Covid-19: Omagh and Enniskillen schools scrap academic selection in 2022
Published
More grammar schools in Northern Ireland have announced they will scrap academic selection for 2022.
Christian Brothers Grammar in Omagh, County Tyrone, and Mount Lourdes Grammar and St Michael s College in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, are the latest to rule out transfer tests.
The three Catholic schools said it was due to the impact of the pandemic.
St Mary s Christian Brothers Grammar School in west Belfast was the first to abandon transfer tests last month.
Some grammar schools in Londonderry, Newry, Kilkeel and Belfast have also ruled out transfer tests this autumn.
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BBC News
By Robbie Meredith
Published
A west Belfast grammar school has become the first to abandon academic selection for 2022.
In a statement to BBC News NI, the governors of St Mary s Christian Brothers Grammar School said they would not take part in transfer tests this autumn.
The governors said this was due to the unprecedented mental and emotional stresses faced by Primary 6 children.
St Mary s is an all-boys grammar on Belfast s Glen Road.
It has more than 1,100 pupils and admits about 180 young people every year.
In previous years, it has used the transfer tests run by the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) to select pupils.
BBC News
By Robbie Meredith
Published
image captionA switch to verbal reasoning tests would be a radical change but could work
Schools who use transfer tests run by the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) are to consider radical change to the tests in the autumn.
A discussion paper from PPTC has asked schools to consider whether to use verbal reasoning tests to decide which pupils to admit in 2022.
Due to the pandemic disruption, they are being suggested as an option instead of tests in English and Maths.
But it will be up to individual schools and the PPTC steering group to decide.
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