Post Primary Review

The Structures

The Trustees will plan for the future through the structures set out below:

A Regional Programme Board

This Board has been established by the Trustees as part of the Northern Ireland Education Commission for Catholic Education. This Board will develop agreed core principles and ensure a strategic and coherent approach across the Catholic-managed sector. The membership of this Board represents all Diocesan and Religious Congregations who provide Post-Primary schools in Northern Ireland.

Diocesan Programme Board

The Trustees will manage the planning in any area through a Diocesan Programme Board. This Board includes representatives from all the Trustee groupings who provide schools within a particular Diocese. They will coordinate the planning at a Diocesan level. This group will agree the number of and sequencing of projects as well as the project boundaries.

The Trustees believe that this approach, based on schools working together in local areas, will allow the sector to prepare adequately for the significant changes which will be required over the next five years. This structured and planned approach will bring the maximum benefit to pupils and those working in the sector.

Local Project Board

The Trustees propose to manage the identification and implementation of any adaptations or alternative arrangements to Post-Primary educational provision in the Catholic Managed Sector by means of projects operating at a local level.

Each Project will have a Project Board made up of Trustee representatives to reflect each of the Trustee groupings involved. This group will manage the launch of the Project and will make a decision on any preferred option for the delivery of Post-Primary education in the project area. They will be complemented and assisted by a User Group made up of Governors and Principals of the schools involved.

User Group

The User Group will be required to review the delivery of post primary education in the project area and to design options and plans for the future to address the challenges currently facing Post-Primary education. This will be done in close collaboration and consultation with the other school sectors and providers. This approach will ensure that diverse models of provision which meet the needs of the pupils who attend the schools involved in the project can be developed.

The design options which reflect the project’s principles will be considered by the User Group and then submitted to the Local Project Board. They will, in turn, examine the desired or proposed option in the light of the agreed core principles and will propose one option which will be put forward to the Minister for Education as a development proposal.