Parents left ‘upset and frustrated’ over mix-up in names of nursery schools

FAMILIES in north Belfast have been left “upset and frustrated” after their children missed out on nursery places at their chosen school due to a suspected “administrative error”, an Alliance MLA has said.

Some north Belfast parents who are adamant they had selected Holy Family or Holy Cross for their child have instead been told they had applied for a place at Holy Child in Andersonstown, west Belfast.

Former Lord Mayor of Belfast Nuala Mcallister said the Education Authority (EA) apportioned blame to parents at first before saying it will be giving the matter “urgent attention”.

One disappointed parent posted online that their entire family had attended Holy Family Nursery School in north Belfast but their child had missed out on this occasion.

A number of families have been affected and are convinced it is down to an IT glitch or administrative error.

The father added: “Thanks so much to the good soul in Holy Child nursery for confirming on the phone that clearly there is an issue with applications as they’ve had six families all from north Belfast that somehow managed to apply to their nursery.”

Around 10 families have contacted Ms Mcallister and it is suspected that more may have contacted other MLAS. It’s understood that on the system Holy Child, Holy Family and Holy Cross all appear and parents have to select their preference.

“I think it is an administrative error rather than the parents’ error but unfortunately some of those schools will already be over capacity,” the North Belfast MLA said.

“So some of those parents, despite having actually applied to them, will not get their child in because of what looks like an EA error.”

When Ms Mcallister spoke to parents they were certain they had selected Holy Family or Holy Cross.

She added: “The parents were upset and really frustrated that it was being marked as if it was their fault, but also wondering, ‘What on earth do I do?’ — because now the school that they did want is full.”

The EA has been contacted for comment.