Christ the King Junior Girls’ School
Enrolment Policy
The Board of Management of Christ the King Junior Girls’ School hereby details the enrolment policy pertaining in the school as of October 2015.
This is in accordance with the provision of the Education Act 1998.
Christ the King Junior Girls’ School is a Catholic primary school under the patronage of Archbishop Dermot Martin. It was established in 1934. The Chairperson of the BOM is Ms. Mary Friel and the Principal is Maeve MacMahon.
There are three mainstream teachers on the staff including the Principal. We also have a part-time learning support and resource teacher and a shared home school liaison teacher. Our school is a junior girls’ school with junior infants, senior infants and first class. We share many of our facilities with the Senior Girls’ School in the same building.
The school operates under the DES from which grants and resources are received annually. Regulations are laid down by the DES.
The school supports the principles of
- Inclusivity (particularly with reference to children with disabilities or special educational needs).
- Equality of access and participation in the school.
- Parental choice in relation to enrolment.
- Respect for the diversity of values, beliefs, traditions, languages and ways of life in society.
Application Procedure
- Parents wishing to enrol their children in this school should, in the first instance, make contact with the Principal. The school’s ethos will be discussed and its facilities and resources explained. The school policies on Code of Behaviour and Anti-Bullying will be explained. An application form may be completed at this time.
- Parents will be required to provide details of their child’s name, age (children must be at least four years of age on or before 31st July) and address, names and addresses of child’s parents/guardians, contact telephone numbers, contact numbers in case of emergency, religion, previous schools attended, if any, and reasons for transfer, special educational needs and any medical conditions which the school should be aware of.
Pupils may transfer to the school at any time, subject to the above, and in some cases, subject to the prior approval of the DES.
In the event of any dispute, decisions regarding enrolment are the responsibility of the Board of Management. In this, the BOM is bound by the Rules for National Schools DES.
Parents seeking to enrol their children in Christ the King Junior Girls’ School are requested to return a completed enrolment application form (available in the office) with an original birth certificate to the school before the 31st March each year.
The names of children for whom enrolment application forms and birth certificates have been returned, will be placed on a class waiting list.
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, traveller status, asylum seeker/refugee status, religious/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 BOM of Christ the King Junior Girls’ School is also obliged 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 interest of all children. Assisting the school in such circumstances the BOM reserves the right to determine the maximum number of children in each separate classroom bearing in mind:
- Size of/available space in classrooms
- Educational needs of children of a particular age
- Multi-grade classes
- Presence of children with special educational needs
- DES maximum class average directives (currently a maximum average of 28 children)
- In the event of the number of children seeking enrolment in any given class exceeding the number of places available preceding or during the school year due to the BOM being unable to provide the suitable accommodation, the following criteria will be used to prioritise children for enrolment:
- Sisters (including step-siblings, resident at same address) of children already enrolled.
- Children living within the parish.
There is a registration week in February of each year. Announcements in Church, the first Sunday after the Christmas Holidays.
Other pupils are 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.
New parents are invited to attend an introductory meeting with the Principal and the class teacher.
Children with special needs will be resourced in accordance with the level of resources provided by the DES to the Board of Management.
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 BOM places responsibility with parents/guardians for ensuring that their children co-operate with said policies in an age-appropriate way. Those policies may be added to and revised from time to time.