Year 8 Admissions Criteria for September 2024

Open Day on Saturday 20th January 2024

I.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 which serves the community of the local area as indicated by the list of feeder primary schools. This school wishes to accept boys who are academically suited for the type of education it offers and whose parents/guardians agree with the ethos 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 2024 will be held until Friday 6th September 2024. Thereafter, parents/guardians who wish their child to be considered, should a place become available, must make a new application.

When considering which boys will be selected for admission, the Board of Governors will only consider information which is detailed on or attached to the Online Transfer Form. Parents/Guardians must therefore ensure that all information pertaining to their son and relevant to the school’s admission criteria is stated on the Online Transfer Form or attached to it.

For admission via the academic selection route, Parents/Guardians must provide on/with the child’s Online Transfer Form the band and combined Standardised Age Score achieved in the Schools Entrance Assessment Group (SEAG) Entrance Assessments and attach to the form, the original copy of the Statement of Results issued by SEAG which must include the combined Standardised Age Score.

II. ADMISSIONS CRITERIA 2024

In accordance with the 1997 Education (Northern Ireland) Order (Section 16 (4)), pupils resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission will be selected for admission before any child not so resident may be selected.

Sub-Criteria

For the application of the Admissions Criteria, if there are more boys who meet one of the criteria 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.
Therefore, the criteria further down the ranking list serve as sub-criteria or tiebreakers for the admissions process.

Admission to the school will be via two routes.
Route 1 – Non-Academic Selection: 25% of pupils will be selected by this route. (34 pupils will be admitted via Route 1.
Route 2 – Academic Selection: 75% of pupils will be selected by this route. (101 pupils will be admitted via Route 2)

Route 1 – Non-Academic Selection (to select 25% of pupils)
For Route 1 applicants 25% of the intake will be selected from the criteria below. There will be no requirement for applicants to have taken the SEAG Assessments.
If an applicant is not admitted through the Route 1 Criteria, he will be automatically included for admission at Route 2 provided he has taken the SEAG Assessments.

In the event of the number of pupils applying through the Route 1 process exceeding the places available, the following criteria will be applied in the order set down. If the Admissions Number is exceeded by application of a particular criterion, then the remaining criteria will be used, in turn, to reduce the number of children still being considered for places until the admissions number is reached.

1. 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.
2. Boys who are from traditional feeder primary schools listed in the table below.
3. Boys who at the date of their application are the eldest of the family to be eligible to transfer to a mainstream Post-Primary school
This is subject to satisfying verification requirements as set out below: The verifying letter must be uploaded with the online application and state that the boy is the eldest and that the boy and family are known to the verifier. It must be written on headed notepaper and signed by one of the following who is not a member of the applicant’s family e.g.
▪ a primary school principal
▪ a medical practitioner
▪ a solicitor
▪ a clergyman or equivalent
This is not an exhaustive list.
4. 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 Monday 4th March 2024.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Boys ranked by date of birth as entered on the Birth Certificate with the eldest being admitted first.

If there are more boys in any one of the above sub-criteria 1 to 7 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, on application of the sub-criteria, there remains oversubscription in the last sub-criterion which can be applied, applicants will be selected for admission on the basis of the initial letter of surname (as entered on the birth certificate or court order) in the order of letters set out below, as determined by a randomised selection:

In the event of surnames beginning with the same initial letter, the subsequent letters of the surname will be used in alphabetical order. In the event of two identical surnames, the alphabetical order of the initials of the forenames will be used. Should two or more applicants have the same surname and forename and thereby qualify for the last available place(s), those applicants will be placed in rank order of eldest child by date of birth as stated on their Birth Certificate and admitted in this order.

Route 2 –Academic Selection (to select 75% of pupils)
Applicants will be admitted by rank order of the combined Standardised Age Score attained in the SEAG Assessments (or the score deemed, in the opinion of the authorised sub-committee, for those regarding whom parental claims for special circumstances or special provision have been accepted), the highest scoring candidate being ranked first, the next highest candidate being ranked second, etc. Applicants will be admitted in rank order, up to the maximum of the school’s admissions number (135).

If there are more boys who attained the same Standardised Age Score in the SEAG Entrance Assessment than there are places available, then the criteria below will become sub-criteria and applied successively in the order set out until the final selection is completed.
1. 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.
2. Boys who are from traditional feeder primary schools listed in the table below.
3. Boys who at the date of their application are the eldest of the family to be eligible to transfer to a mainstream Post-Primary school This is subject to satisfying verification requirements as set out below: The verifying letter must be uploaded with the online application and state that the boy is the eldest and that the boy and family are known to the verifier. It must be written on headed notepaper and signed by one of the following who is not a member of the applicant’s family e.g.
▪ a primary school principal
▪ a medical practitioner
▪ a solicitor
▪ a clergyman or equivalent
This is not an exhaustive list.

