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Types of school

Schools in Northern Ireland fall under two categories - grant-aided and indpendent. While nearly all are grant-aided, there are some independent schools. To help you make a choice for your child, below are some details on how each type of school operates.

Free school places

All children between the ages of four and 16 are entitled to a free school place. Children normally start primary school at four years and leave at the age of 11, moving on to a post-primary school.

The main types of schools all receive funding from their local education and library board (ELB) or directly from the Department of Education (DE). They all follow the Revised Curriculum and are regularly inspected by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI).

Controlled

Controlled schools are managed and funded by the five ELBs through school Boards of Governors (BoG). Primary and secondary school BoG consist of representatives of transferors - mainly the protestant churches - along with representatives of parents, teachers and ELBs.

Nursery, grammar and special school BoG consist of parents, teachers and ELB representatives along with DE governors. There is a growing number of controlled integrated schools.

Voluntary Maintained

Voluntary maintained schools are managed by BoG nominated by trustees - mainly roman catholic - along with parents, teachers and ELB representatives.

The employing authority of teachers in these schools is the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS).

Voluntary Non-Maintained

These are mainly voluntary grammar schools managed by a BoG. The BoG are constituted in accordance with each school's scheme of management - usually representatives of foundation governors, parents, teachers and in most cases, DE or ELB representatives.

The BoG is the employing authority and is responsible for the employment of all staff in its school.

Integrated

These schools seek to add value to the education process by inviting Protestants and Catholics to come together with other traditions in order to improve their understanding of one another, their own cultures, religions and values.

Each grant maintained integrated school is managed by a Board of Governors consisting of trustees or foundation governors along with parents, teacher and DE representatives.

The Board of Governors of an integrated school is the employing authority and is responsible for the employment of staff.

Irish-Medium

Irish-medium education is education provided in an Irish speaking school. DE has a duty to encourage and facilitate the development of Irish-medium education. Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (CnaG) was established by DE and its remit is to promote, facilitate and encourage Irish-medium education.

Special

A special school is a controlled or voluntary school which is specially organised to provide education for pupils with special needs and is recognised by the DE as a special school.

Independent

An independent school is a school at which full-time education is provided for pupils aged from four to 16 and is not grant aided. These schools set their own curriculum and admissions policies and are funded by fees paid by parents and income from investments.

Each independent school must be registered with DE and is inspected regularly by ETI.

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