To ask the Minister of Education how many (i) primary schools; and (ii) post-primary schools have closed in the last three years due to a lack of student numbers; and of those, how many were from the (a) Catholic maintained sector; and (b) controlled sector.

It is the relevant School Managing Authority in conjunction with the Board of Governors of individual schools that bring forward Development Proposals to the Department of Education for school closures.

A school’s future viability is considered on its own merits against the six criteria listed in the Sustainable Schools Policy and therefore any decision is not based solely on the enrolment number. This means that it is not possible to attribute closures purely to low enrolments. However, details have been provided below of the total number of school closures during the last three years by school type and sector.

There have been 25 school closures in the last three school years. This total is broken down as follows:

11 Controlled primary schools

8 Maintained primary schools

2 Preparatory departments

3 Controlled post-primary schools

1 Grant-maintained integrated post-primary school

Additionally, 7 schools have closed due to amalgamations in the last 3 years to form 3 new schools. This total is broken down as follows:

4 Maintained primary schools formed 2 new primary schools.

2 Maintained post-primary schools and 1 voluntary grammar formed 1 new post-primary school.