Admissions criteria for entry September 2017

ST DOMINIC’S HIGH SCHOOL
Falls Road
Belfast BT12 6AE
Telephone No: 028 9032 0081
Fax No: 028 9031 2682
E-mail:
Web-site: / / Voluntary Grammar School
Girls’ Grammar
Age Range: 11-18
Admission No: 141
Enrolment No: 966
Principal: Mrs Carol McCann BA PGCE PQH (NI)
Chair of Board of Governors: Mr John Reid
Open Day - Saturday 14 January 2017
9.30am – 1.00pm
Address by Principal at 9.30am and 11.00am
To Parents/Guardians who wish to choose St. Dominic’s as a preference on your child’s Transfer Form
Entrance Exam Results
In assessing academic ability, St Dominic’s will use the grade awarded to pupils completing the GLA Entrance Assessment on Saturday November 19th 2016or the supplementary GLA Entrance Assessment on Saturday 10th December 2016 as specified by the school. In Section C of the Transfer Form, parents/guardians must state the grade achieved and attach to the Transfer Form a copy of the statement of results which they will receive on Saturday 28th January 2017.
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES
Any parent/guardian claiming Special Circumstances should complete the documentation within the Special Circumstances Pack available from St. Dominic’s or on our website /. This documentation, Form SC1, together with the independent documentary evidence which corroborates the claim for Special Circumstances must be attached to the Transfer Form.
SPECIAL PROVISION
1 For those currently in P7 in primary schools in Northern Ireland, claims for Special Provision should be made on
Form SP1 and attached to the Transfer Form. Form SP1 is available from the school or our website. Parents
wishing to claim Special Provision should also forward a copy of the SP1 directly to St Dominic’s by Wednesday
March 1 2017.
2 After this date, claims for Special Provision should be made directly to St Dominic’s and the Transfer Department
of the Education Authority, Belfast Region.
**If you are applying for Special Circumstances or Special Provision, please see Section 3 below

RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND PRINCIPAL IN RELATION TO ADMISSIONS TO THE SCHOOL

ADMISSIONS POLICY

The Board of Governors draws up the admissions criteria and delegates to an Admissions Sub-Committee, which includes the Principal, the responsibility for applying these criteria. Any reference herein to the term the Board of Governors includes any Committee or Sub-Committee appointed by the Board of Governors for the purposes of applying the Admission criteria set out herein.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA FOR ENTRY OF PUPILS TO FORM 1 (YEAR 8) IN SEPTEMBER 2017

  1. The Board of Governors of St Dominic’s has delegated to the Admission’s Sub Committee in conjunction with the Principal the responsibility of applying its admissions criteria to identify which applicants shall be admitted to the school in accordance with the admissions criteria set out below.
  1. Special Circumstances and/or Special Provision

Parental claims for consideration of special circumstances and or special provision for an applicant shall be examined and decided upon before the application of any of the Admissions Criteria. The Admissions Sub Committee shall on the basis of all of the documented evidence made available to them at the time of reaching their decision, decide the grade to be used in the application of the Admissions Criteria to such applicants. Once a decision has been made the applicant will then be considered along with all pupils of the same grade for the purpose of applying the admissions criteria.

  1. Pupils resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission will be given priority over pupils not so resident in Northern Ireland.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

iSpecial Circumstances refer to the claim that as a result of medical or other problems a pupil’s performance in the GL Entrance Assessment was affected. Special Circumstances must be supported by documentary evidence of a medical or other nature.

ii. Claims for Special Circumstances should be made by 2.00 pm on Friday 16th December 2016 at the Assessment Centre at which the child took the Entrance Assessment. The claim for special circumstances should be registered using an SCR Form (Special Circumstances Registration Form) available from the school at which your child sat the assessment, outlining the reasons for claiming and ensuring that the child’s full name, address and date of birth are included. It is not necessary to provide supporting evidence at this stage. All supporting documentary evidence of a medical, educational or other appropriate nature should be supplied to the Belfast Education and Library Board attached to the Transfer Form. Further detail in relation to this matter can be found in the Post-Primary Consortium’s guidance material entitled “A guide to claiming Special Circumstances for children taking the GLA Entrance Assessment” (available from the school).

iii.Please note: If a claim for the consideration of Special Circumstances is made in respect of matters for which Special Access arrangements were granted for a child, the School Admissions Sub Committee will take into account the fact that the child was granted Special Access arrangements for those matters.

Details of Medical or Other Problems

Where it is claimed that a pupil’s performance in the Entrance Assessment has been affected by a medical or other problem, independent evidence of its existence must be provided to the school. Where the problem is a medical one of short-term duration which affected the student only at the time of the Entrance Assessment the school will require the production of evidence that the pupil was examined by a medical practitioner in relation to the illness at the time of the Entrance Assessment. Where the problem is of a non-medical nature the parents/guardians must set out the precise details of the problem and append any appropriate independent evidence to corroborate its existence to the Transfer Form.

