Education bosses are coming under increasing pressure to allocate additional places at Loughgall Playgroup, with one parent saying: “Common sense has gone out the window.”
Ruth Fowler, who lives between Portadown and Loughgall, has a daughter attending Cope Primary School.
But she has been turned down for a place for her son to attend Loughgall Playgroup in September.
And, according to Ruth, she is not alone.
Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart has requested an urgent meeting with the Education Authority and Department of Education but to date nothing has yet been arranged.
Several other politicians who Ruth contacted have responded and are also offering their support.
It was last Monday, March 23, that the Fowler family received confirmation that their son had been turned down for a place at Loughgall Playgroup.
She contacted the Education Minister Paul Givan directly and quickly received an email saying the Department of Education “plays no role” in pre-school admissions and directing her to the Education Authority.
Ruth, who accused the Minister of “passing the buck”, had also emailed EA Chief Executive Richard Pengelly and launched an appeal against the decision when the appeals procedure opened last Wednesday.
“They came back to say the matter is being looked at,” said Ruth. “Looked at? I went back to them and I said can you please provide me with a timeframe? They’ve just come back there now (Monday morning) and said our response time is 10 working days from receipt of the original correspondence, so three weeks on a response. Three weeks to get anything back is ridiculous.
“If I took three weeks to get back to anybody in my work I would be fired. Why are they not held to the same standard?”
Ruth says the situation has made her “very angry” and has the potential to cause so much upheaval for her family.
She added: “If they’re looking for me to go somewhere else, for a start I can’t split myself in two, but for it to actually work somewhere else, I would have to take my daughter out of her current primary school and put her into one that’s closest to whatever pre-school they decide to put us.
“Even childcare, I already have a childminder in place because I work every day, nine to five. My childminder’s outside Loughgall, close to the school. I would have to move childminders and everything, so that would be a new settling in period, not only for him at a playgroup but for a childminder as well, a childminder who’s had him from he was a baby. It’s absolutely disgraceful that you should have to do that.
“Surely the education system should be in place to cater for kids in this situation and help them learn, not hinder them, to grow their relationships, as they need stability, but this is just creating instability.”
Ruth insists that the issue could easily be remedied by allocating six additional preschool places at Loughgall, where there is a permitted enrolment of 16.
“She has the facilities to accommodate 22,” she added. “She doesn’t even need to hire any more staff. All the staff are in place. It’s just a case of the EA letting her and allocating the funding.
“There’s more than just me. There are four families, including me, that already have a sibling at the Cope Primary School and are looking to get the younger sibling into Loughgall Playgroup. And then there are two where the kids are the oldest in their family that they’re looking to get into Loughgall Playgroup, but the aim would be that they would want to go to the school after.”
As far as Ruth is concerned it is a situation which unfortunately has arisen in a lot of smaller towns and villages.
“There’s lots of rural schools that this is happening to,” she said. “The fact of the matter is I’m seeing there’s places and schools in town that I can’t send them because it’s the complete opposite direction of where I need to go with my daughter. But there are places in the town schools.
“Why can they not be allocated to the rural schools? I was told that this year is a low birthrate year and they’re allocating more to the bigger schools because it looks bad if they’re empty or it looks bad if they’re not full.
“The EA needs to address the situation and allocate the adequate spaces. There’s no point allocating the spaces to bigger schools when we physically can’t use them. It’s just a waste of funding. Just reallocate it to the rural school, where it’s actually needed, because realistically, rural schools, it’s not as if they’re in the middle of nowhere, but they’re not in close proximity to other schools, so it’s not as if it’s a wee jaunt down the road and I can just send them somewhere else appropriate, whereas in town, there’s lots of schools in the one area to choose from. We don’t have that.
“If they just used common sense. If 22 kids have applied to go to a preschool, then allocate the 22 spaces to it. Don’t short them. I don’t understand the thinking behind shortening them on places. It doesn’t make any sense to me, especially when all of those 22 places were number one preference.”
Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart is supporting the calls for a change of direction and urged parents affected to contact her office.
“It is essential that flexibility is applied to address the increased birth rate in the area,” she said.
“Loughgall Nursery plays a vital role as a feeder to the local primary school and it is important that its capacity and enrolment numbers reflect both current demand and available provision.
“I will continue to work closely with colleagues to seek a resolution to this issue. There remains significant frustration regarding the allocation process and the criteria used to prioritise places and I will persist in my efforts to ensure this is addressed fairly and transparently.”
The Cope Primary School said it was “proud” to have Loughgall Playgroup as its “feeder setting”, adding: “Lorna and her team are exceptional early educators and we stand alongside them in their reasonable request to extend their placement allowance to facilitate the needs of our community.”
The situation has been ongoing in a week when Education Minister Paul Givan flagged the importance of rural schools on the floor of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Last Monday, when the Fowler family received their correspondence to say there was no place for their son at Loughgall Playgroup, Minister Givan responded to comments on the sustainable schools policy.
He said: “The aim of the SSP is to ensure that all children, no matter where they live, receive a high-quality education that meets their needs and enables them to achieve their full potential in strong schools that are educationally and financially sustainable.
“Children in rural areas have the same right as their urban counterparts to access high-quality education, and the needs of children, as opposed to institutions, must always be to the fore. Ideally, I want to see all communities with vibrant, sustainable education provision that provides the best educational opportunities for all our children and young people.”
According to the Education Authority, parents/carers of target age pre-school children are encouraged to list at least four preferences when making their application, as no guarantee can be made that they will be allocated a place in their first preference setting.
Pre-school admissions are a two-stage process; Stage 2 online applications close on April 1, 2026, and parents will be notified of outcomes on May 19.
A spokesperson for the Education Authority told Armagh I : “For the 2026-27 academic year at the close of Stage 1, there were 2,239 first-preference applications for a pre-school place, with 2,600 places available, in the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon area.
“As a result, there is enough capacity and no need for the Education Authority to increase provision.
“The Pupil Allocation Number (PAN) was determined in line with the enrolment figures reported in October 2025. At the close of application window of 21 January 2026, there was an under-provision identified of five places within the Loughgall area.
“In line with the Pupil Allocation Process (PAN), 98.81% of children were placed at end Stage 1. 92.43% of children were placed in their first preference preschool setting at end of Stage 1.
“There is sufficient capacity for all children to be placed in a preschool setting across Northern Ireland.”
