Admission Policy

St. Joseph's National School

Mission Statement of St. Joseph’s N.S.:

1. To enable the child to live a full life as a child and to realise his / her potential as a unique individual.

2. To enable the child to develop as a social being through living and co-operating with others and so contribute to the good of society.

3. To prepare the child for further education and lifelong learning.

4. To promote the Catholic ethos throughout the school while continuing to respect diversity.

Vision:

We at St. Joseph’s N.S. strive to provide a quality education so that all pupils are able to reach their potential within a caring, secure, stimulating environment. We hope to equip them with the skills necessary to undertake a programme of lifelong learning which enables to be part of and contribute to their community and society.

Aims:

At St. Joseph’s N.S. we aim to:

- provide an atmosphere that will encourage and foster learning by promoting a positive self image, in a happy, safe and secure environment.

- promote Christian values.

- enhance the holistic development of the child, physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and moral well-being of each child.

- create an environment where the dignity and uniqueness and rights of each child is respected and appreciated. All children are welcome, regardless of race, creed or ability.

- promote environmental awareness, through an appreciation of history, culture, art and religion, and so instil a sense of pride of place.

- promote co-operation among pupils, staff, parents, Board of Management and the wider community.

Admission Statement:

St. Joseph’s N.S. will not discriminate in its admission of a student to the school on any of the following:

the gender ground of the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
the civil status ground of the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
the family status ground of the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
the sexual orientation ground of the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
the religion ground of the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
the disability ground of the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
the ground of race of the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned,
the Traveller community ground of the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned, or
the ground that the student or the applicant in respect of the student concerned has special educational needs

As per section 61 (3) of the Education Act 1998, ‘civil status ground’, ‘disability ground’, ‘discriminate’, ‘family status ground’, ‘gender ground’, ‘ground of race’, ‘religion ground’, ‘sexual orientation ground’ and ‘Traveller community ground’ shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of the Equal Status Act 2000.

St. Joseph’s N.S. is a school whose objective is to provide education in an environment which promotes certain religious values and does not discriminate where it refuses to admit as a student a person who is not Catholic and it is proved that the refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school.

St. Joseph’s N.S. is a school which has established a class for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with the approval of the Minister for Education and Skills, which provides an education exclusively for students with a category or categories of special educational needs specified by the Minister and may refuse to admit to the class a student who does not have the category of needs specified.

Categories of Special Educational Needs catered for in the school/special class:

St. Joseph’s N.S., with the approval of the Minister for Education and Skills, has established a class to provide an education exclusively for students with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder).

Admission of Students:

This school shall admit each student seeking admission except where –

the school is oversubscribed (please see section 4 below for further details)

a parent of a student, when required by the principal in accordance with section 23(4) of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, fails to confirm in writing that the code of behaviour of the school is acceptable to him or her and that he or she shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure compliance with such code by the student

St. Joseph’s N.S. is a Catholic school and may refuse to admit as a student a person who is not of the Catholic faith where it is proved that the refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school.

The special class attached to St. Joseph’s N.S. provides an education exclusively for students with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) and the school may refuse admission to this class, where the student concerned does not have the specified category of special educational needs provided for in this class.

Oversubscription (this section must be completed by all schools including schools that do not anticipate being oversubscribed):

In the event that the school is oversubscribed, the school will, when deciding on applications for admission, apply the following selection criteria in the order listed below to those applications that are received within the timeline for receipt of applications as set out in the school’s annual admission notice:

In the event of the number of children seeking enrolment exceeding the number of places available the following criteria will be used to prioritise children for enrolment:

Brothers, sisters and step siblings of children already enrolled with priority given to eldest child
Children living within the parish with priority given to eldest child
Children of current school staff including ancillary staff with priority given to eldest child

In the event that there are two or more students tied for a place or places in any of the selection criteria categories above (the number of applicants exceeds the number of remaining places), the following arrangements will apply:

In the event that there are insufficient places for the number of applicants after applying categories 1-4 above, a lottery will apply in allotting places for those who have been unsuccessful in obtaining a place.

The lottery will be supervised by:

the lottery will take place in the school hub classroom in the presence of members of staff and members of the Parents Association

How the lottery will be conducted:

All applicants within the category will have their names drawn until all places are filled.

When the places are filled names of the applicants in this category will continue to be drawn to establish the order of applicants on the waiting list.

