Four rural primary schools have closure plans postponed

Four small rural primary schools, including one with 13 pupils, will stay open for another academic year after plans to close them were postponed.

Balnamore PS in County Antrim, Lack PS in County Fermanagh, Queen Elizabeth II PS in County Tyrone and Ballougry PS in County Londonderry were set to close this summer.

They all have fewer than 105 pupils.

The Department of Education's policy on sustainability states this is the minimum for a rural primary school.

An Education Authority (EA) spokesperson said it was still awaiting a ministerial decision on the future of the schools.

They said the EA would not be in a position to take forward a closure in this academic year, should it now receive a decision to close before 30 June 2024.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said minister Paul Givan would make decisions when he had been "fully informed of all the facts".

Balnamore Primary School near Ballymoney has 13 pupils, with three teaching staff and three support staff.

It has recently opened a sensory room and Gemma Moore, a parent and governor, said they now have more time to secure the school's long-term future.

She described the school as "the life and soul of our community".

"We're absolutely delighted for the children especially that the school is getting this reprieve," she told BBC News NI.

"It's great for the children to have the opportunity to get this extra year. My son is in P6 so this means that he'll get to finish in the school that he started, so it's brilliant.

"We hope that we'll get many years more out of it but we know this isn't the end of the journey.

"We've been active and have lots of plans of things that we can do to turn things around.

"We have plans for a pre-school in September, we're hoping to build the school back from the ground up again."

Emma McSparran, a special educational needs classroom assistant, said the children were "delighted".

"They love their school, they love their teachers, they love the community here and its just something very exciting for them to be able to come back in September," she said.

Lack Primary School has 23 pupils but its principal Sandra Johnston argues it is "of vital importance to the village as a whole".

It provides an after-schools club and has close links with the local church and community group.

Mrs Johnston said she "couldn't believe it" when she heard the news that the school would not be closing this summer.

"To think of this not being part of the community was devastating," she said.

"We have a small number of pupils, we've 23, we know that's a small number, but some parents have been scared off with this proposal."

The principal of the primary school in Kilskeery, Queen Elizabeth II Primary School, said everyone was "obviously delighted" that the closure had been delayed.

It is one of only two schools in Northern Ireland named after Queen Elizabeth II and currently has 40 children enrolled.

Joyce Clingan said the school was "an integral part of the community and we look forward to welcoming current pupils back in September along with our new P1s".

"We want to thank all our parents and members of the community for their support and hope our school will continue for many years to come," she said.

Ballougry Primary School had been due to close last year, but that decision was also postponed.

It is situated about a mile from the border with the Republic of Ireland.

The proposal has faced opposition, including from Silent Witness actress Amanda Burton who attended the school as a child.

The EA has previously said that there were too many small and unsustainable rural schools in Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said all the proposals for closure had gone through a public consultation process including a statutory two-month objection period.

"The minister is aware of the importance of providing clarity to the respective school communities and will make decisions when he has been fully informed of all the facts and circumstances pertaining to each of these proposals by officials," they added.

An Independent Review of Education last year addressed the issue of "unviable" small schools with insufficient pupil numbers.

It recommended that a special commission should be set up to look at education, area-by-area, with a view to closing all unviable schools.

It said the proposals should come two years after the commission was established, followed by a 10-year implementation period.