The Education Reform(Northern Ireland) Order 1989

Discontinuance by Board of Governors

80.—(1) The Board of Governors of a grant-maintained integrated school shall not discontinue the school except in accordance with this Article.

(2) Where the Board of Governors of such a school—

(a) decides by a resolution passed at a meeting of that body to discontinue the school; and

(b) confirms that decision by a resolution passed at a subsequent meeting of that body held not less than twenty-eight days after that at which the first resolution was passed;

it shall, subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), give at least two years' notice of its intention to discontinue the school to the Department and to the board for the area in which the school is situated.

(3) No notice given under paragraph (2) without the prior approval of the Department shall be effective if the school premises were built or altered with the aid of a grant from the Department or financial assistance by a board or, before 1st October 1973, by a former local education authority.

(4) The requirement to give notice under paragraph (2) shall not apply where the Department and the board for the area in which the school is situated agree to dispense with that notice.

(5) If, during the period of a notice given under paragraph (2) in respect of a school, the Board of Governors of the school informs the Department that it is unable or unwilling to carry on the school until the expiration of the notice, the Department may give such directions as to the carrying on of the school and as to the education of the children attending the school as it thinks expedient.

(6) Where—

(a) the period of a notice given under paragraph (2) has expired; or

(b) the requirement to give that notice has been dispensed with under paragraph (4),

the Board of Governors may submit a proposal to discontinue the school to the board for the area in which the school is situated and that board shall submit the proposal to the Department together with its views thereon.

(7) Paragraphs (4) to (7), (9), (9A), (9B) and (10) of Article 14 of the principal Order shall apply in relation to a proposal under paragraph (6) as they apply in relation to a proposal under paragraph (2) of that Article.