Northern Ireland head teachers call for transfer test to be cancelled

Image source, PA

Head teachers from 24 primary schools in Northern Ireland have called for transfer tests to be suspended this year because of the impact of coronavirus.

Lots of children take the test during the last year of primary school to help decide which secondary school they'll go to.

But some schools think the tests, due to be taken in November, shouldn't go ahead because of the recent school closures and the added stress the tests may cause.

Six secondary school have already said they will not use the test to decide on entry to their schools for September 2021.

The letter signed by principals from 24 primary schools in north Down and the Ards peninsula, said "we do not think that the normal academic tests should be carried out in these abnormal circumstances."

So far schoolchildren in Northern Ireland have missed 10 weeks of class this year.

Although some children in England have gone back to school, this hasn't happened in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Northern Ireland's Education Minister Peter Weir has said some pupils, including those in P7 will likely return to school in late August, with a phased return for the rest.

Video caption, How do kids in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland feel about missing school?

In the joint letter, the principals said that they were concerned about the impact on pupils currently in Primary six (called Year 5 in England and Wales), who would be sitting the test during the next academic year.

"From mid-March these pupils have been at home and in a lockdown which is likely to continue into June," they said.

"This unprecedented period of isolation and home-schooling is having, and will have, an unknown impact on every pupil."

There have also been disagreements about when the test should be held.

Children normally sit the tests on five Saturdays beginning in early November, but this year the plan is to start them at least two weeks later than usual.

But teachers and parents have argued that the normal teaching that pupils would have had before the tests would be "impossible" as they had been out of school since March and would face a "phased" return in September.

Image source, Getty Images

There had been plans to postpone some of the tests until January 2021, but it was decided that this would be too late.

Education Minister Peter Weir has previously said he hoped letting children and parents know the new dates far in advance would help "remove any stress that pupils and parents might be feeling".