Primary School Principals voice opposition to academic selection

The Primary School Principals of Newry and Mourne have sent out a unified message in opposition to academic selection, following a meeting with Minister for Education, Caitríona Ruane, on Friday.

Forty-six principals from schools in the local area attended the event in the Canal Court Hotel, Newry.

 Following the meeting, the Principals issued the following statement to local media:

“We, the Primary School Principals of the Newry and Mourne area are opposed to Academic Selection at age 11.  In our professional opinion Academic Selection at 11 does a disservice to our children, is divisive, and distorts the primary curriculum.  We have a statutory duty to teach the Revised Curriculum, as is clearly stated in Article 4.8 of the Education Order 2006.

“Our aims are to deliver the highest possible educational experience for our children and to enable all children to realise their full potential, with an emphasis on raising literacy and numeracy standards in our schools.

 “In our area we feel that we have an ideal opportunity now to contribute to the development of a first-class post-primary education system which will serve and will deliver the Entitlement Framework for all the children of Newry and Mourne.”

“As our statutory legal duty is to deliver the Revised Curriculum, this prevents us from using teaching time or school resources to prepare for, or facilitate, any transfer tests.  Deployment of staff and school resources will be for the Revised Curriculum only.  If schools were to set aside the Revised Curriculum in order to prepare for tests, we would be failing in our statutory duty towards our children, not withstanding the possible legal consequences.”