Gaelscoil Osraí
Admissions Policy
Introduction:
- This Admissions Policy for Gaelscoil Osraí has been drawn up by the Board of Management in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act (1998), the Equal Status Act 2000, the Education Welfare Act (2000), the Education for Persons with Special Education Needs Act 2004, the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007 and the Admission to Schools Act, 2018
The school aims to provide an integrated and inclusive education, through the medium of Irish.
- Gaelscoil Osraí is a co-educational, all-Irish primary school. Curricular subjects are taught through Irish and the Irish language is the language of communication in the school. Total immersion education is practised in the school at infant leveland English is not taught until 1st class.
- Gaelscoil Osraí is a mainstream Catholic primary school under the patronage of the Bishop of Ossory.
- Currently,there are 23 teachers employed in Gaelscoil Osraí: the Principal, 17 class teachers and 5 learning support teachers, two Special Needs Assistants, a secretary and part-time accounts secretary, two cleaners and a caretaker.
- Gaelscoil Osraí depends on grants and teacher resources from the Department of Education and Skills (DES). The school operates under DES rules.
- The school follows the Primary School Curriculum, as directed by the Department of Education and Skills.
- Gaelscoil Osraí is a two stream school. 28 children will be offered places in each of two intake classes for the 2020 school year and policy will be reviewed annually.
This Admissions Policy ensures that the appropriate procedures are in place to enable the school to make decisions on all applications in an open and transparent manner consistent with the ethos and of the school and in accordance with legal obligations.
The aim of this Admissions Policy is to inform parents about the school and to set out the criteria under which applications will be considered.
ENROLMENT APPLICATION PROCEDURE FOR JUNIOR INFANTS
Confirmation of your previous expression of interest in a place for 2020-2021 is required by 12.00 noon on Friday, February 14th2020, in writing or by email.
- It should be noted that the submission of an application form(s) does not confer a right to enrolment.
- The following conditions must be met for application for enrolment into Junior Infants:
- A child must have reached his/her fourth birthday on or before the 1st April preceding the September in respect of which the application for enrolment into Junior Infants is made.
- A fully completed enrolment application form, duly signed and dated, must have been completed. Such an application strictly relates to enrolment for the following September.
- The official application form must be used.
- A separate form must be used in respect of each child’s application.
- A copy of the applicant’s birth certificate must accompany a fully completed, signed & dated application form, which must be submitted no later than the closing date in order for the application to be considered a “complete application”.
Complete applications only will be considered. The BoM is not obliged to consider late and/or incomplete applications.
- The BoM is not obliged to place applications, which are late and/or incomplete, on a waiting list.
- Submitting inaccurate information on an application form or in accompanying documentation will render the application void ab initio. Where a place has been offered this will result in the offer of the place being withdrawn and the place being reallocated. In the case of placement on a waiting list, it will result in removal from the waiting list.
- Written notification of the decision regarding the application for enrolment will be issued to Parents.
Parents of applicants who have been offered a place must inform the school, by completing and returning an enrolment acceptance form, within ten calendar days. Failure do so will result in the place being forfeited and the place being reallocated.
If the application for enrolment is successful and the place has been accepted as outlined above, the pupil shall be enrolled as per his/her name on his/her official birth certificate. The school will however use the child’s Irish language version as their working name throughout their time in our school.
Applicants in respect of whom a complete application has been made, who are not successful in securing a place in Junior Infants, will be placed on a waiting list. This waiting list will expire at 5pm on the 30th September of the year in respect of which the application for enrolment has been made.
Criteria used to prioritise applicants for Junior Infants
The criteria in priority order 1 – 4 below, are used to determine enrolment, where the number of applications received outnumbers the number of places available in Junior Infants.
In the event that the number of applicants, in any one of the categories, outnumbers the places available, applicants’ ages will determine the outcome i.e. places will be offered beginning with the oldest eligible applicant in the oversubscribed category and proceeding in descending order of age from oldest to youngest, until all available places have been filled.
It is to be noted that reference to siblings is to be taken as including reference to step siblings, half-siblings, step-siblings and foster siblings residing at the same address.
- Children from Irish-speaking families.
- The brothers and sisters of children currently attending Gaelscoil Osraí.
- Brothers and sisters of past pupils of Gaelscoil Osraí.
- Children who have spent at least one year attending a recognised Naíonra.
Note: For information ONLY as relevant section/s not yet commenced: In the Admission to Schools Act, 2018 level of fluency is described as follows: a level of fluency indicative of what would be expected of a student who uses the Irish language as a normal means of communication in a non-educational environment, taking into account the age and any special education needs of the student concerned
– Parent(s) may, when making an application for admission to an ILS, include a statement confirming that the student has attained a level of fluency in the language and that said fluency would be likely to regress if student were not admitted to an ILS
When making an application, the parent(s) shall provide evidence as s/he considers appropriate in relation to the level of fluency which may include confirmation that the student is available to attend an interview or meeting to demonstrate his/her level of fluency
An Irish Language School shall only take into account the evidence that the parent(s) provided when making the application
Irish Language Schools may not rank in order of preference, for the purposes of admission, a student who has attained the required level of fluency relative to other students who have attained the required level of fluency, by virtue of the students’ relative fluency in the Irish language.