Educational Evidence

Sufficient objective educational evidence must be provided by the parents/guardians and this should accompany/be attached to the Transfer Form to enable the Admission Sub-Committee to reach a decision. Parents are entitled to obtain their child(ren)’s educational records from schools if necessary by means of a Freedom of Information request.

The following must be provided by, and attached by the parent to the Transfer Form (The information should be provided on an SC1 Form and verified by the primary school):

(a)All the applicant’s school standardised test results (SAS) in English/Literacy and Mathematics/Numeracy from the beginning of the Key Stage 2 period;

Results from all tests should be accompanied by the name of the standardised test and the supplier of the test and verified by the primary school.

(b)Copies of the applicant’s school reports for P5, P6, P7.

(c)Any other relevant educational material.

NB It is emphasized that the ONUS is on the parents to ensure that all above information is provided to St. Dominic’s. Failure to provide such information may result in the school being unable to consider the application for Special Circumstances. Parents have a right to access their child’s educational records (cf. Information Commissioner’s Office publication – Access to a pupil’s information held by schools in Northern Ireland -

NB The existence of special circumstances of itself DOES NOT in itself lead to an automatic upgrade or admission to the school. Each case is considered on its own merits by the Admissions Sub-Committee.

SPECIAL PROVISION

Application for Special Provision may be made to the Board of Governors for girls:

a) who are transferring from primary schools outside Northern Ireland or who have recently moved to Northern Ireland.

b) who have received more than half of their primary education outside Northern Ireland.

c) whose educational provision to date has been negatively affected by serious medical or other problems which are supported by independent, verifiable documentary evidence and who, as a consequence, have been unable to take the GLA Entrance Assessment or the Supplementary Assessment (November and December 2016).

Applicants, from Categories a) and b) above, who wish to apply under Special Provision do not need to take the GLA Entrance Assessment or the supplementary assessment unless their parents/guardians so wish, in which case the GLA Entrance Assessment grade obtained will also be considered.

It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to provide precise reasons why the applicant did not take part in the Entrance Assessment and to submit appropriate documentary evidence attached to the Transfer Form. The Board of Governors will decide whether these children should be admitted on the basis that they fall within the ability range of other pupils being admitted in that year. The Admissions Sub-committee of the Board of Governors may require an assessment of an applicant’s abilities to be carried out by a suitably qualified person/body approved by the school.

Parents wishing to claim for Special Provision should complete the Special Provision Application Form (SP1) available from St. Dominic’s detailing precisely the reasons why the applicant is applying for special provision and return the appropriate form (available from the school) by attaching it to the Transfer Form. A copy of the form should also be sent to St. Dominic’s by 4 pm on Wednesday March 1st 2017.

It is the responsibility of the parent(s)/guardian(s) to provide such material as they consider will assist the Admissions Sub-committee of the Board of Governors in considering the application.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA

Applicants shall be selected in the order of priority set down below:

  1. Applicants awarded a Grade A in the GLA Entrance Assessment and those applicants regarding whom parental claims for consideration of special circumstances and/or special provisions have been accepted and who, in the opinion of the Admissions Sub-Committee, based on the documented evidence submitted, are of comparable ability to those pupils awarded Grade A.
  2. Applicants awarded a Grade B1 in the GLA Entrance assessment and those applicants regarding whom parental claims for consideration of special circumstances and/or special provisions have been accepted and who, in the opinion of the Admissions Sub-Committee, based on the documented evidence submitted, are of comparable ability to those pupils awarded Grade B1.
  3. Applicants awarded a Grade B2 in the GLA Entrance Assessment and those applicants regarding whom parental claims for consideration of special circumstances and/or special provisions have been accepted and who, in the opinion of the Admissions Sub-Committee, based on the documented evidence submitted, are of comparable ability to those pupils awarded Grade B2.
  4. Applicants awarded a Grade C1 in the GLA Entrance Assessment and those applicants regarding whom parental claims for consideration of special circumstances and/or special provisions have been accepted and who, in the opinion of the Admissions Sub-Committee, based on the documented evidence submitted, are of comparable ability to those pupils awarded Grade C1.
  5. Applicants awarded a Grade C2 in the GLA Entrance Assessment and those applicants regarding whom parental claims for consideration of special circumstances and/or special provisions have been accepted and who, in the opinion of the Admissions Sub-Committee, based on the documented evidence submitted, are of comparable ability to those pupils awarded Grade C2.
  6. Applicants awarded a Grade D in the GLA Entrance Assessment and those applicants regarding whom parental claims for consideration of special circumstances and/or special provisions have been accepted and who, in the opinion of the Admissions Sub-Committee, based on the documented evidence submitted, are of comparable ability to those pupils awarded Grade D.

If there are more applicants who satisfy any one of the criteria 1-6 when they are being applied in the order of priority set down above than there are places available, then applicants within that criterion shall be selected to fill the remaining places by applying the following Sub Criteria in the order of priority set down below:-

(a)Applicants of whom a sibling (sister or half-sister or step sister or legally adopted/foster sister or half sister) is currently or formerly was a pupil enrolled in the school. State the name of the pupil, year group and years attended (in the case of a former pupil). Provide maiden name if appropriate.

