Majority of children missing from one NI school 'traced', says head

The majority of children named by the Education Authority (EA) last week as missing from one NI school have been traced, its principal has said.

Three of the 24 listed have returned to Harryville Primary in County Antrim, according to Neil McCullough, and some others have been located.

A number, however, remain untraced.

In a letter circulated to all schools on 8 October, the EA named 24 children from Harryville Primary who it was seeking to find.

The children had been missing from school since the start of the term.

Their names were among a larger list of more than 50 children who the EA said were unaccounted for in the school system across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The list was distributed to principals across Northern Ireland by the Education Authority (EA) which is looking for help to trace the children.

According to the EA, 24 pupils who had attended Harryville Primary School in Ballymena had left and it was not clear what school they now go to.

The EA told BBC News NI that it also made contact with authorities in the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland for help in tracing the children.

BBC News NI had asked if anyone from Harryville Primary School wanted to comment through the EA, but the EA issued a statement separately in response.

"The safety and protection of children and young people is our absolute priority," an EA spokesperson said.

"We work with schools and partner organisations to ensure that robust systems are in place to identify, record, and monitor pupils' attendance.

"When a child is persistently absent from their registered school, and all reasonable efforts to locate the child have been exhausted, the EA will engage with the 'Child Missing in Education database' which shares information with schools and educational authorities across the UK to ascertain if a pupil has relocated."

The EA said it works with other organisations including the Irish Child and Family Agency Tusla on the issue.

The names of the pupils were published in a letter which was circulated to school principals across Northern Ireland from the EA's Education Welfare Service.

It contained the names of more than 50 children, their date of birth and the school they last were enrolled in.

According to principals who spoke to BBC News NI, the EA sometimes circulates names of pupils who have stopped attending without their parents informing the school if they have left permanently or why they are no longer going to school.

One head described it as a "tracer" letter, asking principals if any of the named pupils have subsequently enrolled in a different school.

They said that the letters usually contained only a few names, rather than the more than 50 who appeared on the EA's most recent letter sent on 8 October.

24 of the pupils named had attended Harryville Primary School in Ballymena.

The area was the scene of protests and riots in June after an alleged sexual assault in the town.

Two 14-year-old boys are currently on remand, charged with attempted oral rape of a schoolgirl. Both deny the charges.

The Education Minister Paul Givan subsequently said that the rate of pupils missing school in the area rose after the rioting.

NI children's commissioner said he fears this is "the tip of the iceberg".

"I fear that there are large numbers of children that we don't know about. I am really worried that we are sleepwalking into a disaster. We've seen this in other jurisdictions."

Chris Quinn said this is an issue that has been a concern for his office "for some time".

"I would argue that this issue is a systemic issue ... it's a Northern Ireland wide issue," he told BBC's Evening Extra.

"We need to consider the right and best interests of children and young people and for me safeguarding is a main priority."

The Alliance Party assembly member for North Antrim, Sian Mulholland, told BBC News NI that the fact that so many children had left school in Ballymena was "really worrying".

She said that, in the aftermath of the rioting in the town, she had heard of "quite a few families leaving".

Mulholland said it was worrying to see such a large number of pupils on the list.

"Knowing the work of Harryville Primary School and how inclusive and welcoming, and how their pastoral care system had been supporting and working with families, it just makes me really sad."

She said that she was glad that the EA was attempting to trace the children.

"School is so often their sanctuary, school is so often the place where they make and develop those connections especially if they are seen as newcomers or if they are a newcomer family," she said.

North Antrim MP Jim Allister said that the news "only confirms what I previously pointed out - that a significant number of Roma families had moved from Ballymena".

He was referring to comments he had made earlier this year following the riots in Ballymena.

Reports at the time said the target of much of the aggression during the riots was aimed toward the town's Roma (Gypsy) community and other foreign nationals.

Some who fled said they would not be coming back.