To ask the Minister of Education to detail the number of children that were not successful in getting an offer of a funded pre-school place for September 2025 in Admissions Stage 1.

The EA has advised that at this stage in the pre-school admissions process, 97% target aged children whose parents applied for a pre-school place have already received an offer of a funded place in a setting of their preference.

The pre-school admissions process has two stages and stage two remains ongoing at this time. The EA has advised that there are currently 2,316 funded places available to accommodate the 620 children who have not yet received the offer of a funded place in a setting of their parents’ preference.

I would encourage parents to engage with the admissions process to the end and provide further preferences as they have been invited to do in order to maximise the changes of their child being offered a place in one of their preferred settings. Should additional funded places be required in local areas, the EA will adjust allocations to settings accordingly.