St. Benedict's & St. Mary's

Introductory Statement

This enrolment policy is set out in accordance with the Education Act 1998 and by doing so the Board of Management trusts that parents will be assisted in relation to enrolment matters however, the Chairperson of the Board of Management and the Principal will be happy to clarify any further matters arising.

Procedure for Enrolment

Application Procedure

Parents seeking to enrol their child(ren) are requested to obtain and return a completed enrolment application form from the secretary’s office (See attached Appendix 1) with:

• An original birth/adoption certificate to the school.
• Personal Public Service (PPS) number.
• An original baptismal certificate (if applicable).
• Proof of address

Applications will only be accepted from September of the year prior to child(ren) starting school.

Provision of key information for parents

The names of children for whom enrolment application forms, birth/adoption certificates, PPS numbers and baptismal certificates (if applicable) have been returned will be placed on a class waiting list. The Board of Management will have final approval on applications.

Equality of access is the key value that determines the enrolment of children to our school.

No child is refused admission for reasons of ethnicity, special educational needs, disability, language/accent, gender, traveller status, asylum seeker/refugee status, religion, political beliefs and values, family or social circumstances.

Decision making

While recognising the rights of parents to enrol their children in the school of their choice, the Board of Management is also responsible to respect the rights of the existing school community and in particular, the children already enrolled. This requires balanced judgements, which are guided by the principles of natural justice and acting in the best interests of all children. Assisting the school in such circumstances, the Board of Management reserves the right to determine the number of children in each classroom bearing in mind:

• The educational needs of children of a particular age.
• Size of/available space in classroom.
• Multi grade classes.
• Presence of children with special educational/behavioural needs.
• DES maximum class size average directives (currently a maximum average of 22 children).

In the event of the number of children seeking enrolment in any given class/standard exceeding the number of places available preceding or during the school year (due to the Board of Management being unable to provide suitable accommodation, or recruit the required teaching staff) the following criteria will be used to prioritise children for enrolment:

• Brothers and sisters (including step siblings resident at the same address) of children already enrolled – priority given to eldest.
• Catholic children living within the parish of Grange Park – priority given to the eldest.
• Non-Catholic children living within the parish of Grange Park – priority given to the eldest.
• Pupil’s attending One Step Ahead Pre-School.
• Children of current school staff – priority given to the eldest child.
• In the event of being unable to enrol a child(ren) from the above categories in given class at the beginning of a year, or mid-year, such children will receive priority (in order above) for the subsequent school year over the other children on the class waiting list

Refusal to enrol on grounds of “Exceptional Circumstances”

The BOM reserves the right to refuse enrolment in exceptional circumstances as follows:

• The pupil has special needs such that, even with additional resources available from DES, the school cannot meet such needs and/or provide the pupil with an appropriate education or
• In the opinion of the B0M, the pupil poses an unacceptable risk to the safety, health or welfare of other pupils/school staff.

Right of Appeal: Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 provides for a right of appeal against a decision to refuse enrolment.

Admission day/date

Junior Infants will be admitted to the school on the first day of the school year.

Pupils Transferring

Pupils wishing to transfer from other schools are enrolled subject to the rules governing national schools, as well as our own school’s enrolment policy and local agreements with other schools.

The Education Welfare Act 2000 contains some specific new provisions in relation to the transfer of pupils including the requirement that information concerning attendance and the child’s educational progress should be communicated between schools.

Enrolment of children with Special Needs

Children with special needs will be resourced in accordance with the level of resources provided by the Dept. of Education & Skills to the Board of Management.

Not-withstanding the availability of such resources, parents of children who are unsatisfied with the level of educational provision in our school are advised to consider a special school which is designed and resourced to specifically cater for the needs of children with special educational needs.