Transfer tests: Parents angry at 'eleventh-hour' cancellation

Parents in Northern Ireland whose children were due to sit post-primary transfer tests have said a decision to cancel them has come too late.

The optional tests were cancelled on Tuesday amid a Covid-19 surge.

Thousands of pupils had been due to sit the first of a series of exams on Saturday.

Sean McNamee, headmaster of St Paul's Primary School in west Belfast, said the fact the decision had come at the "eleventh hour" was difficult.

"If we knew this was going to happen sooner, we could have had communication with grammar schools and discussed the best course of action," Mr McNamee told BBC News NI.

The tests are used to select pupils by the majority of Northern Ireland's grammar schools. They were initially postponed from November due to the pandemic.

Mr McNamee said primary schools did not yet know what criteria the grammar schools would be using to select pupils for September.

"About 30% of our pupils' parents wouldn't have grown up in Northern Ireland and so they do not have any connection to an existing secondary school," he said.

"So if they were to use a criteria like a previous connection - an older child, parent or previous connection with a grandparent - that would count against them.

"A lot of our parents and children will be disappointed. They have worked hard for this through Christmas and to have it taken away at the eleventh hour is hard," he added.

Aaron Wallace - who lives with his mum, Jamie, dad, Stephen, and brothers - is hoping to join his brother who is in Year 10 at Foyle College in Londonderry.

The 10-year-old had been due to sit the first test set by the Association for Quality Education (AQE) this Saturday.

Aaron told BBC News NI he had been working hard over Christmas and would have liked the news sooner.

His father, Stephen, said the news was disappointing, considering all the work Aaron had put in.

"It was already postponed, so we couldn't understand the logic of what another few weeks was going to achieve," said Stephen.

"We knew the current situation with health and Covid, so we were building up all his efforts, but knew in the back of our minds that it was possibly not going to go ahead.

"It maybe should have been done a lot earlier," he added.

However, the family is trying to stay positive and said the one good thing that had come out of all the work and preparation was the amount Aaron had learned.

Emma Worthington's daughter, Maddie, 10, is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her older brother by going to Our Lady and St Patrick's College, Knock in east Belfast.

Ms Worthington said Maddie, from Bangor in County Down, had been devastated by the latest news as she has been working so hard towards the exams.

"There's just a bit of numbness really," Ms Worthington told BBC News NI. "This has been going on from Easter and she's worked all through the summer and Christmas for it to be called off now.

"Maddie was not stressed and was happy to do the test but now she feels a bit deflated - she would have liked to get into the school on her merit," she said.

As a parent, Ms Worthington said she felt angry the decision to cancel the tests was only taken a few days before the first test was due to get under way.

"This should have been called so long ago," she said. "Did they think the pandemic was just going to disappear?"

"There was no Plan B in place, even though they knew a second wave could come."

Ms Worthington said she felt the tests should not have been postponed in the first place.

"It's so unfair," she said.

Christina Baker, whose son was due to sit the test on Saturday, said the decision to cancel the exams was disgraceful.

"We felt by allowing our son the opportunity to try he was having a shot at getting into his favourite school," she posted on the BBC News NI's Facebook page.

"He was never pressured by us and always wanted to try for himself. But to cancel the tests four days before the first one is sat is deplorable - after already having them postponed in November.

"All that worry and now what will become of their grading? They can't even feel relieved because they just want to know how will they be assessed," she said.

Many families have also spent money on tutors for their children.

Colin Torrens, head teacher of Lisnagelvin Primary School in Derry, criticised the executive, saying: "I don't know what they're doing up there. I have no confidence whatsoever in any of the executive.

"I know the education minister has come under a lot of flak.

"I don't know the man, he's probably a really nice man but his decision making is very poor, the timing of it is shocking," he added.

Gerry Waldron from the Public Health Agency, said: "Where the schools are being asked to close - where there is a high prevalence of Covid and we have seen unprecedented levels of cases - the prudent approach is not to go ahead with tests."