AQE to proceed with one transfer test next month while Post Primary Transfer Consortium cancels

Yesterday the board said it had decided not to proceed with transfer tests this weekend or in the month of January at all.

However, after meeting with schools that use it to administer the Common Entrance Assessment (CEA) for transfer of pupils from primary to a number of post primary schools it said a single transfer test would take place next month.

"Following a meeting with the schools which use the CEA, produced by AQE Limited, it has been agreed that to enable the assessment to take place in the current circumstances, the assessment will be reduced to a single paper to be held on Saturday, February 27, provided it can take place in public health circumstances then prevailing," it stated.

The AQE said the tests had been rescheduled rather than scrapped for a number of reasons.

These include that in the absence of academic criteria it was considered many schools would be likely to be even more oversubscribed than in a normal year.

The AQE said schools wanted to avoid 'random criteria' such as family ties, geographical proximity to a school or 'some form of lottery for places' being used to select pupils.

"It is the view of the member schools that academic selection represents the fairest way of allocating grammar school places," the board said.

The Post Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC), meanwhile, has decided not to proceed.

It stated: "A decision made by the N.I. Executive to close schools until the February 2021 mid-term break triggers one of the “what if” scenarios which was conveyed, in early December 2020, to parents of pupils who are registered to sit the PPTC Entrance Assessment.

"Namely: 'If no pupils are able to sit the Entrance Assessment on 30th January 2021 because of Covid restrictions, and these restrictions would not have ended before February 6, 2021 then PPTC will be unable to provide an assessment for any pupils. The responsibility falls on PPTC schools to ensure that their admissions criteria cover this contingency.'

"PPTC accept that this decision may be disappointing to many children who would have welcomed the opportunity to take the assessment. We wish all children well in their future pathways."

Foyle MLA Karen Mullan said the AQE decision to proceed with a test was wrong.

"I am calling on the Education Minister to put children first and ensure the department is not involved in facilitating this test or adapting the already-set admissions process," said the Sinn Féin education spokesperson.