Key points

  • There are 169,400 pupils in primary schools (years 1-7), a decrease of almost 1,800 from the previous year.

  • In total 156,461 pupils are enrolled in post-primary schools; an increase of over 2,100 pupils from 2022/23.

  • There are 22,544 pupils in funded pre-school education, that is, pupils attending a nursery school or class, reception or funded voluntary and private pre-school.

  • Approximately 95,000 pupils in all schools (including voluntary and private pre-schools) in Northern Ireland are entitled to free school meals and this represents a quarter of all pupils.

Infographic

Introduction

The data in the following bulletin are taken from the school enrolments census, which was conducted in October 2023. Data collected through the school census exercise are used by the Department of Education (DE) to inform a wide range of policy areas, including finance allocations, school estate development and planning, special education, school improvement, area based planning, extended schools, additional educational needs, early years and integrated and Irish medium education. Other users include the Education Authority, the Education and Training Inspectorate and to inform responses to Assembly questions and requests from academic researchers, journalists, lobby groups and the public.

This first release of the basic statistics contains information which is used in the process to allocate funding to schools. These figures are provisional and subject to change. While the majority of census returns were submitted electronically, a proportion were submitted on paper which means normal levels of census validation could not be undertaken. A further statistical release, containing a more detailed set of tables based on finalised and validated data, will be published in February/ March 2024.


Section 1: Schools in Northern Ireland

The number of schools in Northern Ireland continues to decrease, from 1,136 in 2019/20 to 1,116 in 2023/24 (Table 1). Much of this decline is accounted for by the drop of 17 primary schools since 2019/20.

The number of funded pre-school settings has decreased from 742 last year to 734 this year. This includes 339 voluntary and private pre-schools, 259 primary schools with nursery provision, 93 nursery schools and 43 primary schools with reception classes.

To avoid double counting the number of primary schools with nursery or reception classes have not been split out separately in Table 1.

Table 1: Number of schools and pre-school education centres by management type 2019/20 - 2023/24

The number of schools in Northern Ireland continues to decrease

School and management type 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Voluntary and private pre-school education centres [1] 380 362 356 349 339
Nursery schools - Controlled 64 64 62 60 60
Nursery schools - Catholic maintained 31 31 31 31 31
Nursery schools - Controlled Integrated 0 0 1 2 2
Nursery schools - Total 95 95 94 93 93
Primary schools - Controlled 361 360 355 354 351
Primary schools - Catholic maintained [2] 360 358 355 354 351
Primary schools - Other maintained 28 28 27 27 27
Primary schools - Controlled integrated 22 22 24 24 25
Primary schools - Grant maintained integrated 23 23 23 23 23
Primary schools - Total 794 791 784 782 777
Preparatory depts in grammar schools 12 12 12 12 12
Primary schools and preparatory depts - Total 806 803 796 794 789
Secondary (non grammar) schools - Controlled 48 48 48 47 47
Secondary (non grammar) schools - Catholic maintained 57 57 56 56 56
Secondary (non grammar) schools - Other maintained 2 2 2 2 2
Secondary (non grammar) schools - Controlled integrated 5 5 5 6 6
Secondary (non grammar) schools - Grant maintained integrated 15 15 15 15 15
Secondary (non grammar) schools - Total 127 127 126 126 126
Grammar schools - Controlled 16 16 16 16 16
Grammar schools - Voluntary - under Catholic management 29 29 29 29 29
Grammar schools - Voluntary - under other management 21 21 21 21 21
Grammar schools - Total 66 66 66 66 66
Post primary schools - Total 193 193 192 192 192
Special schools 39 39 39 39 39
Hospital schools 1 1 1 1 1
Independent schools 14 15 14 14 14
All schools [3] 1,136 1,134 1,124 1,121 1,116
All schools and pre-school education centres 1,516 1,496 1,480 1,470 1,455

Notes:

  1. Voluntary and private centres funded under the Pre-school Education Expansion Programme, which began in 1998/99.
  2. Catholic maintained total in 2019/20 includes a school that did not have any pupils enrolled on census day. In 2023/24 there were 2 Catholic maintained schools that did not have any pupils enrolled on census day
  3. All schools total does not count preparatory departments as separate schools as they are so closely linked to grammar schools.


Section 2: Enrolments in schools in Northern Ireland

There were over 356,000 pupils in all funded schools (including voluntary and private pre-schools) in October 2023 (Table 2).

Figure 1 - Enrolments in primary and post-primary schools in Northern Ireland 2013/14 - 2023/24

The number of pupils in all funded schools has increased for the fourteenth successive year

Note: graph has a non-zero axis


Enrolments in primary and preparatory years 1-7 have decreased again, by near 1,800 pupils when compared to last year (from 171,199 to 169,400) (Figure 1).

Enrolments in post-primary schools have increased for the seventh year in a row to 156,461 pupils.

  • Similarly to last year, enrolments have increased in non-grammar, with an increase this year of near 2,000 pupils. Enrolments in grammar schools have increased slightly, rising by near 200 pupils. (Table 2).

