Year 8 Admissions Criteria for September 2021

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

The Christian Brothers’ Grammar School, Omagh is a Catholic grammar school for boys.  This school wishes to accept boys who are academically suited for the type of education it offers and whose parents/guardians agree with the philosophy and aims of the school. The Board of Governors has delegated the responsibilities for the task of applying the criteria as indicated below to a Transfer Sub Committee, which includes the School Principal.

Applications made in a particular academic year will be considered only for entry in that year. Thereafter, applicants will be required to make a new application for any subsequent year. A waiting list of applicants who made an initial application for admission in 2021 will be held until Friday 17^th September 2021. Thereafter, parents/guardians who wish their child to be considered, should a place become available, must make a new application.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA 2021

1. Preference will be given to boys who give the Christian Brothers’ Grammar School Omagh as their first-choice school on the Transfer Application.
2. Boys with a brother who is currently a pupil or was a past pupil of the Christian Brothers’ Grammar School Omagh or has been selected for admission to the school in the coming school year.
3. Boys with a parent currently on the permanent staff of the Christian Brothers’ Grammar School Omagh or a member of the Board of Governors of the School.
4. Boys who have a parent or grandparent who is a past pupil of the Christian Brothers’ Grammar School Omagh and where verifiable evidence has been submitted.
5. Boys who are from traditional feeder primary schools listed below.
6. Boys who at the date of their application are the eldest of the family to be eligible to apply for admission to the school.
7. Boys who are entitled to Free School Meals. “Entitled to Free School Meals” will mean applicants who are listed on the Education Authority register as entitled to Free School Meals. The last date for parents to communicate to the Education Authority their entitlement to free school meals is no later than 4pm on 12 April 2021.
8. Boys ranked by date of birth as entered on the Birth Certificate with the eldest being admitted first.

• If there are more boys who meet one of the above sub-criteria (1) to (8) than there are places available, then the remaining criteria will become sub-criteria and applied successively in the order set out until the final selection is completed.
• In the event of two or more boys having the same date of birth and thereby qualifying for the last place(s), the boys will be ranked by alphabetical order of surname and then forenames as listed on the birth certificate.
• If following this procedure, there are still two or more boys with the same surname and forenames as appear on their birth certificates then applicants will be admitted by Computerised Random Selection.

Special Provision

Special Provision will be considered by the Board of Governors for boys who:

• are transferring from primary schools outside Northern Ireland
• have received more than half of their primary education outside Northern Ireland
• whose educational provision to date has been negatively affected by serious medical or other problems which are supported by independently verified documentary evidence.

To apply for Special Provision, parents/guardians must complete Form SP1 which is available from the school or its website.  For boys in primary schools in Northern Ireland, the SP1 Form, together with supporting documentary evidence, must be submitted with the Transfer Application. The online application process for parents/guardians to submit their child’s transfer application will open at 12 noon on 1 March 2021 until 4pm on 16 March 2021. Please note that it is the responsibility of parents/guardians to obtain supporting documentation and to ensure that the SP1 Form is completed properly and that all information and forms are submitted to the EA Post Primary Admissions Office at the correct time.

A copy of the SP1 Form should also be sent directly to our school by 1st March 2021.  Further guidance on applying for Special Provision is provided with the SP1 Form available from our school or its website. The Transfer Sub Committee will examine each application for Special Provision to decide on its merit as described above and then decide whether these boys should be admitted to the school.

Verification of all Information 

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

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

It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to ensure that:

• The Transfer Application and other necessary documentation is correctly completed.
• Any Special Provision being claimed is properly documented as described in detail above and in the guidance documentation available from our school.
• The provision of any verification documents required is the responsibility of the parents/ guardians of the child and should be provided within specified deadlines.

Failure to ensure that this occurs may lead to any request for special circumstances not being considered and/or the application not being considered by the Board of Governors and/or the withdrawal of a place in the school. 

NUMBERS OF APPLICATIONS AND ADMISSIONS

*Total Admissions includes statemented pupils and/or pupils admitted following an appeal.

Admissions Criteria for Years 9 and upwards are available by contacting the school.