An Irish Language School is not permitted to require a student to attend an interview or other meeting to assess his/her level of fluency in the language.]
Pupils with Special Needs:
Gaelscoil Osraí welcomes applications for admission of pupils with special educational needs.
Pupils with special needs will be resourced in accordance with the level of resources provided by the DES and/or NCSE. In the event that the applicant has special educational needs, a copy of the student’s medical/psychological reports and/or a professional assessment of the pupil’s needs must be submitted, so that provision can be made for that pupil’s welfare and educational progress.
REFUSAL TO ENROL
- Gaelscoil Osraí will refuse to enrol an applicant who is seeking to be enrolled in the school where that applicant was previously a pupil in Gaelscoil Osraí and was either expelled from Gaelscoil Osraí and/or transferred from it/enrolled in another school while on suspension and/or undergoing a process under Gaelscoil Osraí Code of Behaviour.
- Gaelscoil Osraí will refuse to enrol an applicant who is seeking to be enrolled in the school where that applicant is transferring from/is enrolled in/was enrolled in another school if that applicant has either been expelled from or is currently suspended from that school and/or is/was undergoing a process under that school’s code of behaviour. Reports detailing the applicant’s behaviour record from the school from which the applicant is proposing to transfer/the last school which the applicant was enrolled in, is a requirement prior to the consideration of the application.
- The school reserves the right to refuse enrolment to any applicant who does not comply with the terms of this enrolment policy.
- In exceptional circumstancesthe school reserves the right to refuse enrolment to any applicant where:
- The applicant has special needs such that, even with additional resources being made available from the DES/NCSE, the school cannot meet such needs and/or provide the applicant with an appropriate education.
- The applicant poses unacceptable risk(s) to other pupils, staff and/or school property.
Parents of pupils refused under 1 – 4 above will be advised of their right to appeal the BoM’s decision as outlined below.
Gaelscoil Osraí has a Code of Behaviour, which is updated regularly. It is understood that when you accept a place for your child in the school, that each child and their parents/guardians accept the terms of the Code of Behaviour, and all other current and futures school policies.
Transfer of pupils from other SCHOOLS DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2020 – 2021
- (including application for Junior Infants after the 1st October 2020)
- Pupils from other schools may transfer into the school at any time subject to the following criteria when an application for enrolment into any mainstream class (including Junior Infants after the 1st October) during the academic year is under consideration:
- That optimum arrangements of existing pupils for teaching and learning purposes are maintained
- Child will be given an opportunity to show that his/her standard of Irish would not adversely affect the progress of the class s/he wishes to join.
- That a place exists in the relevant class/es, taking all relevant circumstances into account, eg needs of the existing pupils, presence of pupils with special educational needs, integration of pupils with special educational needs, presence of pupils with behavioural needs, cap on class sizes as provided for in this policy, space in classrooms, health and safety considerations etc.
- No pupils will be accepted into Junior Infants prior to October 1st. An application for enrolment into Junior Infants after October 1st and for the remainder of the academic year, will be considered only where a vacancy exists, the applicant was already enrolled in another primary school and is/was in attendance at that primary school for not less than 20 school days.
- Pupils will be enrolled in age appropriate class/es once the following criteria have been met:
- The official application form, which is available on request from the school, must be fully completed, dated and signed by the Parents
- A copy of the applicant’s birth certificate must be furnished
- A separate form, available from the school office, must be completed for each child
- The BoM is not obliged to consider incomplete applications
- Failure to submit a birth certificate will mean that the application is incomplete.
- The availability of a place, in a specific class, will be determined in the context of the overall number of pupils which the school can accommodate at the time the application is made and in addition taking into consideration other relevant circumstances eg needs of the existing pupils, presence of pupils with special educational needs, presence of pupils with behavioural needs, cap on class sizes as provided for in this policy, space in classrooms, health and safety considerations etc.
- Submitting inaccurate information on an application form or in accompanying documentation will render the application void ab initio. Where a place has been offered, this will result in the offer of the place being withdrawn and it being reallocated. In the case of placement on a waiting list, it will result in removal from the waiting list.
- Written notification of the decision regarding the application will be issued to Parents within 21 calendar days of receipt of the fully completed, signed and dated application form.
Parents of applicants who have been offered a place must inform the school by completing and returning an enrolment acceptance form within seven calendar days. Failure do so will result in the place being forfeited and the place being reallocated.
If the application for enrolment is successful and the place has been accepted as outlined above, the pupil shall be enrolled as per his/her name on his/her official birth certificate.
Applicants who are not successful in securing a place will be placed on a waiting list in date order of receipt of completed application. A place on the waiting list expires at the end of the academic year for which the application was made.
The BoM is not obliged to consider applications which are incomplete and/or not signed and /or not dated and/or do not include the required documentation.
Where the number of applications received outnumbers the available places, any available places arising will be allocated on a “first come first served basis,’ based on the date the fully completed application form was received.
APPEAL PROCEDURE AGAINST REFUSAL TO ENROL
Parents who are unhappy with an enrolment decisionmay appeal under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 to the DES on the official Section 29 Appeal Application Form which can be downloaded from www.education.ie. This appeal must be submitted to the DES within 42days of receipt of the decision of the BoM to refuse enrolment.