What will not be considered or taken into account:

In accordance with section 62(7) (e) of the Education Act, the school will not consider or take into account any of the following in deciding on applications for admission or when placing a student on a waiting list for admission to the school:

a student’s prior attendance at a pre-school or pre-school service, including naíonraí,

the payment of fees or contributions (howsoever described) to the school;

a student’s academic ability, skills or aptitude;

the occupation, financial status, academic ability, skills or aptitude of a student’s parents;

a requirement that a student, or his or her parents, attend an interview, open day or other meeting as a condition of admission;

a student’s connection to the school by virtue of a member of his or her family attending or having previously attended the school; other than, in the case of siblings of a student attending or having attended the school

the date and time on which an application for admission was received by the school,

This is subject to the application being received at any time during the period specified for receiving applications set out in the annual admission notice of the school for the school year concerned.

This is also subject to the school making offers based on existing waiting lists (up until 31st January 2025 only).

Decisions on applications:

All decisions on applications for admission to St. Joseph’s N.S. will be based on the following:

Our school’s admission policy
The school’s annual admission notice (where applicable)
The information provided by the applicant in the school’s official application form received during the period specified in our annual admission notice for receiving applications

(Please see section 12 below in relation to applications received outside of the admissions period and section 13 below in relation to applications for places in years other than the intake group.)

Selection criteria that are not included in our school admission policy will not be used to make a decision on an application for a place in our school.

Notifying applicants of decisions:

Applicants will be informed in writing as to the decision of the school, within the timeline outlined in the annual admissions notice.

If a student is not offered a place in our school, the reasons why they were not offered a place will be communicated in writing to the applicant, including, where applicable, details of the student’s ranking against the selection criteria and details of the student’s place on the waiting list for the school year concerned.

Applicants will be informed of the right to seek a review/right of appeal of the school’s decision (see section 16 below for further details).

Acceptance of an offer of a place by an applicant:

In accepting an offer of admission from St. Joseph’s N.S., you must indicate -

(i) whether or not you have accepted an offer of admission for another school or schools. If you have accepted such an offer, you must also provide details of the offer or offers concerned and

(ii) whether or not you have applied for and awaiting confirmation of an offer of admission from another school or schools, and if so, you must provide details of the other school or schools concerned.

Please note: Under the Admission to Schools Act 2018 (section 7. l. iv), an offer of school place may not be made or may be withdrawn if this information above is not provided on acceptance of a place (see section 9 below)

Circumstances in which offers may not be made or may be withdrawn:

An offer of admission may not be made or may be withdrawn by St. Joseph’s N.S. where -

it is established that information contained in the application is false or misleading.
an applicant fails to confirm acceptance of an offer of admission on or before the date set out in the annual admission notice of the school.
the parent of a student, when required by the principal in accordance with section 23(4) of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, fails to confirm in writing that the code of behaviour of the school is acceptable to him or her and that he or she shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure compliance with such code by the student; or
an applicant has failed to comply with the requirements of ‘acceptance of an offer’ as set out in section 8 above.

Sharing of Data with other schools:

Applicants should be aware that section 66(6) of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 allows for the sharing of certain information between schools in order to facilitate the efficient admission of students.

Section 66(6) allows a school to provide a patron or another board of management with a list of the students in relation to whom -

(i) an application for admission to the school has been received,

(ii) an offer of admission to the school has been made, or

(iii) an offer of admission to the school has been accepted.

The list may include any or all of the following:

(i) the date on which an application for admission was received by the school;

(ii) the date on which an offer of admission was made by the school;

(iii) the date on which an offer of admission was accepted by an applicant;

(iv) a student’s personal details including his or her name, address, date of birth and personal public service number (within the meaning of section 262 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005)

Waiting list in the event of oversubscription:

In the event of there being more applications to the school year concerned than places available, a waiting list of students whose applications for admission to St. Joseph’s N.S. were unsuccessful due to the school being oversubscribed will be compiled and will remain valid for the school year in which admission is being sought.

Placement on the waiting list of St. Joseph’s N.S. is in the order of priority assigned to the students’ applications after the school has applied the selection criteria in accordance with this admission policy.

Applicants whose applications are received after the closing date, outlined in the Annual Admission Notice, will be placed at the end of the waiting list in order of the date of receipt of the application.