4. 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 Monday 4th March 2024.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Boys ranked by date of birth as entered on the Birth Certificate with the eldest being admitted first.

If there are more boys in any one of the above sub-criteria 1 to 7 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, on application of the sub-criteria, there remains oversubscription in the last sub-criterion which can be applied, applicants will be selected for admission on the basis of the initial letter of surname (as entered on the birth certificate or court order) in the order of letters set out below, as determined by a randomised selection:

In the event of surnames beginning with the same initial letter, the subsequent letters of the surname in alphabetical order will be used. In the event of two identical surnames, the alphabetical order of the initials of the forenames will be used. Should two or more applicants have the same surname and forename and thereby qualify for the last available place(s), those applicants will be placed in rank order of eldest child by date of birth as stated on their Birth Certificate and admitted in this order.

III. List of Feeder Primary Schools for the Christian Brothers Omagh

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 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 are correctly completed.
• Any Special Provision being claimed is properly documented as described below 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.

Special Circumstances

Where a parental claim is being made that medical or other problems affected the performance of their child in the SEAG Entrance Assessment, then it is the parents’/guardians’ responsibility to ensure that this is communicated as outlined in the “Claiming Special Circumstances – A Guide for Parents & Guardians” document.

If applying for Special Circumstances, parents/guardians must also upload with the online application:
• A completed Special Circumstances Form (Form SC available from the School).
• A report from the primary school on the academic ability of the applicant which must include all standardised test results in Literacy and Numeracy taken since the beginning of the Key Stage 2 period.
• Parents/Guardians may also include his school reports for Primary 5 and/or 6 if they show the results of standardised tests. (Upon receipt of a request in writing by a pupil’s parent or guardian, a primary school must disclose the relevant pupil’s record of progress and achievement. The onus is on the parent or guardian to obtain from the primary school full information on the pupil’s academic performance and test results and to provide this to the Christian Brothers Grammar School).
No information will be sought by the Christian Brothers Grammar School directly from the primary school

• Independent, verifiable documentary evidence such as medical or social reports providing evidence that medical or other problems directly influenced the outcome of the SEAG Entrance Assessment tests must be uploaded when completing the online application by 12.00 noon on Thursday 22nd February 2024.

Special Provision

What is Special Provision?

A candidate may request Special Provisions, where the candidate:
• has received more than half of their education** outside Northern Ireland; or
**based on the time from the start of Primary 1 (1st September 2017) to the 28th February 2024 i.e., more than 3 years and 3 months.
• wishes to transfer to a post-primary school that uses the SEAG Entrance Assessment from a school outside Northern Ireland; or
• due to a serious medical or other problem, which are supported by appropriate documentary evidence, was EITHER unable to sit the SEAG Entrance Assessment OR has an estimated outcome because they only sat one of the two Entrance Assessment papers.

For applicants claiming Special Provision parents/guardians should complete the Special Provisions Form (Form SP available from the School), stating the case for eligibility under this category and upload it and all appropriate verified documentation when completing the online application.

If your son is moving to a primary school in Northern Ireland or will be transferring directly from a primary school outside Northern Ireland you should contact the School Admissions Department of the Education Authority to inform them of your intention to apply to the Christian Brothers Grammar School Omagh.

Applications for Special Provision received after all schools have been allocated their Year 8 intake by the Education Authority (usually by the end of May), will be processed but will be conditional on the Department of Education allowing an additional place.

It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to provide precise reasons why the applicant did not take part in the SEAG Entrance Assessment and to ensure appropriate documentary evidence is uploaded with the online application.

The Board of Governors Selection Committee will decide whether these boys should be admitted on the basis that they fall within the ability range of other boys being admitted in that year.

On the basis of this information the Selection Committee will determine a score for the boy which will be the score used in the application of the Admissions Criteria. The Selection Committee may require an assessment of the boy’s abilities to be carried out by a suitably qualified person or body approved by Omagh Christian Brothers Grammar School. See “Claiming Special Provisions – A Guide for Parents & Guardians’’ with Form SP (available from the school).

It is for parents/guardians to present all such material as they consider will assist the selection panel in its deliberations and to have it appropriately verified.

Those boys to whom this provision applies may, if their parents/guardians wish, sit the SEAG Entrance Assessment in which case the score obtained would also be considered.

NUMBERS OF APPLICATIONS AND ADMISSIONS

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