We, the undersigned, call on the Education Authority and Department of Education to urgently confirm and allocate the promised free PSEP playgroup spaces to Burnfoot Community Playgroup.

Burnfoot was told that if eight children not already in the system registered for September 2025, free places would be awarded. Burnfoot now has:

• 6 children who fully qualify and are not placed elsewhere.
• 2 children whose parents had originally applied elsewhere but had long since chosen Burnfoot as their preferred setting.

This clearly meets the Education Authority’s requirement of eight children.

Burnfoot is a rural area of high deprivation. Families here face significant social and economic challenges, and access to early years provision is vital in helping to break cycles of disadvantage. Parents should not be penalised for making precautionary choices for their children at a time when rumours about Burnfoot Playgroup’s closure were circulating. Those rumours have already caused unnecessary worry in our community.

Our children deserve the best possible start in life, with access to high-quality early years education in their own community. Removing these free places would:

• Deny local children the same opportunities as others.
• Undermine parental choice and confidence.
• Threaten the sustainability of an essential rural service.

We therefore demand that the Education Authority and Department of Education immediately confirm and allocate the free PSEP spaces to Burnfoot Community Playgroup.