To ask the Minister of Education whether he will ensure the Education Authority carries out a full review into why Primary 1 and pre-school admission notifications were sent to parents early in error.

On 3 April 2025, pre-school and primary school admission notifications were released six days ahead of schedule due to a technical error during testing by service provider Version 1.

The EA Connect team discovered the error shortly before 7am and immediately escalated it. An EA Incident Response Team was quickly established and a number of key actions were taken which included:

Contacting all pre-schools and primary schools to notify them of early release of admission notifications and providing contact details for further support.

Issuing a statement to key media outlets and across EA social media channels providing assurance to parents that the outcome of applications in any emails parent/carers received was correct; advising that parents/carers will be able to log on to EA Connect and accept/reject their child’s place, or list other preferences, from 12 noon on Monday 7 April; and providing contact details for further support.

EA immediately set up a Helpdesk and additional resources were added to throughout the morning and Helpdesk hours were extended until 6 pm

Ensuring all parents and carers received an email or were contacted in relation to the admissions outcome.

Responding to a significant volume of calls and emails.

In a statement Version 1 apologised for the error:

“We would like to apologise to our valued customer, the Northern Ireland Education Authority, and parents and guardians of children applying for P1 or pre-school places for the 2025-26 academic year. Due to human error during testing of the EA Connect portal, early notifications were sent out today. We are actively investigating to understand how it happened. We recognise the additional pressure early notification has placed on school principals and staff, and we are committed to providing the necessary support to manage the situation.”

The EA also added its own apology to that already offered to parents by Version 1. Work is underway to determine how this happened and to ensure it cannot happen again.