Special school process feels like a 'complete lottery'

A woman whose daughter has profound needs has described the process of enrolling children to Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools as feeling like a "complete lottery".

It comes as the Education Authority announced that all SEN schools in Northern Ireland are full.

In their operational plan for 2026/27, the EA said in some SEN schools pupil numbers have doubled in the past decade.

Karen Ryan whose 17-year-old daughter, Emily, goes to a SEN school, said throughout the years, she has seen enrolment levels change since the pandemic where nursery provision was stopped.

Ryan said: "It shouldn't feel like [a lottery] when a child has a learning difficulty".

The EA also said that due to falling birth rates, fewer primary and post-primary schools will be needed in future years.

That could lead to further closures of small schools with relatively small numbers of pupils.

But the EA's plan again highlights the need for two more Irish language post-primary schools, one in Fermanagh or Londonderry and one in Belfast.

That need is due to the rising number of pupils in Irish-medium education, but has been highlighted by the EA before without any new schools as yet.

There are currently only two Irish-medium post-primaries, one in Belfast and one in Dungiven.

Erin McAllister's daughter has Special Educational Needs (SEN) and she said that specialist support for children is vital.

McAllister said that while the EA said all children with statements of educational needs got their placements this year, they might not be the appropriate placements.

"We're seeing all the time parents whose children who are in mainstream who should be in [Specialist Provision in Mainstream Schools], SPIM and children in SPIM who should be in special schools."

She added what is being sent out is not the reality of families.

"It feels in these communities that you're competing, that you're putting children against each other to compete for a spot... And then it gets into a competition of whose child needs it more, and it should never be that situation and parents don't want that to be the case."

McAllister also runs an online support group for parents of children with SEN.

"School is not just a place of education, it is the place where our children spend a majority of their young lives," she said.

"Alongside their home environments, school is where they learn how to socialise, manage difficult feelings, experience challenges and learn to develop into their own authentic selves.

"Special schools cater for moderate to severe medical needs and behavioural needs on top of educational needs.

"These children have a right to autonomy and respect.

"Special schools allow our children to thrive instead of just survive and that is the least we can do for not only the children, but their parents and carers who love them so dearly."

Education Minister Paul Givan said his department has been in "responsive mode" when facilitating young people getting into schools.

Givan said he has mapped out a plan for all the 39 special schools and put in an executive paper.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan show , he said within the executive paper £1.7bn of capital funding would be needed over the next 10 decades, but added this cannot come out of the existing normal capital spend.

Givan said he campaigned to the Finance Minister John O'Dowd for £70m of ring-fenced annual funding for SEN schools.

He said they have enhanced specialist provision attached to mainstream schools and increased the school estate, but added these were not long term strategic solutions.

He said there are "thousands" of children that have additional needs that haven't been through the system.

"That's why we are developing a model that would create more opportunities for school principals to have flexibility so that they can identify here are the needs of our pupils."

The EA is responsible for planning where school places are needed and will be needed in future and that involves decisions about where more schools are needed and where there are too many schools.

In conjunction with the Department of Education (DE) and other sectoral bodies it publishes plans every two years, showing what changes it thinks will need to be made.

The EA specifies what it think needs to be done in each council area in Northern Ireland.

The latest plan covers the period from September 2026 to August 2027, but some of the changes it suggests will be longer-term.

However, big decisions on closing schools or creating new ones are ultimately taken by the education minister.

The number of pupils with SEN who need a school place has risen significantly in recent years and is expected to keep rising.

There are currently more than 7,800 pupils in special schools and almost 6,000 in specialist classes (known as SPiMs) in mainstream schools.

But in five years, by 2031/32, there are expected to be more than 8,500 pupils in special schools and more than 9,000 in specialist classes in mainstream schools.

There have been problems for some families in finding suitable school places for their children in recent years.

"The demand for special school places continues to increase with the special school estate having already reached capacity," the EA plan said.

Some special schools have doubled their numbers of pupils over the past decade.

For instance, Harberton school in Belfast had 209 pupils in 2015/16 and 402 in 2025/26.

There are plans for new special schools including one on the site of Van Morrison's old school in east Belfast - Orangefield High - but that will need significant investment and will take time.

According to the EA plan, pupil numbers overall are expected to fall by around 30,000 by 2033.

That could mean that schools with relatively small numbers of pupils will be earmarked for closure.

A decision to close a school has to be made by the education minister and can be controversial.

However, one sector which has been growing has been the Irish-medium sector.

There has been a rise of almost 400% in the number of pupils in Irish-medium schools over the past 25 years.