The Enrolment Policy of Scoil Naomh Bárra school has been formulated in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act 1998 in order to assist Parents in relation to enrolment matters. The Chairperson of the Board of Management or the Principal will be happy to clarify any further matters arising from the Policy.
Parents seeking to enrol their child/children in Scoil Naomh Bárra are requested to return a completed Enrolment Application Form with an original Birth/Adoption Certificate to the school. A Certificate of Baptism should also be provided from where the child has been baptised. The names of children for whom Enrolment Application Forms and Birth/Adoption Certificates have been returned, will be placed on a class waiting list. Under the Rules of the Department of Education and Science, pupils may only be enrolled from the age of 4 years and upward.
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 (except for schools with a single sex tradition), traveller status, asylum-seeker/refugee status, religious or political beliefs and values, family or social circumstances.
While recognising the right of parents to enrol their child in the school of their choice, the Board of Management of Scoil Naomh Bárra is also responsible for respecting 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 interest of all children. Assisting the school in such circumstances, the Board of Management, with due regard for the Patron’s wishes, reserves the right to determine the maximum number of children in each separate classroom bearing in mind;
- size of/available space in classrooms
- availability of grants and teacher resources provided by the Department of Education and Science
- educational needs of children of a particular age
- multi-grade classes
- presence of children with special educational/behavioural needs
- Department of Education and Science maximum class average directives
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 Board of Management being unable to provide suitable accommodation, or recruit the required staff) the following criteria will be used to prioritise children for enrolment;
- Catholic children of the parish (including children of Travelling Community) resident within the parish.
- Brothers and sisters of children in the school.
- Catholic children who live outside the parish and do not have a Catholic school in their parish.
- All children who live within the boundaries but are not Catholic, applying for a placement are entitled to a place if there are vacancies after the groups from 1 – 3 have been allocated places.
- All children who apply to the school and are not Catholics and not residents within the parish boundaries are entitled to a place in the school if there are vacancies in the school after the groups from 1 to 4 have been allocated places.
In order to accommodate groups 1 and 2, Boards may have to operate a cut off in age of applicants to give places to groups 1 and 2, if there is pressure for places in the school. Schools within a parish co-operate with one another in this area, taking into account the wider needs of the parish community and its apostolic mission.
There is a Registration Week each year, usually during the second school term. Other pupils may be enrolled during the school year (if newly resident in the area). 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. Under the terms of The Education Welfare Act (2000) information concerning attendance and the child’s educational progress are to be provided by the school from which the child is transferring.
In order to facilitate the transition from home to the school environment, school finishes at 12.30pm for the first two weeks in September for new pupils.
Children with special needs will be resourced in accordance with the level of resources provided by the Department of Education and Science to the Board of Management.
Notwithstanding 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.
Children enrolled in our school are required to co-operate with and support the School/Board of Management’s Code of Behaviour as well as all other policies on curriculum, organisation and management. The Board of Management places Parents/Guardians responsible for ensuring that their child/children co-operate with said policies in an age-appropriate way. In accordance with the Department of Education and Science’s rules for National Schools, a child may be suspended.
These policies may be added to and revised from time to time.