Is the distance to school and the travel time for pupils reasonable?’.

The Education Authority (EA), as statutory planning authority, is leading the implementation of the Sustainable Schools Policy through Providing Pathways, the strategic area plan originally intended for 2017-20. An Annual Action Plan sets out the key issues to be addressed in each local government district area. The latest plan covers the two-year period from April 2019 to March 2021. This is in line with the extension of the strategic plan for one year to ensure delivery of all work streams and to allow for robust evaluation in preparation for the next strategic plan. 

The EA is also responsible for education for pupils who have been excluded, are ill, or, for any other reason, are not able to attend mainstream education. Further information is provided in the article on ‘Support Measures for Learners in Early Childhood and School Education’.

Home-school travel

Transport is regarded as an important factor in achieving equality of opportunity and access. The Education Authority (EA) is required to make arrangements to facilitate the attendance of pupils at grant-aided schools, and must provide assistance with school transport where a child meets the eligibility criteria.  This is set out under Section 52 of The Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, as substituted by Section 23 of The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

A child is entitled to assistance if there is no suitable school within statutory qualifying distance of his / her home, or if he / she has been refused a place in all suitable schools within statutory qualifying distance. This is 3 miles (4.8 kilometres) for post-primary students. Further information is provided on the Department of Education (DE) home-to-school transport page and in Circular 1996/41.

A review of home-to-school transport policy took place between December 2018 and June 2019, with the aim of ensuring that future policy is fit for purpose and sustainable in the long term. The review team is creating a shortlist of potential options to be analysed in greater detail, prior to any future full public consultation on any proposed changes. The earliest any revised policy would come into effect would be September 2022-23.

Admission requirements and choice of school 

Most post-primary schools cater for students from the age of 11.

Applying for a place 

Parents have a statutory right to express a preference for the school they wish their child to attend. Schools must comply with this preference up to their approved admissions number (i.e. they must fill all available places).

In applying for places at a post-primary school, parents complete a ‘transfer form’ on which they are asked to list, in order of preference, at least four post-primary schools they would like their child to attend. Parents submit their completed transfer form to the principal of their child’s primary school, who then passes it on to the Education Authority (EA) by a specified date in February of the year the pupil will move on to post-primary school. They are informed of the result via a ‘placement letter’, usually received towards the end of the month of May of a child’s final term in primary school.

The EA provides a post-primary schools admissions guide on its website. In addition, revised statutory guidance (2016) on transfer to post-primary education, along with DE Circular 2016/15 provide details of admissions procedures for entry to post-primary schools in Northern Ireland (for principals and school boards of governors).

Parents have a legal right of appeal (to the board of governors) if a place is not offered at the school of their choice.

In addition, the EA is required to make arrangements to facilitate the establishment and operation of Independent Admissions Appeals Tribunals. These tribunals hear, consider and take decisions on parental appeals against the decision of a school not to admit their child. An appeal can be made only on the basis that the school’s admissions criteria were not applied or were not correctly applied and that, under the correct application of the criteria, the child would have been admitted. More detailed information on admissions appeals is available on the EA website.

If there are more applicants than places

Schools must set criteria to decide which children get a place if the school is oversubscribed. This is required under the Secondary Schools (Admissions Criteria) Regulations Northern Ireland 1997. These admissions criteria are drawn up by the board of governors of the school, and most grammar schools (see below) use an entrance examination as part of their admissions criteria. Other recommended criteria to which schools must have regard when drawing up their admissions criteria include:

• applicants in receipt of free school meals (any school including this, must list it as the first criterion)
• applicants with a sibling at the school or applicants who are the eldest child
• applicants from a ‘feeder’ / named primary school or residing in a named parish
• applicants for whom the school is the nearest suitable school, or applicants residing in a geographically defined catchment area.

In drawing up a school’s admissions criteria, the board of governors should also take into account any representations made by the Education Authority (EA) or, if it is a Catholic maintained school, representations made by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS).