  • The number of pupils enrolled in sixth form have increased by over 200 pupils since last year and now stands at 29,151 (Table 2).

  • The number of pupils enrolled in years 8 – 12 has increased by over 1,900 since last year. This increase is in line with the rise in the number of 11 – 15 year olds in NISRA’s population estimates (.xlsx file, size: 3.2 MB).

The number of children in funded pre-school education, that is, reception classes, nursery schools and units, or voluntary and private pre-school centres, is 22,544, which has decreased by over 170 pupils since last year.

Special school enrolments have also increased, rising by over 1,000 pupils in the last five years to 7,192 in 2023/24.

Figure 2: Enrolments in special schools and funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2013/14 - 2023/24

The number of children in pre-school education has dropped from last year and there is an overall decrease in the number of pupils over the last twelve years, while the number of special school enrolments has gradually increased


Table 2: Number of pupils in schools and children in funded pre-school education by type of establishment attended 2019/20 - 2023/24

The number of pupils in all funded schools increased

School type 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Voluntary and private pre-school education centre [1] 8,080 7,464 7,327 7,043 6,804
Nursery schools - Full-time 3,934 3,935 3,929 3,907 3,985
Nursery schools - Part-time 1,890 1,900 1,866 1,889 1,801
Nursery schools - Total 5,824 5,835 5,795 5,796 5,786
Nursery class in primary school - Full-time 5,163 5,121 5,163 5,169 5,218
Nursery class in primary school - Part-time 4,508 4,512 4,505 4,530 4,567
Nursery class in primary school - Total [3] 9,671 9,633 9,668 9,699 9,785
Reception 184 180 149 177 169
Primary schools - Years 1-7 172,255 171,706 170,795 169,722 167,971
Preparatory depts in grammar schools - Years 1-7 1,601 1,560 1,530 1,477 1,429
Primary and preparatory depts - Years 1-7 - Total 173,856 173,266 172,325 171,199 169,400
Primary and preparatory depts - Total 183,711 183,079 182,142 181,075 179,354
Secondary (non-grammar) schools - Years 8-12 70,506 72,723 74,258 76,722 78,357
Secondary (non-grammar) schools - Sixth form [4] 11,156 11,797 12,330 11,868 12,186
Secondary (non-grammar) schools - Total 81,662 84,520 86,588 88,590 90,543
Grammar schools - Years 8-12 47,074 47,554 48,268 48,652 48,953
Grammar schools - Sixth form [4] 16,349 16,844 17,045 17,070 16,965
Grammar schools - Total 63,423 64,398 65,313 65,722 65,918
Post-primary schools - Total 145,085 148,918 151,901 154,312 156,461
Special schools [2] 6,174 6,403 6,653 6,930 7,192
Independent schools 608 625 716 791 609
All schools 341,402 344,860 347,207 348,904 349,402
All schools and pre-school education centres 349,482 352,324 354,534 355,947 356,206

Notes:

  1. Voluntary and Private Centres funded under the Pre-school Education Expansion Programme, which began in 1998/99.

  2. The number of pupils in the Hospital School have been removed. Their enrolments are counted against their mainstream school.

  3. Nursery and reception pupils who are enrolled in preparatory departments of grammar schools are not included as they are not funded by the Department

  4. Pupils in sixth form refer to those that are studying level 3 qualifications (i.e. A Level or equivalent).


Section 3: Pupils entitled to free school meals

Background: School milk and meals information

Based on provisional data, approximately 93,600 pupils are entitled to free school meals in 2023/24, which represents 27% of children in funded education (excluding voluntary and private pre-schools; Table 3).

The proportion of pupils that are free school meal entitled has decreased from last year in primary and preparatory depts (27% compared to 28% last year). The proportion in post-primary has also decreased (24% compared to 25% last year; Table 3).

There are some differences in free school meal entitlement by school type. Special schools have a much higher than average proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals (53%). Non-grammar pupils are also much more likely than grammar school pupils to be entitled to free school meals (33% compared to 12%; Table 3).

The EA and the Department agreed there would be an extension to the closing date for free school meal applications to be counted on the census until the 20 October. Verification work is still ongoing.

Table 3: Percentage of children entitled to free school meals [1] [4] [5] by type of establishment 2019/20 - 2023/24

Approximately 93,600 pupils (27% of children) are entitled to free school meals

School type 2019/20 (%) 2020/21 (%) 2021/22 (%) 2022/23 (%) 2023/24 (%)
Voluntary and private pre-school education centres [1] [2] 8 8 15 15 19
Nursery schools - Full-time 46 48 50 50 53
Nursery schools - Part-time 9 10 16 16 17
Nursery schools - Total [1] [4] [6] 34 35 39 39 42
Nursery class in primary school - Full-time 38 40 44 44 44
Nursery class in primary school - Part-time 8 9 15 15 17
Nursery class in primary school - Total 24 25 31 31 31
Reception 10 9 14 18 18
Primary schools - Years 1-7 29 29 29 28 27
Preparatory depts in grammar schools - Years 1-7 1 1 1 1 1
Primary and preparatory depts - Years 1-7 - Total 29 29 29 28 27
Primary and preparatory depts - Total 28 28 29 28 27
Secondary (non grammar) schools 38 37 36 35 33
Grammar schools 14 14 13 13 12
Post-primary schools - Total 27 27 26 25 24
Special schools 52 51 53 52 53
All schools [3] 28 28 29 28 27
All schools and pre-school education centres 28 28 28 27 27

Notes:

  1. Figures for pupils in nursery schools/units and pre-schools include parents who are entitled to receive Income Support, or Income-Based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or Employment Support Allowance where an award of income-based job-seekers allowance has been converted; or Universal Credit. These are some of the benefits which determine eligibility for free school meals.

