Schools' body denies 'chaos' claim
THE grammar schools preparing to set new entry tests to replace the 11-plus have assured parents they know what they are doing and predictions of educational chaos will prove "wide of the mark".
The Association for Quality Education (AQE), which is working with 32 top Ulster schools to create a common entrance assessment exam which will assess a pupil's "grasp of the fundamentals of numeracy and literacy", has urged people not to be panicked.
A fortnight ago Education Minister Caitriona Ruane issued guidelines for schools on how they should proceed with transfer without academic selection.
This included as a first criterion: applicants entitled to free school meals would gain admission at the same rate as all other applicants; proximity to a school; a sibling, eldest child, attending a feeder primary school or the nearest suitable school; a tie-breaker of random selection.
Schools will be obliged by law to "have regard" for the guidance, which recommends that they do not use academic admissions criteria.
But they will also be able to set entrance tests, as protected by the 2007 Education Order.
AQE chairman Sir Ken Bloomfield said: "There must be parents of many children coming to the end of their time at primary school (who are] alarmed by the reports of confusion about the arrangements for transfer to a post-primary school.
"But it is not the case that no advice and guidance is available."
The schools listed below have voluntarily come together to ensure that a suitable test of academic ability continues to be available for consideration within their entrance criteria.
Sir Ken said: "Readers will be able to identify those schools which they would previously have looked to as well-suited for their child's continuing education.
"Information is available on our website (www.aqe.org.uk) and schools in membership will be glad to give advice and supply a parent with the specific entrance criteria once they have been set.
"It is certainly a pity that transfer arrangements will be unregulated. But doom-laden predictions of chaos are wide of the mark. Our member schools know what they are doing."
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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