Selection by ability 

Where grammar schools use academic selection for entry, this is usually by an entrance test, set by the individual school. Most schools use one of two commercial tests, although some schools give the choice of both. In this case, children may sit either test or both. The tests normally take place in November / December in the year before a child will begin post-primary school, with results on a set day towards the end of the following January. The tests are marked by the test provider.

Statutory guidance (2016) on post-primary admissions supports the right of grammar schools to use academic selection as the basis for admission of some or all of their pupils (pages 4-5). It also allows primary schools to facilitate post-primary entrance test arrangements by supplying support materials; carrying out preparation for tests during core teaching hours; providing familiarisation with the testing environment; and offering a location for testing (pages 6-7).

Age levels and grouping of pupils/students 

Classes are normally organised so that pupils in the same year group are taught together. A year group consists of all students whose birthdays fall within the same academic year, that is, between 2^nd July and 1^st July in the following year.

Post-primary schools cater for year groups and key stages as follows:

Note: Many post-primary schools also have sixth forms which cater for 16- to 18/19-year-olds (in Years 13 and 14). 

Classes are normally taught by a specialist teacher for each subject.

The organisation of teaching groups in post-primary schools is determined by the school. It is commonly organised on a mixed-ability basis for some subjects and sometimes for all subjects. Grouping pupils according to ability/attainment is also common practice. The most common models are:

• setting – grouping together pupils with similar levels of current attainment for specific lessons, particularly for mathematics and languages
• flexible within-class grouping.

Classes in post-primary schools may have a maximum of 35 pupils. However, in practical subjects, the number of pupils under instruction by one teacher should not normally exceed 20. ‘Practical subjects’ include science, technology and design, home economics, art and design, physical education, and music. These requirements are set out in The Secondary School (Grant Conditions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1973. Guidance is provided. 

Organisation of the school year 

The school year begins in early September and is divided into three terms: autumn, spring and summer. There is usually a long summer break of around nine weeks, with shorter breaks of around two weeks at Christmas and at Easter and two-day breaks in October and February.

The actual dates of terms and holidays are agreed each year by a group representing all school sectors (Catholic maintained schools, controlled schools and integrated schools), and take account of the availability of school transport and school meals services. That said, individual school principals and boards of governors have flexibility to vary their operational dates to meet their own circumstances.

Schools are required to be in operation for 200 days a year, and teachers are required to be available for work on 195 days, of which no more than 190 days should involve teaching children in the classroom. The five non-contact days are used for training purposes.

Schools are able to close for up to five school development days. These were first granted in the 2011/12 school year under the 'Every School a Good School’ policy for school improvement. These days must be devoted to school improvement and staff development matters and, where schools decide not to use all or some of the available five days, they must be open as normal to pupils. The Department of Education website provides detailed guidance.

In addition, five optional closing days may be taken as an extension to the Easter, Christmas or summer holidays, or to cover closure in exceptional circumstances, for example, the death of someone connected with the school, or a planned event such as a move to new premises, building work or a religious holiday. For further information see DE Circular 2013/09 and Circular 2017/14.

The number of days that pupils are taught in the classroom may vary from 185 to 190 days when teacher training, school development days and optional closing days are taken into account.

Organisation of the school day and week 

The Department of Education (DE) does not provide guidance on recommended minimum weekly lesson times, but schools are required to allow sufficient time to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum that meets all legal requirements. They may provide a longer school day than the official minimum of four and a half hours each day, separated by a period of not less than half an hour. DE Circular 2013/09 provides further information.

In addition, post-primary schools must provide at least three periods of religious education (RE) each week at Key Stage 3 (pupils aged 11 to 14 years), and at least two periods of RE per week at Key Stage 4 (pupils aged 14 to 16 years). This is set out under The Secondary Schools (Grant Conditions) Regulations 1973. The length of periods will vary across schools but, as a guide, a period is estimated as lasting 35 minutes.

Classes take place on five days, Monday to Friday, and schools are generally open between 9.00 am and 3.30/4.00 pm, with approximately one hour for lunch. A break of around 15 minutes may punctuate the morning and / or afternoon session. The board of governors of a school determines the times at which a school opens and closes each day (usually on the advice of the principal (headteacher).

Article last reviewed April 2021.