Transfer at 11

The end of selection on the basis of academic ability and abolition of the transfer tests

A new procedure for choosing post-primary schools which gives priority to parental preference

Pupil Profile

A new pupil profile from P5 which will provide a detailed picture of a pupil's attributes, aptitudes, progress and developmental needs

The pupil profile to be kept up to date in the post-primary school to inform decisions about a child's educational development.

Admissions

Parents decide which post-primary schools to apply to on the basis of information in the pupil profile and advice from the primary school.

Post-primary schools will not be able to use the pupil profile when making admission decisions - they will only receive the profile after the child has been admitted.

All oversubscribed schools must use common criteria to select pupils. The criteria (in order) are:

* parental preference (first-preference applications have priority over second- preference applications etc);

* brothers or sisters already at the school or the pupil is the eldest child;

* children of all staff at the school (teaching and non-teaching);

* compelling individual circumstances;

* proximity to the pupil's home.

Collegiates

Twenty new networks of post-primary schools, called collegiates, will be established. Schools in each collegiate will work in partnership to provide the widest range of curriculum and other opportunities for all their pupils through, for example, the use of information technology, teachers moving between schools to teach subjects and pupils taking courses in other schools in the collegiate.

Transfer within the collegiate will be possible to recognise changing educational needs or career aspirations.

Resources and responsibility for professional development, curriculum support, learning support services and careers advice and support will transfer to the collegiate for the benefit of all the schools.

Management structures will be established to ensure that all schools are involved in collegiate decisions and that there are proper linkages with the further and higher education sectors and with businesses. The key planning and decision-making body for each Collegiate will be the Board of Principals, made up of the Principal of each school.

Transitional arrangements

Transitional arrangements will operate until new collegiates are fully established. Academic selection and the transfer tests should end as soon as transitional arrangements are in place (2003 at the earliest).