Number Of Recognised 'Specialist Schools' Increase

A further 10 facilities are to be designated as specialist subject schools from this September - although funding may not yet be available to carry the new status through.

This will bring the total number of such specialist establishments to 44 across Northern Ireland.

The Stormont Executive's Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane, (pictured) announced that, following the assessment by the independent panel, the schools were assessed as meeting in full the criteria required for specialist school designation.

Six of these had specialisms in STEM-related areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).

The Minister said: "I wish to congratulate the 10 schools on their success. I know they have had an anxious wait for this announcement while I considered how best to deal with the advice I received from the panel in the context of a very difficult financial climate."

The Minister went on to say that the continuation of the programme was only achievable by greatly reducing the additional resources and timescale of designation for these 10 schools.

"I met with these schools to outline my new proposals which include a reduction in the support grant from £75,000 to £25,000 and a shortened period of designation of two years rather than four years.

"Such is the commitment of these schools that, without exception, they accepted the revised conditions for designation.

"They all recognised that, in a difficult financial context, we have to work harder to deliver quality education to our young people and signalled their readiness to do this."

The Minister had previously indicated that, due to financial pressures, the Specialist Schools Programme for 2009 would be severely curtailed, with immediate funding only being available via the Innovation Fund for a limited number of schools with specialisms in science, technology and mathematics.

However, the Minister made it clear that, in recognition of the work that schools had put into their applications and the important contribution of specialist schools in promoting collaboration and widening the opportunities for young people and promoting school improvement, she would look for options to reduce the impact of this difficult decision. She therefore asked the panel to assess all applications to enable designation should the resources become available.

(BMcC/JM)