ST CECILIA’S COLLEGE - ADMISSIONS CRITERIA - SEPTEMBER 2012
As currently required by the law, priority will be given to pupils normally resident in Northern Ireland before children normally resident elsewhere.
With due regard to the above, the following criteria will be applied in the numbered, ranking order specified, to select pupils for Year 8 entry in September 2012.
1 Pupils whose sister(s)/half-sister(s)/foster sister(s) are presently, or were formerly enrolled at the school.
2 Pupils whose parent(s)/guardian(s) is a member of the school staff.
3 Pupils who are the eldest girl in the family.
4 Pupils who normally reside in parishes in the Derry City Council area and whose parents have stated St Cecilia’s as their first preference of Catholic Maintained School.
5 Pupils whose mothers/guardians were past pupils of the school.
6 Pupils who normally reside in parishes in the Derry City Council area.
7 Pupils who normally reside in other Parishes.
The permitted admission number for Year 8 as determined by the Department of Education for the academic year 2012/13 is 129.
In the event that the school would exceed its permitted admission number by accepting all applicants qualifying for selection using the final criterion so required, then selection for all places remaining in this category will be on the basis of initial letter of the surname (as appears on the birth certificate), in the order set out below:
U P C D L Y O Q V M B MAC F O’
N T I A J MC K Z E S R G W X H
The order was determined by a random selection of letters, witnessed by the Board of Governors. In the event of surnames beginning with the same initial letter, the subsequent letters of the surnames will be used in alphabetical order. In the event of 2 identical surnames, the alphabetical order of the initials of the forenames will be used.
Applicants should note that where an address and/or child age information contained within an application qualifies a child for admission, then that information will require to be verified. To enable the Board of Governors to verify this, applicants, towards the end of the admissions process, will be asked to provide:
A Any one of the following original documents to credibly verify child-age:
- the child’s Birth Certificate;
- a letter awarding Child Benefit in respect of the child or another letter relating to this benefit;
- the child’s Medical Card.
and
B Any two of the following original documents to credibly verify address at which the child is normally resident:
- a bank, post office, credit union or building society statement (or equivalent) which shows the address at which the child is normally resident;
- a current utility bill (eg Electricity, Gas, Television Licence, Telephone) which shows the address at which the child is normally resident;
- a letter awarding Child Benefit in respect of the child or another letter relating to this benefit;
- the child’s Medical Card.
Please note that other original documents deemed by the school to be equally capable of verifying applicant information, or other equally capable means of verification, will be considered at the discretion of the Board of Governors. If, therefore, applicants are unable to provide the specific documents listed above then they should contact the school to establish how they can verify applications to the satisfaction of the school.
The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any application form/Transfer Form.
Upon receipt the school will take a copy of the documents but will retain this copy only until the admissions procedure (including Appeals Tribunals) is complete. The provision of these documents is essential if we are to offer your child a place at St Cecilia’s College. By law, St Cecilia’s College Board of Governors, like others, has a duty to verify the important information within a child’s application in order to ensure that it has applied its admissions criteria correctly and that the admissions process is accurate and fair. If applicants do not provide the requested documents by the deadline given, then the school must regrettably withdraw the place currently allocated to the child. Similarly, if the documents provided fail to verify the information within the application that has currently qualified the child for a place at St Cecilia’s College, then this place will be withdrawn.
The provision of false or incorrect information or the failure to provide information within the deadlines set by Post-Primary Schools can result in the withdrawal of a place and the inability to offer a place on the part of any school nominated on the applicant’s transfer form.