One of only 31 schools in the province to reject the scheme, the 'rebel' grammar school has defied strong warnings from Caitríona Ruane to announce that it will use a common entrance test to select pupils after the 11-plus is scrapped this year.

It had been widely known that some schools in the province were considering the development of their own assessment exams but 31 schools have now made their position clear through a statement issued by the Association for Quality Education (AQE).

Representatives from 28 schools attended a meeting last Tuesday night in Belfast and three other schools, who could not attend, have also given their support to the common tests.

The tests will be used by the schools for pupils in Primary Five who will be transferring from primary to post-primary schools in 2010. AQE insists it will be compatible with the revised school curriculum.

Dalriada principal Tom Skelton said: "Dalriada School is one of over 30 grammar schools who have now decided to offer a common entrance assessment for those pupils who wish to take it to measure their suitability for an academic education.

"Dalriada is one of the leading academic grammar schools in the province with pupils each year producing outstanding results in external examinations.

"The school consistently attracts pupils from the upper range of academic ability; from a wide geographical area and from the full range of social, religious and cultural backgrounds.

"Dalriada is oversubscribed and to allocate places the Board of Governors includes an academic criterion in the admissions criteria. To maintain its excellent academic status and in the absence of any credible alternative, Dalriada has decided to use a common entrance assessment, devised by the Association for Quality Education, as part of their criteria for entry.

"This assessment is designed to "match" the skills and abilities of individual pupils to the schools best suited to respond to their potential talents and interests.

"I plan to meet with the principals of feeder primary schools to explain in detail the main features of the tests. An information evening for parents is also planned before the end of the school term."
Ms Ruane had hoped to introduce a province-wide system of transfer at age 14, free from any academic selection, but has been criticised by the UUP, DUP and SDLP for the lack of detailed information on her plans.
The AQE statement said that the decision was taken "in the most regrettable absences of any clear or credible decision from the Minister of Education about the system of transfer to post-primary education."

The 31 schools plan to form a Company Limited by Guarantee which will deliver a common entrance assessment designed to measure the suitability of children for an academic education.

It is believed urgent steps will be taken to identify potential board members of the company, deploying financial, legal and educational experience.

The schools will take decisions, no later than June, on the responsibility for a common assessment, the need to minimise the cost to parents - including an exemption from payment in the case of less well-off parents -, the administration of the test and the guidance to be offered to parents and primary schools.
It has already been revealed that the tests are likely to cost around £55 per pupil.

However, Ms Ruane accused the breakaway schools of being elitist and said they could face legal action from parents.
"They have a choice, people always have a choice," the minister said. "What I would say to them is think very carefully before you go down the route of bringing boards of governors into situations where they may find themselves spending their time in court."

North Antrim DUP MLA and Member of the Assembly Education Committee Mervyn Storey has welcomed the announcement by nearly half of grammar schools in Northern Ireland, including Dalriada School.
Commenting Mervyn Storey said: "The fact that the grammar schools can do what they have done is because of the guarantees that the DUP negotiated at St Andrews.

"We have anticipated Sinn Fein attempts to impose the failed comprehensive system from other parts of the UK and the Republic of Ireland and successfully persuaded the Government to leave this decision in the hands of the Assembly, which gave us a veto over Sinn Fein plans and also to provide the default position that would allow the matching of pupils to schools on an educational basis and the maintenance of choice for grammar schools in the absence of any arrangement by the Assembly.

"It is important that a choice of schools focusing on academic excellence should be available to those who wish to have that choice. It is also important that since the majority of parents and teachers in Northern Ireland oppose the introduction of all ability neighbourhood comprehensive schools that the Ministers plan to introduce such a system is thwarted.

"Over the last number of weeks I have participated in public meetings on this issue across Northern Ireland, some of which were attended by hundreds of people who expressed dismay and anger at the way Caitriona Ruane has kept them in the dark over the transfer arrangements from primary to secondary schools.

"Equally at the meetings teachers have expressed the same frustrations. Now that the grammar schools have announced their intention and promised to give the details of the test specifications, content and arrangements before the end of this school year, parents now have the chance of having some certainty about the arrangements after 2009.
"Those critics who say that this test can't work are speaking nonsense. No one can credibly maintain that, whether it is a revised curriculum or traditional curriculum which is taught in Primary Schools, that it is not capable of being tested. The entrance test will measure numeracy and literacy and if critics are really saying that we now have a curriculum that does not allow some assessment of a child's ability to read and count then it needs to be scrapped immediately.

"Grammar schools have sought to keep the cost of the test to a minimum and help poor families and the DUP will seek through the Assembly to find a way of circumventing the Education Ministers attempt to block any payment for the test.

"It's ironic that for an Education Minister who bleats about equality to create a situation that could disadvantage children from poorer backgrounds, just because she throws a temper tantrum at not getting her own way."
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