(b) Applicants of whom a sibling as defined in (a) above qualified for admission under Criteria 1-6 for entry into St Dominic’s (e.g. a twin) in the current admissions year (2017-18).

(c)Applicants who are the first girl in the family or the oldest girl in the family eligible to transfer to mainstream secondary school. (Please provide verifying letter written on headed notepaper signed by one of the following: (i) School principal (ii) Family Doctor (iii) Parish Priest.

If a girl has an older sister who did not gain entry to St. Dominic’s in previous years due to not sitting transfer or applying and not achieving a grade which enabled her to gain entry, she should be considered with all first/oldest girls(evidence must be provided).

(d)Applicants who are the daughters of past pupils. State the name of the past pupil and dates of attendance

(Maiden name if appropriate).

(e)Applicants who have a cousin(s) currently attending the school or who previously attended the school. State name(s) and year group(s) or years attended.

(f)Applicants who have a sibling as defined in (a) above attending or who attended a Dominican post primary school or one of our partner post primary schools, namely St Mary’s, Christian Brothers Grammar School Belfast or St Malachy’s College Belfast. State name of pupil, name of school and year group(s) or years attended.

(g)Applicants who are attending the following feeder schools: (Preference will not be given to one school over the other on this list).

  1. Ballymacward, Ballymacrickett, Bunscoil Bheann Mhadagain, Bunscoil Phobal Feirste, Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh, Christ the Redeemer, Cranmore PS, Good Shepherd, Gaelscoil Éanna, Gaelscoil Ghleann Darach, Gaelscoil na bhFál, Gaelscoil na Móna, Hazelwood P.S., Holy Child, Holy Cross, Holy Family, Holy Evangelists’ Holy Rosary, Holy Trinity, Mercy P.S., Oakwood, Our Lady’s, Deanby Gardens, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Lourdes, Sacred Heart, Scoil na Fuiseoige, Scoil and Droichid, St. Aloysius, St. Anne’s, St. Bernard’s, St. Bride’s, St. Clare’s, St. Colman’s (Lambeg), St. Comghall’s, Bangor, St. John the Baptist, St. John Paul II, St. Joseph’s, Slate Street, St. Joseph’s, Carryduff, St. Joseph’s, Lisburn, St. Joseph’s, Crumlin, St. Ita’s, St. Kevin’s, St. Malachy’s, St. Matthew’s, St. Mark’s, St. Michael’s, St. Oliver Plunkett, St. Paul’s, St. Patrick’s (Holywood), St. Peter’s Primary School, St. Teresa’s, St. Therese of Lisieux, Vere Foster.

(h)Applicants who are entitled to Free Schools Meals*

If there are more applicants who satisfy any one of the Sub Criteria (a)-(h) when they are being applied in the order of priority as set down above than there are places available, applicants within that sub-criterion will be selected by rank order of the combined standardised age score attained in the GL Assessment tests, the highest scoring applicant being ranked first, the next highest candidate being ranked second etc. In the event of two or more candidates having the same combined standardised mark score and qualifying for the last place(s) the award of place(s) shall be granted to the applicants who ordinarily reside within the shortest radial distance as the crow flies from the school as measured from the school entrance gate on the Falls Road, Belfast to the applicant’s home.

* “Entitled to Free School Meals” will mean applicants who are listed on the Education Authority register as entitled to Free School Meals at the date on which their parent or guardian has signed their post-primary Transfer Form, or at any date up to and including 3 May 2017.

DUTY TO VERIFY

The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support/verify information on the Transfer Form or appended to the Transfer Form by parents/guardians. For verification purposes original documents are normally required and not facsimiles or photocopies.

The provision of false or incorrect information or the failure to provide any requested verifying documents within the deadline set by St Dominic’s High School will result in either the withdrawal of a place or the inability of the school to offer a place.

The responsibility to ensure that:

  • the Transfer Form and other necessary documentation is correctly completed;
  • any Special Circumstances/Special Provision being claimed are properly documented as described in detail above and in the guidance documentation; and
  • any required verification documents are provided within specified deadlines, lies with the parents/guardians of the child.
WAITING LIST POLICY

Should a vacancy arise after 19 May 2017 all applications for admission to Year 8 that were initially refused, new applications and applications where new information has been provided will be treated equally and the published criteria applied. This waiting list will be in place until 30 June 2018. The school will contact you in writing if your child gains a place in the school by this method.

Your child’s name will be automatically added to the list. Please contact the school if you wish for your child’s name to be removed from the list.

If the application is made by a *child who arrived in Northern Ireland after the transfer procedure has been concluded and the Admissions Sub Committee deems the child is suitable* to be admitted, the school will then seek an additional place from the Department of Education. Admission is dependent upon the Department of Education making an additional place available for said pupil.

* The child will be required to sit an appropriate assessment which enables the school to ascertain if the child would have gained entry through the transfer procedure.

Applications and Admissions

Year / Admissions No / Total Applications
All Preferences / Total Admission
2014/15 / 141 / 193 / 141
2015/16 / 141 / 217 / 141
2016/17 / 141 / 206 / 141

Updated November 2016