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| Transfer test groups have talks | Transfer test groups have talks |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Two groups who are drawing up transfer tests to replace the 11 plus exam have met to discuss their long-term plans. | Two groups who are drawing up transfer tests to replace the 11 plus exam have met to discuss their long-term plans. |
| It is understood the Association of Quality Education (AQE) and a group of Catholic grammar schools agreed their separate tests will go ahead this year. | It is understood the Association of Quality Education (AQE) and a group of Catholic grammar schools agreed their separate tests will go ahead this year. |
| However, there is an aim to create one test to which all schools can agree. | However, there is an aim to create one test to which all schools can agree. |
| Some schools are opposed to the ending of the 11 plus, while others are unhappy at the Assembly's failure to agree to an alternative system. | Some schools are opposed to the ending of the 11 plus, while others are unhappy at the Assembly's failure to agree to an alternative system. |
| It has resulted in one group of schools, largely Catholic grammars, deciding to set English and maths papers as a way of determining pupil admissions to their schools. The exams will be set and marked by the England-based National Foundation for Education Research. | It has resulted in one group of schools, largely Catholic grammars, deciding to set English and maths papers as a way of determining pupil admissions to their schools. The exams will be set and marked by the England-based National Foundation for Education Research. |
| Another group of schools is setting a Common Entrance Assessment with the help of the AQE. It will also test English and Maths. | |
| The AQE's chairman Sir Ken Bloomfield said there was a "shared understanding of each other's aims" at the meeting. | |
| A third smaller group of grammar schools, mainly in Ballymena, is considering using verbal reasoning tests. | |
| The education minister Caitríona Ruane has repeatedly told schools that there is no need for entrance tests and warned that what they are planning is "a legal minefield." |