Primary One Admissions Criteria 2022

RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND PRINCIPAL IN RELATION TO ADMISSIONS

Where application for admissions exceed the admissions number the following criteria will be applied in the order set down (1-7) by the Principal and a Sub-Committee of three members of the Board of Governors of Hollybush Primary School in selecting children for admission to Year 1 in September.

Priority within each criterion will be given at all times to pupils regarded by the Board of Governors on the basis of supporting evidence by parents/guardians and/or statutory agencies, as having special circumstances (LAC, medical, social, security factors).

Priority will be given to children resident in Northern Ireland.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA – YEAR 1

During the admissions procedure when applying the criteria punctual applications will be considered before late applications are considered. The application procedure opens on 10 January 2022 at 12noon (GMT) and an application submitted by the closing date of 28 January 2022 at 12noon (GMT) will be treated as a punctual application. An application received after 12noon (GMT) on 28 January 2022 will be treated as a late application.

1. Children of compulsory school age whose place of residence is in the Parish of the Assumption Culmore.
2. Children of compulsory school age who have a child of the family presently enrolled in the school.
3. Children of compulsory school age who have attended Hollybush Primary School Nursery Unit.
4. Children of compulsory school age who are eldest/only child of the family. These children should be, at the date of their application, the eldest of the family to be eligible to apply for admission to the school. The Governors will treat twins, or multiples as joint eldest. This will also apply to a family who has not, in the opinion of the Board of Governors, had the opportunity to have an elder child already and currently enrolled e.g. cases where a child is more than 7 years younger than their next eldest sibling; cases where the eldest sibling is not eligible to attend mainstream school (for example they may attend a special school; cases where a family has moved residence). The Board of Governors reserve the right through evidence presented to them to determine if a family fits the criteria.
5. Children of compulsory school age from other areas.

In the event of over-subscription selection in any of the above criteria taken in order, then selection for the available places will be on the basis of proximity to the school, ie the shortest distance as measured by shortest walking distance on a public road from home using Google Maps. In the event of equal proximity then selection for the available places will be on the basis of the initial letter of the surname as per the birth certificate through alphabet selection of letters as listed below.

C R A L H J M B X S N Y I Z G P O D F W K E Q T U V

The order was determined by a randomised selection of letters of the alphabet. In the event of surnames as per the birth certificate beginning with the same letter the subsequent letters of the surnames will be used in alphabetical order. In the event of two identical surnames the alphabetical order of the initials of the forenames as per the birth certificate will be used.

DUTY TO VERIFY

The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any application.If the requested evidence is not provided to the Board of Governors by the deadline given, this will result in the withdrawal of an offer of place. Similarly, if information is supplied which appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.

WAITING LISTS

The school will operate a waiting list. This will be compiled from applicants who have not been selected in the initial stages of the selection process. Should places become available the admissions criteria as set out above will be reapplied to all applicants on the waiting list.Punctual applications (ie those received by the specified closing date and time for receipt of applications) will be given priority consideration in the admissions process and will be allocated the places which are available before those who are deemed to be ‘late’ applications (ie those received after the specified closing date and time). After the initial process has been completed and in the case of under-subscription the remaining places will be allocated to ‘late’ applications in keeping with the admission criteria.In the event of over-subscription should places subsequently become available, unsuccessful punctual and late applications will be considered on an equal basis and places will be allocated to the children who best satisfy the school’s admission criteria.

YEAR 1 ADMISSIONS – AFTER THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR

If a place(s) become available after 1 September 2022 and there are more applicants than places then selection of pupils will be made on the application of Year 1 Admissions Criteria to those pupils seeking admissions at the time the place(s) become available.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA – YEARS 2-7

Pupils will be considered for enrolment provided that:

1. the school would not exceed its enrolment number; and
2. in the opinion of the Board of Governors their admission would not prejudice the efficient use of the school’s resources.

If, at the time of the consideration of the application, there are more eligible applicants than places available then the Admissions Criteria for entry to Year 1 of pupils of compulsory school age will be applied.