Where the figures come from

What we count

Funded places

The programme’s admission number plus any temporary adjustment, as published. Places are shared by both age groups. Where a setting reports full-time and part-time programmes separately, their places are added.

First choices

Target-age children who listed the setting as their first preference.

First choices not placed

First-choice target-age applicants minus those offered a place there. They may have been placed elsewhere.

Places left after Stage 2

Places minus all children offered a place in either age group, worked out per programme and never below zero.

First choices per place

First choices divided by funded places. Above 1 means more children chose it first than it had places.

Outcome labels

!Oversubscribed Some target-age children who listed this setting first were not offered a place here.
●Filled Every target-age child who listed it first was placed, but no places were left at the end of Stage 2.
✓Places left Places were still unfilled at the end of Stage 2.

What the figures cannot tell you

• Your child’s chance of a place. That depends on criteria and on the other applicants, which are not published.
• Live vacancies. Offers, refusals and withdrawals after Stage 2 are not included.
• Next year’s demand. Birth rates, new settings and changes to criteria all move it.
• Why a child was not placed. A child counted as not placed at their first choice may have been placed elsewhere.

Coverage

The directory covers the 103 settings recorded under Belfast City Council in the 2026/27 workbook. Earlier years are matched by DE reference number. Settings that closed before 2026/27 are not listed. Criteria summaries exist only for a few settings and are written by hand.

Corrections

If something looks wrong, compare it with the source workbook above. The importer stops rather than guessing when a file changes shape.