Allister says EA policy is failing pre-school children across North Antrim as nursery places row deepens

North Antrim MP Jim Allister and Cloughmills Early Years playgroup

The growing dispute over nursery places in Cloughmills has now widened into a broader North Antrim row after MP Jim Allister accused the Education Authority of failing pre-school children across the constituency.

In a sharply critical statement, Mr Allister said the EA’s “inflexible and dogma driven policy” is leaving children without suitable local places in communities including Cloughmills, Armoy and The Grange, turning what began as a village-level admissions dispute into a much wider political and community issue.

The North Antrim MP warned that the system is relying too heavily on previous years’ intake figures rather than responding to live demand, resulting in what he described as dozens of children missing out.

His intervention marks a significant escalation in pressure on both the Education Authority and the Department of Education, with the focus now shifting from a single admissions decision to the wider future of rural pre-school provision.

Allister broadens the dispute across North Antrim

In his statement, Mr Allister said:

“Across North Antrim the Education Authority’s inflexible and dogma driven policy is failing pre-school children.

“The EA’s approach to pre-school funded places is caught in the time warp of last year’s intake, rather than this year’s demand. This is resulting in dozens of children missing out in suitable places.

“In Cloughmills, Armoy and The Grange groups, which have the numbers for next year, are being denied the funding, forcing parents to keep their children at home or pay private fees.

“Yet, neither the Stormont Education department nor the EA is listening! What a sad indictment of supposedly responsive devolution!

“I therefore reiterate my call for the EA to step up and match the funding where it is needed as demonstrated by the proven demand.”

Mr Allister’s comments reveal an issue with EA’s funding policy that impacts far beyond Cloughmills and placed fresh focus on whether rural nursery settings are being adequately funded across North Antrim, in appropriate locations where need exists.

Cloughmills remains the clearest local example

At the centre of the row remains Cloughmills, where nine families are understood to be without a place at the village’s only local nursery setting, Cloughmills Early Years.

Parents say the setting has physical capacity to take additional children, but cannot do so because the Education Authority has refused to increase its Pupil Application Number (PAN) and provide funding for extra places.

The EA’s position remains that sufficient nursery places exist within a five-mile radius.

For local families, however, the reality is far more difficult.

Many parents work in the village and already have older children attending the local primary school.

They say being offered a place outside Cloughmills creates impossible daily logistics, with separate drop-off and pick-up times in different locations.

One local mother, Stacey Smyth, previously told Love Ballymena:

“It is deeply concerning that local children are being denied places at our village nursery.

“The EA’s refusal to increase the enrolment (PAN) numbers based on a five-mile radius ignores the practical reality for families.

“Many of us have older children at the primary school; it is physically impossible to manage two different pick-up times in two different locations simultaneously.”

She warned that some parents may now be forced to keep children at home, with direct consequences for their transition into Primary 1.

Rural families say regional figures miss the real problem

A key issue now emerging is the difference between regional capacity figures and real-world local access.

While a place may technically exist somewhere within the wider catchment area, families say this does not reflect the practical reality of rural life.

For many, it means two separate school runs, additional travel outside the village, and serious pressure on working parents trying to balance employment, childcare and school pick-ups.

In smaller villages, distance is only part of the issue.

Time, transport, work commitments and sibling logistics all make out-of-village placements significantly more difficult.

That concern is particularly acute in Cloughmills, where some children currently in the nursery’s ‘pre-pre’ programme had expected to continue into the funded pre-school year in the same familiar environment.

Instead, they now face being displaced to unfamiliar settings and having to begin the settling-in process all over again.

Concerns this is becoming a wider pattern

Parents and staff have also warned that this year’s shortfall may not be a one-off.

One parent previously described the current crisis as a “predictable pattern, not a fluke”, warning that numbers currently progressing through pre-pre provision suggest the same issue may arise again next year.

That raises wider questions over how PAN allocations are calculated for rural, non-statutory settings and whether those allocations are keeping pace with local demographic changes and demand.

Mr Allister’s reference to Armoy and The Grange now adds weight to fears that this is becoming a wider North Antrim issue rather than an isolated admissions problem.

Growing political pressure on EA and Stormont

The issue has already prompted interventions from North Antrim DUP MLA Paul Frew and TUV MLA Timothy Gaston.

Mr Frew has called for an urgent investigation and said the EA has “got this wrong”.

Mr Gaston has raised the matter directly in the Northern Ireland Assembly with Education Minister Paul Givan, citing both Cloughmills and Taylorstown Cross Community Pre-school in Toomebridge.

With an MP and multiple MLAs now involved, pressure is mounting on the Education Authority to review its current approach.

EA says capacity remains sufficient

In its response to Love Ballymena, the Education Authority said it remains satisfied that sufficient places exist across the wider region.

A spokesperson said:

“For the 2026-27 academic year, there were 1242 first-preference applications for a pre-school place, with 1480 places available, in the Causeway Coast and Glens area.

“The Education Authority is satisfied that there is sufficient capacity for all children to be placed in a pre-school setting across Northern Ireland with no requirement to increase provision.”

However, the widening criticism from families and elected representatives increasingly centres on whether “sufficient capacity” on a regional basis translates into meaningful access for children within their own communities.

Focus now turns to future of rural provision

The dispute is now raising wider concerns about the sustainability of rural pre-school provision across North Antrim.

If community settings with proven demand continue to be denied funding increases, questions are likely to intensify over whether villages such as Cloughmills, Armoy and The Grange can continue to meet local need.

For families already facing the prospect of keeping children at home or paying private fees, the issue has become about far more than admissions statistics.

It is now about whether rural children can access early years education within the communities where they live.

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At a glance

• Jim Allister says EA policy is failing pre-school children across North Antrim

• Cloughmills, Armoy and The Grange have all been named in the row

• Dozens of children are said to be missing out on suitable local places

• Parents warn some may be forced to keep children at home or pay privately

• Cloughmills remains one of the clearest examples, with nine families affected

• MLAs and MP have now all intervened with EA and Stormont

• Questions are growing over long-term sustainability of rural pre-school provision