PUTTING PUPILS FIRST: SHAPING OUR FUTURE North Eastern Education and Library Board Post-Primary Area Plan CONTENTS Executive Summary Page 3 Foreword Page 4 Section 1: Introduction Page 6 Section 2: Context Page 7 Section 3: Aims, Objectives and Constraints Page 11 Section 4: Overall Area Profile Page 16 Section 5: The NEELB Central Area Page 28 Section 6 The NEELB Northern Area Page 45 Section 7 The NEELB Southern Area Page 62 Section 8 Summary of Proposals Page 79 Appendices Page 82 2 | P a g e Executive Summary In September 2011, the Education Minister, John O’Dowd MLA, commissioned the Education and Library Boards to develop strategic area plans for restructuring education provision across the province. In accordance with the Area Planning Terms of Reference issued by the Department of Education in December 2011 this area plan sets out proposals for the future shape of post-primary education provision across the North Eastern Education and Library Board area. The plan has been developed following an extensive period of consultation, collaboration and engagement with school principals, Governors, pupils and parents, a range of stakeholders including trade unions, political representatives and representatives from education sectors. The area plan has been refined to take account of the responses to the consultation. The full report on consultation is included as an Annex to this main document. Information is presented into Central, Northern and Southern clusters of Council areas. A profile of population trends which show a continuing decline in projected enrolments to 2018 with a predicted increase up to 2025 within the NEELB is explained in detail within each section of the document. Currently post-primary education is available in 49 schools. Details on enrolments, capacity and the number of unfilled places within each school are presented. The key challenges arising from the Viability Audit are common within each Council area and include the challenge of meeting the requirements of the Entitlement Framework, the declining and low enrolment in a number schools, projected budget deficits, duplication of provision in the selective sector and the provision of appropriate education pathways for young people with equitable access to high quality education for all pupils. Having considered all the relevant information and the outcomes from consultation, proposals are listed for each area and summarised in Section 8. 3 | P a g e Foreword The Education and Libraries (NI) Order 1986 (Articles 5 and 6) outlines the duty of the Education and Library Boards to secure efficient and sufficient provision of primary and secondary education within the Board area to meet the needs of all pupils. The North Eastern Education and Library Board has, since its inception in 1972, remained committed to excellence in the delivery of education so that every pupil can realise their potential and contribute to a caring, inclusive and progressive society. In striving to realise this aspiration, the Board has aimed to ensure that every pupil has: access to a broad and balanced curriculum with opportunities to realise his or her potential; an education in which the learning outcomes are appropriate to their needs; access to quality teaching delivered in a caring and supportive environment; education delivered in modern, well-resourced facilities, suitable for the delivery of education in the twenty-first century. The North Eastern Education and Library Board considers the planning for the development of such high quality educational provision within the controlled sector, and where appropriate working in conjunction with other sectors, to be an important issue. It is fully recognised that such planning and the decisions on the strategic provision of schooling in the area is a matter of the highest importance to families and future generations of pupils and young people. In response to the statement by the Education Minister on 26 September 2011 the North Eastern Education and Library Board, working with CCMS and other school sectors, commenced a process of collective, strategic planning for area provision. This area plan contains detailed data relevant to all post-primary schools in the North Eastern Education and Library Board, with the exception of Independent Schools. This verified data was collated by the North Eastern Education and Library Board as part of the Viability Audit in January 2012. However, Board officers will consider updated verified data as and when it becomes available. 4 | P a g e While recognising that the requirement to produce an overarching Area Plan for the North Eastern Education and Library Board takes full account of cross boundary flow of pupils at points where the North Eastern Education and Library Board borders with another Education and Library Board, the information contained within this area plan has been collated and presented, for convenience, into Central, Northern and Southern clusters of Council areas. It is fully acknowledged that patterns of school attendance extend across and beyond these clusters. The North Eastern Education and Library Board recognise that it is the managing authority for the controlled sector. Within the context of sound strategic planning to meet the education provision needs of its area, the Board would acknowledge the effective working partnerships between other managing authorities and sectors, which have contributed to the development of the proposals to meet the overall requirements of the Terms of Reference for Area Planning as detailed in this area plan. 5 | P a g e Section 1 Introduction In his Statement to the Assembly, on 26 September 2011, the Education Minister, John O’Dowd MLA, highlighted the need to move forward with the implementation of the Department of Education’s Sustainable Schools Policy and the process of strategic planning on an area basis.The Minister made it clear that, against the backdrop of an extremely challenging financial landscape in the coming years, progress on reshaping the structure and pattern of education provision could not be delayed. This work is at the core of the raising standards agenda which can only be delivered efficiently and effectively through a network of strong, sustainable schools that command the confidence of the communities they serve. The Minister indicated that, until such times as the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) is established, the existing statutory bodies must work together to deliver a more strategic area-based approach to planning the delivery of education. 1.1 Task The Minister commissioned the Education and Library Boards, working in close conjunction with CCMS and engaging extensively with other school sectors, to develop collective strategic plans on an area basis. The focus of the work is on developing a planned network of viable and sustainable schools capable of delivering effectively the revised curriculum and the Entitlement Framework and of providing adequate access to a range of educational provision appropriate to the needs of the pupils and young people in an area. It is therefore essential that a broad vision of the type and scale of education provision required to meet the future needs is agreed, encompassing the various models to do so. 1.2 Scope The exercise covers the provision of all grant-aided primary and post-primary schools of all management types in each of the five Education and Library Board areas. The plan will be produced in three parts; the first part covered Special Schools has already submitted to the Department of Education, the second part (this plan) will focus on post-primary provision, including the delivery of viable 6th form provision and the third part which will focus on primary provision will be submitted to the Department of Education in draft form in due course. 6 | P a g e Section 2 Context 2.1 Regional Context The Department of Education’s vision is - “To ensure that every learner fulfils his or her full potential at each stage of development.” All Departmental policies contribute to the delivery of that vision and all have, as a central tenet, the educational well- being of the pupils and young people for whom the education service is designed. It is essential that schooling reflects the needs of the pupils and addresses these needs in the most efficient and effective way possible. This can best be achieved through a network of viable and sustainable schools that are of the right type, the right size, located in the right place and have a focus on raising standards. The Minister for Education, John O’Dowd MLA, in his statement to the Assembly on 26 September 2011 outlined his plans to move forward with the implementation of the Sustainable Schools Policy and the process of collective, strategic planning of education provision for the primary and post-primary sectors. In advance of the establishment of the Education and Skills Authority (ESA), the Minister has commissioned the Education and Library Boards (the Boards), working in close conjunction with the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) and actively engaging with the other sectors to undertake the strategic planning of education provision on an area basis. The main focus of this work will be to develop a planned network of viable and sustainable schools capable of delivering high quality education to meet the needs of all the pupils and young people in the area in line with the full suite of DE Policies. The Boards and CCMS must ensure that this work takes account of the Department’s commitments in the Programme for Government and supports the implementation of, the Departmental policies and reviews, in particular (This list of policies and reviews is not exhaustive):- The Sustainable Schools policy specifies six criteria and indicators for use in assessing the viability of schools. The focus in on high quality education and maximising the benefits for pupils and young people through the efficient and 7 | P a g e effective use of available resources.