  2. Voluntary and Private centres funded under the Pre-school Education Expansion Programme, which began in 1998/99.

  3. Free school meal entitlement data is not validated for independent schools therefore has not been included.

  4. Eligibility under the Working Tax Credit free school meal criterion was introduced on a phased basis with Nursery, Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 pupils eligible from September 2010 and Key Stage 2 pupils eligible from September 2011. It was extended to post-primary pupils from September 2014.

  5. These figures may be subject to revision once the verification process with the EA has been completed.

  6. Nursery and reception pupils who are enrolled in prep. departments of grammar schools have not been included as they are not funded by the Department.


Contact information


Notes for readers

National Statistics

  1. The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
    Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:
  • meet identified user needs;
  • are well explained and readily accessible;
  • are produced according to sound methods, and
  • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.
    Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

  1. For general enquiries about National Statistics, contact the National Statistics Public Enquiry Service on 0845 601 3034
    minicom: 01633 812399
    E-mail:
    Fax: 01633 652747
    Letters: Customer Contact Centre, Office for National Statistics, Rm 1.101, Government Buildings, Cardiff Road, Newport, NP10 8XG

  2. You can also find National Statistics on the Internet.

School Census

  1. The statistics in this release have been derived from the annual School Census; details about the survey may be found at School enrolments data collection and validation publication. For voluntary and private pre-school centres, and nursery schools, the census consists of a summary return made on an electronic application; for post-primary, primary and special schools, it consists of a return comprising individual pupil records, made by Electronic Data Interchange.

  2. The 2023/24 figures in this statistical release are based on information as at 6 October 2023. They may be subject to minor revision and these will be notified in accordance with our revisions policy, see Statistical Revisions documentation (.pdf file, size: 25KB).

  3. A further statistical release, containing finalised figures and a more detailed set of tables, will be published in February/ March 2024.

  4. The figures for nursery classes relate to approved nursery classes in primary schools (including Specialist Provision in Mainstream nursery classes). Schools may admit reception pupils throughout the year, but only those who have been admitted by 31 October are counted in the school census.

  5. Further statistics relating to school numbers and enrolments can be found on the DE website under the Statistics and Research section. The DE website presents figures taken from the school census, summarised at regional, and school level. Statistics on pupil attendance, pupil: teacher ratios, school leaver destinations and qualifications may also be accessed via the website.

  6. Information on enrolments collected via the school census process are used to inform DE policy and procedures (particularly School Funding), as well as to inform Education Authority of detailed information useful to them in their auditing processes.

School types

  1. Definitions of school management types are as follows:
  • Controlled: Schools are managed and funded by the Education Authority through Boards of Governors (BoG). Primary and post-primary school BoGs consist of representatives of transferors - mainly the Protestant churches - along with representatives of parents, teachers and the EA.
  • Voluntary: Self-governing schools, generally of long standing, originally established to provide an academic education at post primary level on a fee paying basis. Now funded by the Department and managed by Boards of Governors. The BoGs are constituted in accordance with each school’s scheme of management - usually representatives of foundation governors, parents, teachers and in most cases, DE or EA representatives. The BoGs is the employing authority and is responsible for the employment of all staff in its school.
  • Maintained schools are managed by Boards of Governors which consist of members nominated by trustees, along with representatives of parents, teachers and the Education Authority. These schools are funded through the EA for their running costs and directly by the Department in relation to capital building works. For Catholic Maintained schools, the Employing Authority is the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS). Other maintained schools are any schools that are not Catholic maintained. They are typically, but not exclusively, Irish medium schools.
  • Controlled integrated: Controlled schools which have acquired integrated status.
  • Grant Maintained integrated: Self-governing schools with integrated education status, funded directly by the Department of Education and managed by Boards of Governors. The BoG is the employing authority and responsible for employing staff.
  1. Definitions of other school types are as follows
  • 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.
  • An independent school is a school at which full-time education is provided for pupils aged from 4 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.

Further enquiries

Request for further information should be addressed to:-

Gemma Thomson
Leonie Robinson

Statistics and Research Team
Department of Education
Rathgael House
Balloo Road
Rathgill
BANGOR
Co. Down
BT19 7PR

Telephone (028) 9127 9707/ (028) 9127 9992
E-mail:

Special analyses of the school census can be undertaken on request.

Press enquiries should be made to the Department’s Press Office at the same address, telephone (028) 9127 9772.

Feedback on this publication can be provided directly to Gemma Thomson (contact details above) or contact the Statistics and Research Team

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