Kellie has received a number of contacts from concerned parents who had tried to apply online for pre school and primary school places for this coming September intake. Those parents had taken the Education Authority’s advice and gone online to complete the application form. The application process opened today, Wednesday January 2nd. However due to the high numbers of people logging on to the admissions site the system could not cope and subsequently crashed. This left many parents concerned that their child could miss out, especially those applying for the limited number of pre school places.
Kellie confirmed: “schools, particularly pre schools, are oversubscribed in my constituency. It is understandable parents want to submit their application as soon as possible, in the hope they can secure a place. I contacted the Education Authority today and they confirmed due to the high number of people trying to login their system has not been able to cope. However I would like to reassure parents that admissions are not based on a ‘first come first served’ basis. Parents can apply online until midnight on 31st January 2019. If you cannot get into the admissions site today, try again tomorrow or later in the month.
“I will be asking the Education Authority to consider if it’s online capabilities are sufficient to deal with peak demands. I will also ask the EA to ensure better communications are in place to advise and support parents. Better planning would have ensured an online message was displayed asking people to try again later and would have reduced parents’ concerns.”