Using GIS analysis to examine home-school travel in a divided education system: the case of Northern Ireland

Figures & data

Table 1. NI school types and community enrolment, 2019/2020.

School type	School management	Number of schools	No. of Protestant pupils	No. of Catholic pupils	Total pupils^a
Primary Schools (5–11 year olds)
	Controlled	361	48,290	6,274	79,156
	Catholic Maintained	360	695	74,699	78,967
	Controlled Integrated	22	1,501	1,187	4,262
	Grant Maintained Integrated	23	1,845	2,537	6,285
	Other Maintained (Irish Medium)	25	260	3,031	3,585
	Other Maintained (Other)	3
Secondary schools (11–18 year olds)
Non-grammar schools	Controlled	48	22,410	1,235	29,467
	Catholic Maintained	57	^b	36,069	38,325
	Controlled Integrated	5	1,632	464	2,954
	Grant Maintained Integrated	15	3,808	3,996	10,021
	Other Maintained (Irish Medium)	2	^c	841	895
Grammar schools	Controlled	16	9,626	1,469	14,183
	Voluntary (non-Catholic ethos)	21	12,282	2,892	20,485
	Voluntary (Catholic ethos)	29	386	27,467	28;755

Source: Department of Education NI 2020.

^a Another category, ‘Other Christian, non-Christian and no religion returns’, is not recorded on this table, hence totals are higher than the sum of the previous two columns.

^b Number suppressed.

^c Fewer than 5 cases.

Table 2. Average distances between feeder primary and secondary schools (miles).

		Catholic Maintained	Controlled, de facto Protestant	Overall
Average distance between feeder primary and nearest school of any type		3.12	2.59	2.78
Average distance between feeder primary and nearest secondary school without academic selection, but retaining community division		3.73	3.51	3.62
Average distance between feeder primary and nearest secondary school, without community segregation but retaining academic selection	Grammar	6.12	4.49	5.27
	Non-grammar	3.39	2.93	3.11
Average actual distance between feeder primary and secondary school		6.75	6.48	6.61

Table 3. Total distances between feeder primary and secondary schools based on 92.3% of Year 8 transfers 2019–2020 (miles).

	Actual distance	Minimum distance	Additional distance
Total miles (single journey)	95,942	42,861	53,081
Total miles (return journey)	191,884	85,722	106,162

Map 1. Linkages between primary schools and those secondary schools to which pupils transferred in 2019.

Map 2. Linkages between primary schools and those secondary schools to which pupils transferred in 2019, shown proportional to the numbers involved.

Map 3. Linkages between primary schools and the nearest secondary school.

Map 4 and 5. Linkages between primary schools and those secondary schools to which pupils transferred in 2019 (Map 4) and potential journeys to the nearest secondary (Map 5) in the Belfast metropolitan area.

Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI). 2020. “Annual Enrolment at Schools and in Funded Pre-school Education in Northern Ireland 2019-2020.” http://www.education-ni.gov.uk/publications/school-enrolments-201920-statistical-bulletins.

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Stephen Roulston, upon reasonable request.