A group of campaigners who want a more flexible approach towards the school starting age in Northern Ireland have welcomed an undertaking by their local Education Minister to consider their case.

The delegation, which included parents, the ATL teaching union, the Early Years charity, and a primary school vice principal, met the Minister, John O’Dowd, earlier this week [Monday, 29th April] at Parliament Buildings.
They’re calling on the Minister to permit deferred school entry for the youngest for year children where the parents feel this would be in the child’s best interests. They’d also like special consideration for other children with developmental issues.
Northern Ireland has the lowest statutory school starting age in Europe; children are required to start school as young as four years and two months, depending on their birth date. The campaign group highlighted to the Minister the more flexible systems used in both the Republic of Ireland and in Scotland.

After the meeting, the Minister publicly stated that he would examine ways in which a degree of flexibility might be introduced.

He stated that he was particularly interested in the Scottish system where the youngest for year children can have their school entry deferred and remain in a pre-school setting for an additional year, where their parents feel this is in the child’s best interests.

Speaking after the meeting, one of the parents, Dr Liz Fawcett, said:
“The current inflexible system in Northern Ireland means that, every year, some children are starting school at an inappropriately early age which may well handicap them throughout their school career.”

“We are delighted that the Minister listened very sympathetically and told us he recognized that we are highlighting an issue which needs to be addressed.”

“He has promised to consider our case with care and we hope that he will be able to act to tackle this problem.”

One of those at the meeting was Siobhan McQuaid who is Deputy Principal of Holy Family Primary School in north Belfast. She said she has considerable experience of the issue:

“Every year, we have a couple of young for year children in P1 who really would have benefited from another year in a pre-school setting, better suited to their needs.”

“They really struggle and, although we try to ensure they don’t feel like failures, it’s impossible for their self-confidence to remain unaffected.”

“I’m so glad that the Minister recognizes that this is a problem which needs to be dealt with.”

Another parent at the meeting was Roisin Gilheany from Omagh. She deferred school entry for her son, Leon (6), but says it wasn’t easy.

“Most parents who try to get their child’s school enrolment deferred simply meet a road block – they’re told they can’t possibly do it.”

“The only official way is to home school your child for a year – and then you may well be told your child has to go into P2 rather than P1 which isn’t satisfactory”.

“All we want is a little bit of flexibility to ensure that every child has the best possible start – we’re so pleased that the Minister understood where we are coming from.”

Photo caption: Omagh mother Roisin Gilheany and her son, Leon McClean (6) at Parliament Buildings in Belfast following campaigners’ positive meeting with NI Education Minister John O’Dowd on the case for flexibility in the school starting age. Roisin managed to defer her son’s school entry, but most parents who want to do so in Northern Ireland are told they can’t.

Schools across the country are likely to be affected by the rolling programme of walkouts, which will begin in summer term
Schools face a summer and autumn of discontent with teachers’ leaders unveiling plans for the most sustained period of strike action in more than 20 years.
The country’s two biggest teachers’ unions – the National Union of Teachers and National Association Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers announced a rolling programme of industrial action region by region which will cover schools throughout England and Wales by the end of the autumn term.
In addition, there will be a one-day national stoppage before Christmas potentially leading to hundreds of schools facing two days of closure – with the prospect of strikes
continuing into 2014 if the dispute is not settled.
The first strike will take place on June 27 in schools in the north-west of the country. The rest will follow in the autumn term.
The decision provoked fury from one of the country’s leading parents’ organisations. Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Outloud, said – whilst she sympathised with their concerns – they should “put up, shut up and get on with it”.
The dispute is over pay, pensions and increases to their workload which they say have been brought about by the Government’s public spending squeeze.
In particular, they are incensed by plans put forward by Education Secretary Michael Gove to dismantle the current national pay structure – by scrapping annual increments for teachers allowing them to rise up the pay scales. Instead, Mr Gove believes headteachers should be given the discretion as to whether to award them or not.
Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said: “The Secretary of State will say this is about paying good teachers more but if there is no more money in the system then it is not possible to say how paying good teachers more will work unless some teachers are paid significantly less.”
The Unions have written to Mr Gove demanding urgent talks to try and avert the strike threat. Specifically, they want him to suspend the changes to teachers’ pay, initiate discussions to be chaired by him to look into their workload and publish details of an independent assessment of their pension scheme – to determine whether rises in contributions and cuts in payments are necessary.
The unions have been engaged in a work-to-rule – which includes banning exam invigilation and covering for absent colleagues – for more than a year now but say Mr Gove has made no attempt to discuss their concerns with them.
“We’re here because of the failure of the NUT and the NASUWT to enter into any discussions with the NUT and NASUWT about or trade dispute,” said Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT.
She said the squeeze on teachers had led to “plummeting teacher morale, a drop in the number of graduates wanting to enter the profession and over half of teachers seriously considering leaving the profession and the impact that will have on children and young people”.
Ms Blower added: “If there is no resolution, then having embarked on this programme and having given the Secretary of State every opportunity to negotiate, then we will have to consider what we can do further in order to ensure he does hear the message from our members that their patience is exhausted.”
However, Mrs Morrissey warned there would be no sympathy from parents struggling to cope with the economic squeeze for strike action, adding: “No parent would ever condone strike action, They should be professionals like the police and doctors.”
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “We are very disappointed that the NUT and NASUWT have decided to take strike action which less than a quarter of teachers actually voted for.” In an NUT ballot, 82.5 per cent voted in favour of strike action in a 27 per cent turn out.
The DfE spokesman continued: “Industrial action will disrupt pupils’ education, hugely inconvenience parents and damage the profession’s reputation in the eyes of the public at a time when our reforms are driving up standards across the country.
“We think giving schools the freedom to reward good performance is much fairer than current arrangements which see the vast majority of teachers automatically getting a pay rise each year. We have met frequently with the NUT and NASUWT to discuss their concerns and will continue to do so,”
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said “ATL absolutely shares their concerns about teacher morale and the break-up of the national pay scales and the Government’s attack on pensions. However, there is no evidence that our members are willing to engage in industrial action.”
The last time teachers took strike action was with all public service unions over the threat to their pensions in November 2011. The last time they mounted sustained industrial action in schools was in the mid to late 1980’s over pay.

When parents were asked to give their reasons for choosing Sunninghill many spoke of our focus on the individual as well as the wide variety of opportunities available – not just in our clubs but within the curriculum itself. Just a few of these activities have been chosen – by the children themselves – as the subjects for our new advertising campaign.

Parents often refer to the family atmosphere at Sunninghill. At Sunninghill children of all ages get to know each other through shared “enrichment” activities and clubs, as well as during lunchtimes, House competitions and other special events in the school calendar.

Our wide variety of activities – during break times, Friday enrichment and in after school clubs – is designed to develop and nurture many of the skills pupils will need in later life. These skills will not only help them with focus, concentration, perseverance and self confidence in other areas of the curriculum – they are also designed to discover talents and to spark interests that will lead to many years of pleasure and personal fulfilment.

We want prospective parents to see our impressive academic record, but we also want to show them how Sunninghill will nurture each individual child and, like every parent, we see the future happiness of our pupils as the measure of our success.

The campaign was created by designer and photographer Richard Budd. www.richardbudd.co.uk

Sunninghill School Dorchester Dorset www.sunninghillprep.co.uk