Offers of any subsequent places that become available for and during the school year in relation to which admission is being sought will be made to those students on the waiting list, in accordance with the order of priority in relation to which the students have been placed on the list.

Late Applications:

All applications for admission received after the closing date as outlined in the annual admission notice will be considered and decided upon in accordance with our school’s admissions policy, the Education Admissions to School Act 2018 and any regulations made under that Act.

Late applicants will be notified of the decision in respect of their application no later than three weeks after the date on which the school received the application. Late applicants will be offered a place if there is place available. In the event that there is no place available, the name of the applicant will be added to the waiting list as set out in Section 11.

Procedures for admission of students to other years and during the school year:

The procedures of the school in relation to the admission of students who are not already admitted to the school to classes or years other than the school’s intake group are as follows:

Parents request an application form / form is available on website / by contacting the school
Parents complete and submit application form by due date as in Notice.
School makes decisions on applications received.
Parents notified within the timeframe – as per Annual Notice.
School offers a place or School places applicant on waiting list for the year concerned.
Applicant accepts the place & accepts the Code of Behaviour (Section 11) or Applicant refuses place.
If refused, the applicant will be notified of their entitlement to appeal the decision under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998.

The procedures of the school in relation to the admission of students who are not already admitted to the school, after the commencement of the school year in which admission is sought, are as follows:

Parents request an application form / form is available on website / by contacting the school
Parents complete and submit application form.
School makes decisions on applications received.
Parents notified within the timeframe – within 3 weeks of receiving an application.
School offers a place or School places applicant on waiting list for the year concerned.
Applicant accepts the place & accepts the Code of Behaviour (Section 11) or Applicant refuses place.
If refused, the applicant will be notified of their entitlement to appeal the decision under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998.

Declaration in relation to the non-charging of fees:

This rule applies to all schools.

The board of St. Joseph’s N.S. or any persons acting on its behalf will not charge fees for or seek payment or contributions (howsoever described) as a condition of -

an application for admission of a student to the school, or
the admission or continued enrolment of a student in the school.

Arrangements regarding students not attending religious instruction:

The following are the school’s arrangements for students, where the parents or in the case of a student who has reached the age of 18 years, the student, who has requested that the student attend the school without attending religious instruction in the school. These arrangements will not result in a reduction in the school day of such students:

A written request should be made to the Principal of the school. A meeting will then be arranged with the parent(s) or the student, as the case may be, to discuss how the request may be accommodated by the school.

Reviews/appeals:

Review of decisions by the board of Management:

The parent of the student may request the board to review a decision to refuse admission. Such requests must be made in accordance with Section 29C of the Education Act 1998.

The timeline within which such a review must be requested and the other requirements applicable to such reviews are set out in the procedures determined by the Minister under section 29B of the Education Act 1998 which are published on the website of the Department of Education and Skills.

The board will conduct such reviews in accordance with the requirements of the procedures determined under Section 29B and with section 29C of the Education Act 1998.

Note: Where an applicant has been refused admission due to the school being oversubscribed, the applicant must request a review of that decision by the board of management prior to making an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act 1998.

Where an applicant has been refused admission due to a reason other than the school being oversubscribed, the applicant may request a review of that decision by the board of management prior to making an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act 1998.

Right of appeal:

Under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998, the parent of the student may appeal a decision of this school to refuse admission.
An appeal may be made under Section 29 (1) (c) (i) of the Education Act 1998 where the refusal to admit was due to the school being oversubscribed.
An appeal may be made under Section 29 (1) (c) (ii) of the Education Act 1998 where the refusal to admit was due a reason other than the school being oversubscribed.
Where an applicant has been refused admission due to the school being oversubscribed, the applicant must request a review of that decision by the board of management prior to making an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act 1998. (see Review of decisions by the Board of Management)
Where an applicant has been refused admission due to a reason other than the school being oversubscribed, the applicant may request a review of that decision by the board of management prior to making an appeal under section 29 of the Education Act 1998. (see Review of decisions by the Board of Management)
Appeals under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 will be considered and determined by an independent appeals committee appointed by the Minister for Education and Skills.
The timeline within which such an appeal must be made and the other requirements applicable to such appeals are set out in the procedures determined by the Minister under section 29B of the Education Act 1998 which are published on the website of the Department of Education and Skills.

Admission Policy

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